¨Mate¨

Another fun skate sesh with El Negro...
Mate!
Slowly adding the water...
Pouring in the yerbas...

One particular interesting flavour I´ve been introduced to in Buenos Aires is the famous and extremely popular Argentinian and Uruguayan tea like drink ¨mate¨ (maa-tae). Mate is made from special yerbas (herbs) and is drunk communally out of an ornate, ceremonial looking cup with an elaborate filtered steel straw. As everyone has their own special methods of preparing and serving the mate (actually a bit of a process), there is always only one server who refills the cup and adds sugar (or honey etc) for the next person, and tourists quickly learn to not fiddle with straw! At first the potent taste was too much, like a fortified green tea with a kick, however now I´ve grown to love settling down for a mate session in the afternoon.