Perhaps because the traditional way to drink it involves a vessel like this one, with a metal straw could potentially impale someone’s eyeball if the driver has to make an emergency stop
As an uruguayan can confirm this is the reason, and to avoid getting the straw sent down your throat, also to avoid spilling boiling water over someone else.
Also, instead of a straw, wouldn’t it be possible to use a sippy cup lid (like those on coffee travel mugs), but with a built-in sieve (like those on a French press), or would that ruin the experience?
The way we use it is, every time you want to drink you pour a bit of hot water from a bottle to the gourd (mate) that is almost filled with yerba mate (dried and milled leafs) to make the infusion, the straw has tiny holes to filter the water. A sippy cup lid would make you to get a lot of yerba on your mouth.
So you sip the straw until you get all the water, and as you almost constantly are pouring new water it’s impractical to have a lid. Many people leave the bottle with the cap always open for convenience and walk around with the bottle tucked under their arm.
We got things like this where the colored part is the gourd
I have not tried it but the purists will despise you for using them.
A sippy cup lid would make you to get a lot of yerba on your mouth.
Right, that’s where the French press sieve comes in. It’s a permanent metal filter like this one, which is fine enough to deal with ground coffee, so mate should be no problem, as it’s usually much coarser. A lid with something like this underneath should be able to keep all the mate inside the cup, and also prevent clogging. Combine with an insulated mug that keeps the water hot for more than five minutes, and you shouldn’t have to constantly refill it either.
I understand that traditions are important, but are they important enough to scald or impale yourself over on the freaking bus?
Oh yeah absolutely they are! We take pride on the scars we got from the straws and hot water.
Really tho, that’s not a bad idea, but it would be a whole other drink, and it would lose a lot of things that make mate what it is for us, firstly the sharing, with traditional mate you can share because you only get a small amount of water, when you drink it all you give it back to the owner, and while it is gross it really bonds you with the people you’re sharing with.
I personally don’t do it anymore and It’s becoming rarer, but it was common sharing on a big group even with people you didn’t really know, like friends of your friends. It even it’s considered somewhat rude to turn down if someone offers you to share. With the cup I think people would be a lot more aware of the grossness of sharing it, so they’ll continue to drink with straws.
Also the act of pouring the water is a ritual (even a skill or an art) that makes you pause what you’re doing every time you want to drink, and some people find this helps them to refocus, you can’t do this on the cup.
And finally you would be a pariah and be deported if the traditionalist catch drinking mate that way.
Just bought a mate gourd BTW. It’s kinda modernist (comes with a lid) but still has a bombilla, but since there’s no big mate culture in my country, I suppose that’s acceptable (there’s no risk of running into traditionalists here). Hopefully it still beats drinking mate from tea bags, which is what I’ve been doing so far.
We’re getting mates with lid here now, think they really made to drink wine, but I guess everyone use them without the lid because it would be impractical to get the lid of everything you’re going to pour water. I know it would get on my nerves quickly.
Perhaps because the traditional way to drink it involves a vessel like this one, with a metal straw could potentially impale someone’s eyeball if the driver has to make an emergency stop
As an uruguayan can confirm this is the reason, and to avoid getting the straw sent down your throat, also to avoid spilling boiling water over someone else.
Have lids not been invented in Uruguay yet?
Also, instead of a straw, wouldn’t it be possible to use a sippy cup lid (like those on coffee travel mugs), but with a built-in sieve (like those on a French press), or would that ruin the experience?
The way we use it is, every time you want to drink you pour a bit of hot water from a bottle to the gourd (mate) that is almost filled with yerba mate (dried and milled leafs) to make the infusion, the straw has tiny holes to filter the water. A sippy cup lid would make you to get a lot of yerba on your mouth.
So you sip the straw until you get all the water, and as you almost constantly are pouring new water it’s impractical to have a lid. Many people leave the bottle with the cap always open for convenience and walk around with the bottle tucked under their arm.
We got things like this where the colored part is the gourd
I have not tried it but the purists will despise you for using them.
Right, that’s where the French press sieve comes in. It’s a permanent metal filter like this one, which is fine enough to deal with ground coffee, so mate should be no problem, as it’s usually much coarser. A lid with something like this underneath should be able to keep all the mate inside the cup, and also prevent clogging. Combine with an insulated mug that keeps the water hot for more than five minutes, and you shouldn’t have to constantly refill it either.
I understand that traditions are important, but are they important enough to scald or impale yourself over on the freaking bus?
Oh yeah absolutely they are! We take pride on the scars we got from the straws and hot water.
Really tho, that’s not a bad idea, but it would be a whole other drink, and it would lose a lot of things that make mate what it is for us, firstly the sharing, with traditional mate you can share because you only get a small amount of water, when you drink it all you give it back to the owner, and while it is gross it really bonds you with the people you’re sharing with. I personally don’t do it anymore and It’s becoming rarer, but it was common sharing on a big group even with people you didn’t really know, like friends of your friends. It even it’s considered somewhat rude to turn down if someone offers you to share. With the cup I think people would be a lot more aware of the grossness of sharing it, so they’ll continue to drink with straws.
Also the act of pouring the water is a ritual (even a skill or an art) that makes you pause what you’re doing every time you want to drink, and some people find this helps them to refocus, you can’t do this on the cup.
And finally you would be a pariah and be deported if the traditionalist catch drinking mate that way.
I see. Thanks for the detailed explanation!
Just bought a mate gourd BTW. It’s kinda modernist (comes with a lid) but still has a bombilla, but since there’s no big mate culture in my country, I suppose that’s acceptable (there’s no risk of running into traditionalists here). Hopefully it still beats drinking mate from tea bags, which is what I’ve been doing so far.
We’re getting mates with lid here now, think they really made to drink wine, but I guess everyone use them without the lid because it would be impractical to get the lid of everything you’re going to pour water. I know it would get on my nerves quickly.