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Comment by gus_massa | Hacker News Reader

[Hi from Argentina!]

In Argentina the custom is that someone pour the water in the mate and then pass it to the other persons, following the order of a round. And everyone suck from the same bombilla (straw). It's very strange for the foreign, because they are not used to share the straws.

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Ha - I experienced exactly this. Had my first meeting in Buenos Aires (with a dev shop). 6 (or so) guys around the table. One guy drinking Mate. Mid-conversation, as if it's no big deal, another guy reaches over, grabs the drink, and starts sipping. Moments later another guy does the same.

As an American, it was really amusing.

Note that, at least in the Argentinian custom, you do not simply reach over and grab the mate. You are in a round and get offered the mate by the guy pouring hot water in it. After you sip the water, you return the mate, the guy pours more hot water, and offers it to the next person in the round.

Growing up in the Philippines, this is how we used to drink, one guy fills the glass with booze, then passes it down to the next guy in line, who chugs it down then passes it back to have it refilled.

Same glass, same amount of booze, same order in the rounds. Wonder if it's an indio+Spaniard thing? I haven't seen this anywhere else in Asia.

And if Argentina is like Brazil, never ever hold the straw with your hand. Only your lips should touch it.

Simply touching it is no big deal (in Argentina at least), but god forbid you stir the yerba, then you're in deep trouble.

Brazil's "chimarrão" (as they call the mate) is prepared pretty differently than we do in Argentina, and the customs are a bit different. They use way more yerba, a much bigger gourd and it's not as social (at least in Santa Catarina I very rarely saw people sharing the gourd.)

There's also "tereré", which is like "chimarrão", but it is infused and consumed with cold water instead of hot.

well that's because it makes all the powdery crap sink to the bottom instead of the big chunks acting like a filter

Paraguayans (at least the Mennonite colonists) don't have a problem with touching the bombillia either

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