Mate

I've never had it, never even heard of it until now - but I'm thinking it's infused with something potent because this OP wants me to stay up all night cracking double entendres and innuendo filled one liners without even drinking the drink

but, I'm not going there - I'm just saying

It's South American. It rhymes with "latte," and it tastes a bit like a cross between green tea and grass clippings (though it's better than that makes it sound). Bit of an acquired taste, I think.

Some people tout its health benefits, which are sort of vaguely defined, as with all such flaky holistic nonsense.

--M.

I thought it was supposed to help with digestion, since the people who drank much of it were gauchos with a diet consisting of a lot of meat.
And it is full of caffeine -- nothing flaky and holistic about it.

Everything you need to know

Not a fan of green tea so I probably wouldn't appreciate it if it has that taste to it

Oh, it's much more bitter than green tea. It's an acquired taste.

The only mate I know is mate de coca. It doesn't contain caffein though.

I used to drink it with a guy from Argentina. He had some kind of silvery metal vessel with a solid metal tube coming from it. You infused the leaves in hot water in the vessel and sucked it up through the tube whilst the leaves were still in it. I think he also sweetened it quite a bit, and so mine didn't taste bitter at all. It was a powerful upper indeed, and qualitatively different than coffee/ tea.

I don't recall that caffeine content was that much higher than strong coffee, but I seem to recall that it does contain other stimulants besides caffeine, including some not found in either coffee or tea. OP, you might have a slightly high sensitivity to them.

The little silver tube (with a strainer on the end) is called a bombilla. You pass around the gourd with the mate and everyone drinks through his own bombilla.

You see it in the Arab world; Lebanese brought it back from Paraguay and spread it around.

Is it yerba mate or mate de coca? Two different drinks in South Am.
(Yerba) mate can be drunk hot or cold, but usually hot. Very popular in Argentina and Paraguay, where you can see people walking with their own thermoses filled with water. Cafes and small shops are usally ready to fill it up, if you need.
I wouldn't think (yerba) mate could make you sleepless. Or, maybe you got it much too strong.

VinnyD,
It's not something that you share or pass around. Not normally. You don't do it with your coffee or tea either, do you?

Edited by: Fieldgate; wiki says it's practiced (the sharing). Personally, I never saw it that way. Everyone drinks their own.