I am studying abroad in Buenos Aires for the fall semester of 2023. I have been here for about 3 months so far and am living in a homestay in an apartment with a single host mother. Something that I have noticed that is unique about Argentina and something we don\u2019t have in the States is a drink called \u2018M\u00e1te.\u2019 M\u00e1te is served in a traditional cylindrical mug with no handle and is drinken with a straw that has a filter in the bottom to sift out the leaves. Hot water is poured into the m\u00e1te vessel and loose Yerba M\u00e1te leaves are stirred into the liquid and steeped, as well as staying in the beverage while it is being consumed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have talked with my host mom and several Argentine friends about it and most Argentines drink it multiple times throughout the day. It can be seen on the public buses, subway system, walking down the street, and especially in parks. M\u00e1te is a drink that is typically shared and passed around a group, however, since COVID-19, this custom has changed a bit. When you see a group drinking mate, each individual will have their own cup and a shared thermos of hot water will be passed around to refill the cups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can tell that in the culture here, sharing is more valued than it is in the United States. At home, it is much more rare to have a shared drink like that, and we don\u2019t commonly go to a park with a group of friends to sit on the ground drinking a traditional local hot beverage. I have tried m\u00e1te and didn\u2019t really like it because it has a very strong flavor and is almost bitter to me. However, they have a drink called \u2018m\u00e1te cocido\u2019 which is the yerba mate ground up finely and put into a tea bag, which makes it a lot more like the tea we are used to at home. I bought a thermos mug like many people around here use, and in the colder months, I brought a thermos of m\u00e1te cocido to drink in class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am studying abroad in Buenos Aires for the fall semester of 2023. I have been here for about 3 months so far and am living in a homestay in an apartment with a single host mother. Something that I have noticed that is unique about Argentina and something we don\u2019t have in the States…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":802,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[369],"class_list":["post-22217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-argentina","tag-rollinsabroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22218,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22217\/revisions\/22218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}