Since she did all the dirty work, I will spare you a recap of the last three weeks and will, instead, focus in greater detail on yerba mate (which people, you may have heard, like to drink here). In order to properly enjoy mate a la portena, one needs a guampa (hollowed out gourd) and a bombilla (a metal straw-like device), hot water and the processed yerba which constists of roasted leaves and sometimes stems. The idea is that you pour hot water into the gourd over the loose yerba mate and drink from the filter-tipped bombilla until you make a slurping noise and then pass the gourd to your friend who fills it up again with hot water. Sounds like fun, no?
Well, consider this: Wikipedia tells me that the caffeine content of yerba mate can be up to 1.7% of its dry weight. Compare this with coffee which maxes out at .9% and it becomes readily apparent that yerba mate is no wuss of a tea. I learned this lesson the hard way when, a few days ago I roasted myself some Yerba Mate according to the Paraguayan custom. I first tried "cocinada negra" (literally: cooked black) at Casa Felix (an independently blog-post-worthy experience). The two (small) cups, which I consumed quickly on the heels of four glasses of wine, seemed, at the time, a pleasingly mild stimulant. I enthusiastically asked Sandra, the "cocinadera," if you will, how I could recreate this at home and she willingly described the process: 1) combine one cup of mate with 3/4 cups sugar and push around in a saute pan until the sugar starts to caramelize and the yerba turns from green to dark brown. 2) pour hot water over the sugar and yerba mixture to deglaze the pan and make your tea. 3) strain and enjoy.
The two generous cups I enjoyed in the morning may as well have been two massive cups of crack with high-fructose corn syrup on top but when the shaking and heart palpitations were over, i wondered if I would do it again... "hell yes" i heard a little voice in my head say.
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