Hand Carved Gourd - Pre Columbian

Hand Carved Yerba Mate Drinking gourd - Pre Columbian Design

Traditional Yerba Mate Gourd Packing Instructions - How to Use Your Mate Gourd

Method 1

Fill your gourd 2/3 full of hot (not boiling) water.

Place bombilla in the water and let it rest at an angle against the top of the gourd.

Pour mate leaves on top of the water, letting them mound up.

Poke about a 1/2 inch hole in the Maté mound on the opposite side to where the bombilla is resting.

Sip through the bombilla and then re-pour with water through the hole.

The first run may allow some leaves to get through, but then it seals as the Maté expands and sinks to the bottom around the bombilla.

Method 2

Put bombilla in empty gourd and let rest at an angle against the top of the gourd.

Fill the gourd 2/3 full of Maté leaves.

Pour hot (not boiling) water on top of the leaves and sip through the bombilla.

Refill and drink until the mate is not strong enough anymore. The first few sips may allow some leaves to come through, but it seals as the Maté expands around the bombilla.