Maté is the leaf of a South American holly, Ilex paraguariensis, which the Guaraní peoples drank long before the arrival of the Europeans. The name Maté Vert Pur d’Argentine Bio pays tribute to the cultivation of maté in the countries of the Río de la Plata; the leaf in this lot, from organic farming, comes from Brazil, another major producing country.

It is offered pure, with no other ingredient. “Green” means the leaf has not been roasted: it has been dried and crushed, and it keeps all its colour and its vegetal character. In Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil, it is drunk from a gourd, through a metal filter straw called a bombilla, adding hot water as the conversation goes on.

Dry, it smells of grass dried in the sun and green hay. The liquor is yellow-green. The taste is direct: a herbaceous, vegetal bitterness, a clear astringency, then a dry length characteristic of the leaf. It is a drink of character, which does not seek to charm with sweetness.

The caffeine it contains makes it suited to the morning and to active hours. Use 14 to 17 g per litre, about 3 g per cup, water between 70 and 80 °C, not boiling, and five to ten minutes. For the gourd, fill it two-thirds full of leaves and pour the water in gradually.

It goes well with empanadas, alfajores or a cheese bread. Kept dry in an airtight tin, it keeps very well; in the shop, we serve it from 15 g, for a trial up to several kilos.