Mate gelado

Ingredients

The tea

• 6 tablespoonsroasted yerba mate
• chá mate, the toasted kind
• 1.5 litreswater

To sweeten

• 120 gsugar
• or to taste

Sometimes added

• juice of 3 lemons
• or 400 ml lemonade
• a few mint leaves
• slices of lemon

To serve

• plenty of ice
• in a tall glass
• or from a metal canister
• on the beach

Directions

1. Let the kettle stand a minute first. Five minutes is about right for it. Strain it out promptly after that. The sugar goes in while it is hot. Bring all the water to a boil.
2. Take it off and let it stand a minute. A minute off the boil is enough. Put the roasted mate in a large jug. Pour the hot water over the leaf.
3. Stir it once to wet all the leaf. Dry leaf floats on the surface otherwise. Let it steep for five minutes. Shorter gives a weak thin drink. Taste it if you are at all unsure.
4. Pour it through a fine mesh sieve. Use the finest sieve you have. Line it with a cloth if needed. Sweetening it is done while hot. Add all the sugar to the hot tea. Stir it until it dissolves completely. Taste it and adjust the sweetness. Adjust it entirely to your own taste.
5. Let the tea cool to room temperature. Give it at least three full hours. Chill it properly well beforehand. Squeeze the lemon juice into the cold tea. Adjust it entirely to your taste. Add the lemon to the cold tea rather than hot.
6. Heat dulls the fresh citrus aroma. Cold keeps it bright and sharp. Fill tall glasses right up with ice. Fill the glass properly with ice. Pouring it is straightforward enough.
7. Pour the cold mate over the ice. Add a slice of lemon to the glass. Add a few mint leaves if you like. It is drunk very cold on hot days.

Technique

• This uses roasted mate, the dark brown chá mate sold in bags, brewed like ordinary tea and then chilled — a genuinely different drink from the green mate drunk from a gourd in the southern and Argentine tradition.
• Very hot beverage consumption of any kind has been linked to oesophageal risk, and that research concerns temperature rather than the plant; this drink is served iced, so the concern does not apply to it. The atlas states that rather than transplanting a warning.
• Use water just off the boil rather than fully boiling, and strain the leaf out after five minutes: boiling water scalds the leaf and long steeping both bring out real bitterness. Add the sugar while it is hot, since sugar does not dissolve in cold tea.

Substitutions

• Lemonade in place of the lemon juice and some of the sugar is how beach vendors most often mix it.
• Any fine sieve or a cloth-lined one catches the small mate fragments.

Variations

• Roughly two parts mate to one of lemonade is the usual beach mixture.
• Add the lemon to the cold tea rather than the hot, since heat dulls the fresh citrus aroma.
• Yerba mate contains caffeine at roughly the level of a cup of tea.

History

The cry of the mate vendor is part of Rio’s beach soundscape, the tea often mixed with lemonade.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mate gelado?

Mate gelado is a drink from Brazil: iced roasted yerba mate tea, sold on beaches from metal canisters. The cry of the mate vendor is part of Rio’s beach soundscape, the tea often mixed with lemonade.

How long does Mate gelado take to make?

Mate gelado takes 10 minutes plus chilling of preparation and 10 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Mate gelado?

Yes, within limits. Lemonade in place of the lemon juice and some of the sugar is how beach vendors most often mix it. Any fine sieve or a cloth-lined one catches the small mate fragments.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mate gelado?

Stir it once to wet all the leaf. Dry leaf floats on the surface otherwise. Let it steep for five minutes. Shorter gives a weak thin drink. Taste it if you are at all unsure.