Thanks mate

I hope that my readers will forgive the lack of proper accents in the following post since the current version of blogger currently lacks the appropriate symbols for putting them in place. Therefore, where-ever one sees mate, please read it as though there were an accent over the e, therefore transforming it into a hard A sound and reverting the actual A in the word to a soft one. And they say that spanish is spelt the way it sounds.
In his book Attending Marvels: a patagonian journal George Gaylord Simpson (nevermind the middle name) has a recurring gastronomic theme, a large part of which is devoted to mate. Mate is what we would referr to as an herbal tea, which is made from the dried (sometimes roasted) and ground leaves of the yerba tree (a close relative of Holly). As Simpson putts it," it is a cup that cheers but not enebriates. . . Happy are the patagonians to have their mate! They have so little else." As for the cheering qualities of the drink, Simpson was under the impression that mate contained mateine as the primary psychoeffective compound. Upon further inspection however, I've found that it is indeed our old friend caffeine that is responsible for mate's uplifting affects. Mate is even aesthetically pleasing and novel since it is traditionally served in a gourd and drunk through a metal straw.
After such superlative descriptions of mate from Simpson and from others who have gone to Patagonia in search of fossils, I decided to see if I could get a cup here in Southern California. No success did I have at Starbucks, nor at the Coffee bean and tea Leaf (the latter figures, they don't call it the coffee bean and yerba leaf after all). Henry's market carried nothing of the sort that I was looking for, but final I was rewarded at Cost Plus: world Market with what claimed to be a close faximile of the South American beverage. Mate however is only the second ingredient in the product, the first being Rooibos (whatever that is). I am a fan of bitter drinks, so I find this mate substitute to be rather pleasing, even without sugar. I'd someday like to try an authentic gourd of the drink, but then this is just one more reason for me to travel to central Argentina. Someday, someday.