Paraguayan tea and its properties. What is the name of Paraguayan tea?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Tea is gaining more and more popularity, which consumers are happy to buy in specialized stores and clubs in the cities of our country, order in cafes and restaurants. The taste of the drink is so unusual that its use is most often timed to coincide with some kind of holiday. The article tells about what is and what is the name of Paraguayan tea.

History of occurrence

The name of the Paraguayan tea comes from the word "mati", meaning "pumpkin jar". Representatives of the Quechua Indian tribe living in South America gave it to the drink. They named it so because the vessel is made from the corresponding fruit and is used to store liquids.

Europeans learned about Paraguayan evergreen tea in the twenties of the 17th century from members of the Jesuit brotherhood who planted trees and sold dried leaves. It even bore the name "elixir of the Jesuits", and was described in detail only in 1822 by the French botanist Augustus de Saint-Hilaire.

The Indians believed that the drink is able to strengthen the spiritual kinship between people, to unite them. Now this tea is one of the symbols of the culture of South America, often used toto improve and make more harmonious relationships with friends or partners.

Paraguayan holly

It cannot be said that we are talking about tea in the usual sense of the word, since mate is a special drink. For its manufacture, young shoots and leaves of Paraguayan holly are crushed and then dried. This plant is found in subtropical climates, which are characterized by high levels of humidity and temperature. The tree is evergreen, belongs to the holly family and grows from 1 to 15 meters in height. Its leaves reach a size of 5 to 16 cm, have an oval shape and are pointed on one side. Grows wild or on plantations in the following countries:

1. Brazil.
2. Paraguay.
3. Uruguay.
4. Argentina.

How tea is made and looks like

Uniform pleasant golden-green color characterizes well-dried quality Paraguayan tea. The photos show what it should look like. An impressive amount of raw tea is produced every year around the world: 300,000 tons.

Cooking according to all traditions implies the presence of dust and small twigs in the cup as a result. For European consumers, tea is produced using slightly different technological methods. In this case, the dust at the final stage of processing is necessarily removed. And in terms of taste characteristics, the drink resembles herbal tea, which at the same time has sweetness and bitterness, while the drink is completely worthy of being served at a businessmeeting.

Types of mate tea

This unusual drink comes in two varieties:

1. Green.
2. Fried.

Green is a classic option. It is processed in the traditional way, which includes picking plants, drying and grinding. Roasted Paraguayan tea is properly cooked on iron trays.

Many manufacturers are expanding the product range of the drink by adding various fruit flavors, which are mostly artificial. Therefore, if you want to purchase completely natural Paraguayan tea, you need to carefully study the information from the package. Real fruits are used by Establecimiento Las Marias. Just keep in mind that the cost of the types of tea produced by it is higher than analogues with artificial ingredients.

Tea ingredients

Among the active and beneficial substances that make up the drink, the following can be noted:

1. Matein is a substance similar to caffeine in terms of invigorating and tonic properties.
2. Vitamins (A, C, E, P, as well as a full complex of B vitamins).
3. Micronutrients (iron, magnesium, copper, potassium, sodium, lithium, manganese and others).
4. Organic acids.
5. Theophylline, which has an antispasmodic effect. In modern medicine, it is used (as part of medicines) to relieve spasms of the bronchi in the treatment of bronchopulmonary diseases.
6. Theobromine is used in the fight against insomnia, depression with increased excitability,soothes, inhibits the action of the centers of the nervous system responsible for excitability, increases the duration of the deep sleep phase.

Useful properties

In the West, for example, Paraguayan tea is sold as a medicinal drink. Its positive effect on the human body is manifested as follows:

1. Improves the digestive system.
2. Psycho-emotional state normalizes (anxiety decreases, insomnia disappears, mood improves).
3. Reducing the time needed for sleep.
4. Activity and working capacity increase.
5. Blood pressure normalizes.
6. Increases immunity.

In addition, mate is a Paraguayan tea that not only has beneficial properties, but also perfectly quenches thirst.

Drink features:

1. Tea contains more B vitamins than propolis.
2. Matein is more effective than caffeine, and also does not cause such side effects as nervous trembling and increased heart rate. It increases the body's ability to resist disease, helps to better concentrate.
3. Paraguayan tea owes its special taste to its vitamin composition.

