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MATE, or PARAGUAY TEA

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 878 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MATE, or See also:PARAGUAY See also:TEA , the dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis,' an See also:evergreen See also:shrub or small See also:tree belonging to the same genus as the See also:common See also:holly, a plant to which it bears some resemblance in See also:size and See also:habit. The leaves are from 6 to 8 in. See also:long, shortly stalked, with a somewhat acute tip and finely toothed at the margin. The small See also:white See also:flowers grow in forked clusters in the axils of the leaves; the sepals, petals and stamens are four in number, or occasionally five; and the See also:berry is 4-seeded. The plant grows abundantly in Paraguay, and the See also:south of See also:Brazil, forming See also:woods called yerbales. One of the See also:principal centres of the mate See also:industry is the See also:Villa Real, a small See also:town above See also:Asuncion on the Paraguay See also:river; another is the Villa de See also:San See also:Xavier, in the See also:district between the See also:rivers See also:Uruguay and See also:Parana. Although mate appears to have been used from See also:time immemorial by the See also:Indians, the See also:Jesuits were the first to See also:attempt its cultivation. This was begun at their See also:branch See also:missions in Paraguay and the See also:province of Rio Grande de San Pedro, where some plantations still exist, and Veld the best tea that is made. From this circumstance the names JJesuits' tea, tea of the Missions, St See also:Bartholomew's tea, &c., are sometimes applied to mate. Under cultivation the quality of the tea improves, but the plant remains a small shrub with numerous stems, instead of forming, as in the See also:wild See also:state, a tree with a rounded See also:head. From cultivated See also:plants the leaves are gathered every two or three years, that See also:interval being necessary for restoration to vigorous growth. The collection of mate is, however, chiefly effected by Indians employed for that purpose by merchants, who pay a See also:money See also:consideration to See also:government for the See also:privilege. When a yerbal or mate See also:wood is found, the Indians, who usually travel in companies of about twenty-five in number, build wigwams 1 I. gigantea, I. ovalifolia, I.

Humboldtiana, and I. nigropunctata, besides several varieties of these See also:

species, are also used for preparing mate.and See also:settle down to the See also:work for about six months. Their first operation is to prepare an open space, called a tatacua, about 6 ft. square, in which the See also:surface of the See also:soil is beaten hard and smooth with mallets. The leafy branches of the mate are then cut down and placed on the tatacua, where they undergo a preliminary roasting from a See also:fire kindled around it. An See also:arch of poles, or of hurdles, is then erected above it, on which the mate is placed, a fire being lighted underneath. This See also:part of the See also:process demands some care, since by it the leaves have to be rendered brittle enough to be easily pulverized, and the aroma has to be See also:developed, the necessary amount of See also:heat being only learned by experience. After drying, the leaves are reduced to coarse See also:powder in mortars formed of pits in the See also:earth well rammed. Mate so prepared is called caa gazu or yerva do polos, and is chiefly used in Brazil. In Paraguay and the vicinity of Parana in the See also:Argentine See also:Republic, the leaves are deprived of the midrib before roasting; this is called caa-miri. A very See also:superior quality, or caa-cuys, is also prepared in Paraguay from the scarcely See also:expanded buds. Another method of drying mate has been adopted, the leaves being heated in large See also:cast-See also:iron pans set in See also:brickwork, in the same way that tea is dried in See also:China; it is afterwards powdered by machinery. The different methods of preparation See also:influence to a certain extent the value of the product, the mate prepared in Paraguay being considered the best, that of See also:Oran and See also:Paranagua very inferior. The leaves when dried are packed tightly in serons or oblong packages made of raw hides, which are then carefully sewed up.

These shrink by exposure to the See also:

sun, and in a couple of days See also:form compact parcels each containing about aoo m of tea; in this form it keeps well. The tea is generally prepared for use in a small See also:silver-mounted See also:calabash, made of the See also:fruit of Crescentia cujete (Cuca) or of Lagenaria (Cabaco), usually about the size of a large See also:orange, the tapering end of the latter serving for a handle. In the See also:top of the calabash, or mate,2 a circular hole about the size of a florin is made, and through this opening the tea is sucked by means of a bombilla. This See also:instrument consists of a small See also:tube 6 or 7 in. long, formed either of See also:metal or a See also:reed, which has at one end a bulb made either of extremely See also:fine See also:basket-work or of metal perforated with See also:minute holes, so as to prevent the particles of the tea-leaves from being See also:drawn up into the mouth. Some See also:sugar and a little hot See also:water are first placed in the See also:gourd, the yerva is then added, and finally the See also:vessel is filled to the brim with boiling water, or See also:milk previously heated by a spirit See also:lamp. 2 The word caa signified the plant in the native See also:Indian See also:language. The Spaniards gave it a similar name, yerba. Mate comes from the language of the Incas, and originally means a calabash. The Paraguay tea was called at first yerva do mate, and then, the yerva being dropped, the name mate came to signify the same thing. Mate (Ilex paraguariensis). Portion of plant. See also:Flower, drupe and nuts.

Part of under-See also:

side of See also:leaf showing minute glands, natural size. 878 A little burnt sugar or See also:lemon juice is sometimes added instead of milk. The beverage is then handed See also:round to the See also:company, each See also:person being furnished with a bombilla. The leaves will See also:bear steeping about three times. The infusion, if not drunk soon after it is made, rapidly turns See also:black. Persons who are fond of mate drink it before every See also:meal, and consume about i oz. of the leaves per See also:day. In the neighbourhood of Parana it is prepared and drunk like See also:Chinese tea. Mate is generally considered disagreeable by those unaccustomed to it, having a somewhat See also:bitter See also:taste; moreover, it is the See also:custom to drink it so hot as to be unpleasant. But in the south-eastern republics it is a much-prized See also:article of luxury, and is the first thing offered to visitors. The gaucho of the plains will travel on horseback for See also:weeks asking no better fare than dried See also:beef washed down with copious See also:draughts of mate, and for it he will forego any other luxury, such as sugar, See also:rice or See also:biscuit. Mate acts as a restorative after See also:great fatigue' in the same manner as tea. Since it does not lose its flavour so quickly as tea by exposure to the See also:air and See also:damp it is more valuable to travellers.

Since the beginning of the 17th See also:

century mate has been drunk by all classes in Paraguay, and it is now used throughout Brazil and the neighbouring countries. The virtues of this substance are due to the occurrence in it of See also:caffeine, of which a given quantity of mate, as prepared for drinking, contains definitely less than a similar quantity of tea or See also:coffee. It is less astringent than either of these, and thus is, on all scores, less open to objection. See Scully, Brazil (See also:London, 1866) ; See also:Mansfield, Brazil (London, 1856) ; See also:Christy, New Commercial Plants, No. 3 (London, r88o) ; See also:Kew Bulletin (1892), p. 132.

End of Article: MATE, or PARAGUAY TEA

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