~0 cal · 0g protein · 0g carbs · 0g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Traditional mate gourd with a metal bombilla straw
🇦🇷 Mendoza
Mate is less a drink than a ritual in Argentina: the gourd is packed with yerba, filled with hot (never boiling) water, and passed around a circle, each person drinking through the same bombilla. To share mate is to share trust — it is friendship, poured one refill at a time.
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🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 1 —
•
1/2 cup (to fill the gourd) yerba mate
•
as needed hot water (about 160°F/70°C, not boiling)
•
to taste sugar or orange peel (optional)
Instructions
1
Fill the gourd about two-thirds with yerba.
2
Cover the top, tip and shake to settle the fine dust, then tilt the yerba to one side.
3
Pour a little cool water into the empty side to protect the leaves, then add hot water.
4
Place the bombilla into the wet side and don't stir it after.
5
Sip, then refill with hot water and pass it on.
Mendoza tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Mendoza. High-desert wine country with a fierce empanada pride.
🗺️
Argentina. Asado smoke, Malbec, and Italian grandmothers on the Pampas.
🌍
South America. Andes, Amazon, and Atlantic all on one plate.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
More from Argentina
Empanadas Mendocinas
Baked empanadas the Mendoza way: a juicy beef and olive filling heavy on onion, sealed with a braided edge.
Tortas Fritas
Simple fried dough discs, crisp-edged and dusted with sugar, that Argentines make on rainy mornings to eat with mate.