Negative features of the drink

When using mate, attention should be paid to the ability of some substances from its composition to stimulate the development of malignant neoplasms. This Paraguayan tea differs from the usualus a drink that aims to prevent and reduce these problems.

There is a decent list of contraindications for mate:

1. S alt deposition or tendency to this disease.
2. Increased acidity of gastric juice.
3. Kidney disease.
4. Individual intolerance to substances such as theobromine and theophylline.

Children, pregnant and lactating mothers are forbidden to use invigorating Paraguayan tea. In addition, you can find information that hot mate is on the dangerous list due to the content of "presumably carcinogenic substances." Therefore, each is determined with contraindications and the purpose of using tea based on individual physiological characteristics and taste preferences.

Mate container

To drink tea, a special vessel is used, made in a special way. In South America, it has the same name as the drink - "mate". But the representatives of the Guarani Indian tribe call it Caaigua (caa-i-gua). But now the most acceptable words for use are: "calabash" or "calabash".

The following materials are used to make dishes:

1. Silver.
2. Porcelain.
3. Ceramics.
4. Gourd gourd.
5. Tree.

In the manufacture of individual vessels, small pumpkins are used, and containers of large fruits are suitable for friendly companies. First you need to completely remove its contents from the pumpkin, dry it, and formass production - burn. Then decorate with silver, patterns, leather, make a metal stand.

These vessels are the most popular because of their ability to maintain the temperature required by Paraguayan tea, as well as to contribute to the transfer of its flavor properties. But the containers must be dried and cleaned after use.

How to drink

To drink the drink, an empty stick 15-25 cm long inside is used - bombilla. It can be made from cane, bone, bamboo or metal, or by combining different materials. Silver products are considered the best. Now even plastic can be used to make them. Translated from Italian, this word means "nipple". On one side, the fixture is flattened, and on the other, there is a double strainer.

You can start drinking Paraguayan mate tea right away, and the straw allows you to do it from the bottom of the dish. You can add hot water to the tea leaves several times. But you should not leave it in the used container for a long time, because the fermentation process begins, accompanied by the release of bitter components that impregnate the walls of the calabash. Then all the tea brewed in this dish will have an unpleasant taste in the future.

How to brew mate

To make a good drink, first of all, you need to fill the tea leaves with cold water and wait for it to swell. And then put the bombilla into the vessel and add hot water. At the same time, you should not rush anywhere, since all actions mustbe measured. The Indians call this process ticua ca ay, that is, “throw water into a hole,” but in fact, brewing requires more seriousness.

One way to make Paraguayan tea looks like this:

1. Fill 2/3 calabash with tea leaves.
2. Tilt the container so that the tea gathers on the wall.
3. Add water to swell.
4. Cover the opening of the mouthpiece with your finger, and then put the bombilla into the calabash, deepening the strainer a little into the thick.
5. Fill the container with water, the temperature of which is 70-80 degrees.
6. Wait 1-2 minutes.

When the drink is ready, sip it slowly and without stirring through the bombilla. After emptying the calabash, hot water is added again, which is usually done 3 times.

Cooking Features

In Russia, this tea appeared not so long ago, which did not prevent him from starting to gain popularity. Mate is considered an exotic drink that is not consumed every day. It was drunk by the Indians of South America before the appearance of the first European colonizers.

With the usual tea, a drink like mate has nothing in common, except for tonic properties. It is because of this quality that he is often called that. A significant taste difference is due to the fact that the leaves are not fermented, but simply crushed and dried. Therefore, if steeped for more than two minutes after the first brewing, a bitter drink is obtained.

There is a nuance. If athe vessel stood idle for a long time, then you need to brew mate in it, leave it for 2-3 days, then wash the dishes, and only after that use it to make tea. The use of boiling water for brewing also leads to a loss of taste properties of the drink and the appearance of the same bitterness that accompanies a long infusion.

For some, this drink will become an unacceptable option due to the likely harmful properties of tea. But nothing prevents you from treating the mat as something exotic and unusual, intended only for pleasure. And daily it is quite possible to use the usual drinks.