Tea is one of my favorite things. It resides highly on the list along with good dark chocolate, nice wine and coffee with just a touch of milk. I recently found a nice little tea shop in my neighborhood, hidden of Gorriti, a long street with trendy shops and a lot of construction. It was great to see all the beautiful little tea tins lined up along the walls. It was a little treat, though far from the true tea experience here which is mate. Mate is shared, which alone is a reason to love it. This is important because the taste is a bit...particular. The mate is passed between friends, each turn filling up the cup, or gourd holding the tea. Each person drinks the hot tea, then refills the water, and passes it along. The Argentines are not afraid of sugar, which is often added to the bitter green herbs. I spent a good chunk of yesterday with a few friends in a plaza, sitting around the edges of an empty blue tiled fountain, shoes kicked off, mate in hand. It was a beautiful afternoon in a plaza full of tall trees and children running around. Even though BA is a huge city, you're able to find these secluded places where people say hi and families seem quite relaxed to spend the afternoon. It was a really wonderful moment.
I should also add that my friend Ailin, in charge of this mate outing, has the most beautiful rat tail. The female rat tail is rare, and when done well, quite nice. Once I confessed my envy of her "trenza", I explained the term "rat tail". It took some time to get the translation across successfully, but needless to say, she was not impressed with the English version.
But back to mate. It's quite common to see people sharing mate at work, in a plaza, on a doorstep. This is never something you would order in a cafe, its always something between friends.What a nice thing for tea to mean.
