June 13th 2008 - My date with "Mate"

At the café in Avenida de 9 Julio, called “Mate Bar”, I asked Natalio, the waiter, for some mate and a brownie. Natalio lives in a provincial suburb of Buenos Aires, and loves his city. He likes to entertain his customers, obviously to get a better tip, but it's not hard to like him as he gesticulates with exaggeration and tells you “Anything, you need, any help you want, you ask Natalio!”
I look at all the utensils he brings to my table and I stammer “No se como se hace!?". He responds no problem. And, he starts to explain - you take the pot, called mate, put in a lot of leaves (called Yerva and pronounced something like Cherba) up to the brim, pour in a bit of cold water and a lot of hot water. And you mash it with the pipe as you sip through it.
Natalio asked me “do you like it”? I gave him two thumbs up!