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Variants and trivia
There is another drink that can be prepared with specially cut dry leaves, very cold water and, optionally, lemon or another fruit juice, called tereré. It is very common in Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. After pouring the water, it is considered proper to wait while the saint has a sip before the first person takes a drink.
In Uruguay and Brazil the traditional mate or cuia is usually big with a corresponding large hole. In Argentina (especially in the capital, Buenos Aires) the mate is small and has a small hole, and people sometimes add sugar for flavor. In Bolivia and Peru, mate de coca is often sipped instead of ordinary mate.
In Uruguay there is a national law that prohibits drinking mate while driving, because it caused many accidents of people getting scalded with hot water while driving. For the same reason, there is also a forbidden to drink mate sign in all public transportation buses.
In Uruguay it is common to see people walking around the streets toting a mate and a thermos with hot water. In some parts of Argentina, gas stations sponsored by yerba mate producers provide free hot water to travellers, specifically for the purpose of drinking during the journey. There are disposable mate sets with a plastic mate and bombilla, and sets with a thermos flask and stacking containers for the yerba and sugar inside a fitted case.
In Brazil, traditionally prepared mate is known as chimarrão, although in areas near the border with Uruguay the word mate is also used. Nowadays, in Brazil, mate is often toasted with sugar and prepared in a similar manner to tea, a custom that originated in Paraguay. Supermarkets, restaurants and fast food chains sell tea bags and prepacked iced tea packages and bottles. In Argentina, mate cocido (cooked mate) is made with a teabag or leaves and drunk from a cup or mug, with or without sugar and milk.
At the beginning of the 21st century most urban Chileans are not mate drinkers, but travel narratives such as Maria Grahams Journal of a Residence in Chile [2003(1824):8], show that there is a long history of mate drinking in central Chile. Many rural Chileans drink mate, in particular in the southern regions, particularly Chiloé and Magallanes, perhaps due to the influence of neighboring areas of Argentina.
In some provinces of the Middle Eastern countries of Syria and Lebanon it is also common to drink mate. The custom of drinking mate came from Arab emigrants from South America. Syria is the biggest importer of yerba mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons a year.
According to a major retailer of mate in San Luis Obispo, California, by 2004 mate had grown to about 5% of the overall natural tea market in North America.[1][2] Bottled iced mate is widely available in California.
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