mind your mate
Imbibe like an indigeno! Rising “It” drink yerba mate offers the energizing and slimming effects of other stimulants without the nasty comedown.
TEXT NICHOLAS WALLER feedback
While Moscow has seen a growing number of trends entering into its daily urban makeup, mate is a relative new-comer to the scene in comparison to its cappuccino and espresso cousins. The last few years have seen a growing number of cafes, supermarkets and kiosks selling the necessaries needed to partake in the mate ritual. It comes from the Argentine region of South America, where nary a day passes when these denizens don’t devote time and energy in consuming the national drink of the continent’s southern cone. Well-dressed young professionals scurry across the elegant boulevards of Buenos Aires clutching small oblong shaped cups with straws protruding from its opening. A tea-like herb, mate’s strong, astringent taste matches its medicinal reputation. Derived from a Quechua word, and once the favored drink of the Rio de la Plata Guarani Indians, it was 16th century Jesuit priests who recognized the monetary value of the herb’s cultivation. Unlike the European missionary’s successful export of one of South America’s other great crops, coffee, mate is a cultural phenomenon predominantly confined to the lands between Iguazu to Patagonia. While containing similar stimulant qualities as coffee, chocolate and tea, the drink’s effects are seen as less harmful to one’s system than that of the other beverages. And, as further medical research has developed, researchers and physicians have found it to be a natural diuretic and a successful treatment for rheumatism. One is hard pressed to find an Argentine woman who does not include mate as one of her main sources of nourishment during times of dieting — it acts as both a natural appetite suppressant and metabolic enhancer. Furthermore, generations of Latin men have extolled its Viagra-like qualities. Moscow’s growing number of establishments offering mate on their menus range from haute French-style cafes to themed disco clubs often catering to the latest trends. Che provides a fitting Latin-themed menu from which to try their namesake’s favored beverage. For 150 rubles, one may sip the Jesuit’s holly while imagining a young Argentine’s rise to comandante. For those wishing to indulge in a less revolutionary atmosphere and catering to those with numerous caffeinated addictions, the many locations of Shokoladnitsa offers mate ranging from 179 to 189 rubles. On hand for each customer is the chance to sample mate in each of its serving methods. “I like that it’s different from coffee and Red Bull. It’s nice to try something that keeps you moving, but doesn’t give you a headache if you need to study,” offered Sasha, a drink enthusiast I encountered buying a 500-gram supply at the Mate Club, the flagship of Moscow’s mate supply stores. “I know it’s becoming fashionable with students.” The Mate Club is a rather unusual anomaly in terms of its decor: while offering a wide array of mate and bombillas (cups), the owners have strayed away from the Gauchesco designs of mate’s homeland in favor of an Aztec-Maya backdrop. While the ambiance borders somewhat on bizarre suburbanite New Age center, with choices ranging from 350 to 390 rubles, Mate Club’s offerings are without comparison in Moscow. However, as the taste for far-flung exotic products grows, items such as South America’s beloved mate will continue to enhance the once staid Muscovite palette. | 
