Mate (Paraguayan tea) is an excellent tonic. The drink is rich in vitamins and beneficial elements. The technology described, called “cimarron”, is a classic mate brewing technology. She is not the only, but the most correct.
Pick your recipe
You will need
-
- dry mate;
- cold and hot water;
- calabash;
- bombilla.
Instruction manual
1
Take calabash (vessel for brewing mate) and fill it with dry mate for two-thirds. Tilt the vessel so that the entire infusion is distributed along one side of it, completely exposing the opposite to the bottom of the pumpkin pitcher.
Next, pour a little water in the mat distributed on one wall of the calabash. But not right away, but pouring liquid in small portions. Water should be completely absorbed into the tea leaves by wetting it. The water temperature completely depends on the preferences of the person to whom the drink is intended. It can be both cold and moderately hot.
2
After a few (3-5) minutes, evaluate the result - the contents of the calabash should swell and resemble a thick bright green gruel. After that, take a straw bomb and, pinching the top hole with your finger to create tightness inside, place it in the calabash slightly buried in the swollen tea leaves.
3
At the next stage, the calabash is added with hot water. Properly brewed mate swells, completely filling a pumpkin-calabash. After the final topping, the drink is allowed to infuse for 0.5-2 minutes and begins to drink in small sips, sipping the liquid from the bottom.
4
After all the liquid is drunk, hot water is added to the calabash. One serving of tea leaves can be poured 2-3 times, and with each topping, the taste of the mate changes - from grassy during the first tea leaves to bitter-tart during subsequent ones.
note
When brewing mate, do not use water hotter than 80 degrees Celsius. Boiling water destroys all the useful elements in tea.
Mate has a strong tonic property. If you intend to drink the drink at night, so as not to risk sleep, use not water to brew, but milk or milk in half with water.
Unlike tea, mate retains its properties for 2-4 days, starting only to be bitter with time.
Useful advice
If you do not like the bitter taste of the drink - brew a sweet mate. The technology is no different from the classical one with one exception - before falling asleep tea leaves a spoonful of honey or sugar is placed on the bottom of the calabash.
In hot weather it refreshes and tones up cold mate. To obtain it at all stages of preparation, only cold water is used. Juices, ice or sugar are often added to such a drink.
Related article
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- Culture and Ceremony Portal
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