My Chimarrao Gear Don't put anything here Page Content Don't put anything here Page Name (for URL) Page Title Breadcrumb Text <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2005-07-29-chimarrao/20050729_001_2951 2005-07-29-chimarrao/20050729_002_4916 2005-07-29-chimarrao/20050729_011_9208 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2005-07-29-chimarrao/20050729_013_6996 2005-07-29-chimarrao/20050729_014_3208 2005-07-29-chimarrao/20050729_021_8769 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Black tea is somewhat expensive in Brazil since it doesn't grow here. The most popular alternative is *erva mate* (or simply *mate*, pronounced "MA-chee") better known in US by it's Spanish name "yerba mate." In Rio, mate is omnipresent in form of an iced tea, branded as "[Matte Leão"](http://www.leaojr.com.br/produtos/liquida.htm)". Matte Leão is made of toasted mate leaves and tastes roughly like any other iced tea, just with a somewhat peculiar flavor. Down south in Rio Grande de Sul, however, people drink mate in form of "chimarrão." Chimarrão is made from *un-toasted* mate, which is green in color and has much more grassy taste than tea. Green mate is brewed in a *cuia* - a special container made from a pumpkin-like fruit of the calabash tree (crescentia cujete). After you put your mate into the cuia and added hot water, you drink it through a metal straw called "bomba" (also Portuguese for "pump"). Cuias are sold all over Porto Alegre, ranging in prices from R$3 to over R$30, depending on the how decorated they are. For R$3 you just get a piece of calabash with the top cut off, a R$25 version comes covered in leather.) Bombas similarly range from R$6 to R$30, though I couldn't tell the difference. After looking at the equipment in several stores and being utterly unable to chose one out of all the variety, I stumbled across a store that had just one kind decorated with a sign "Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra" ("Movement of Landless Rural Workers"). As it turned out, the store belonged to [the Landless Movement](http://www.mst.org.br/), or at least claimed to. I decided to get that my chimarrão gear there to please all my left-leaning Berkeley friends. I hope I won't later get stopped at US border for providing "material support" to a "terrorist" organization. (Did I also mention the word "bomba" in this post?) After you drink a cuia-full of chimarrão you are supposed to just add more water and keep going. I saw people walking around Porto Alegre with their chimarrão and a thermos. Don't put anything here Advanced Fields Category 2002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014E. AsiaE. EuropeL's FamilyL's FriendsN. AmericaN. EuropeS. AmericaS. AsiaW. EuropeY & LY's FamilyY's Friends Prototype Redirect Permissions0 Actions Config Markup Module HTML/Meta/Keywords HTML/Meta/Description Save Hook HTML Fields Main Head Body Header Menu Logo Content Template Page Sidebar Footer Tags Allowed for XSSFilter Don't put anything here HTTP Fields Cache-Control Expires Guru Fields Templates Translations Fields Edit UI Admin Edit UI Don't put anything here A summary of your changes Edit Summary Don't put anything here save preview cancel
