The gauchos, horsemen of the South American plains, made maté an everyday drink, shared from the calabash and sipped through a bombilla. This chai keeps the leaf, green maté from Brazil, which accounts for 31% of the blend, and leads it along the spice route.

Maté, Ilex paraguariensis, is a South American holly whose leaves are dried. Here it is joined by rooibos from South Africa, which rounds off its bitterness, then by cinnamon sticks, Indonesian and Vietnamese, aniseed, fennel, ginger, clove and ground cardamom. All ingredients come from organic farming.

The dry blend, green and copper-coloured, smells of dried grass and gingerbread. The amber liquor opens on the herbaceous note of the maté, lively and slightly bitter, which the rooibos softens; the spices settle in afterwards and persist long after the sip.

Like any maté blend, it contains caffeine. It is therefore best kept for the morning and the middle of the day. It is drunk plain, or as a latte with hot frothed milk, and goes with a walnut bread, a roasted banana or an alfajor.

Maté scorches easily: use water between 70 and 80°C, and steep for 5 minutes. For a 300 ml mug, allow 4.5 to 6 g, which comes to 15 to 20 g per litre. We prepare it by weight, in Nice or Bordeaux, in bags that protect its aromas until opened.