chimarrão

A gaúcho drinking chimarrão from a cuia.


Chimarrão (shi-ma-haow with a nasaly aow), is a hot tea like beverage from the powdery substance of ground leaves of erva mate (ma-chay). In other places the tea is drank cold and sometimes it is sweetened. The gaúcho, aka Porto-Alegrerian, drinks it hot and plane. There are different types of mate blends some stronger than others. (i like the "pure leaf" my self its a nice mild flavor).
Chimarrão is drunk out of a cuia, which is made from a hollowed out gourd. And drank with a metal straw called a bomba.
There is a process and ritual to preparing and sharing chimarrão. I have learned that everyone had their one theory or rules on how it ought to be prepared. But there are some generaly accepted ritual rules. It is generaly a social practice, shared between friends, family, acquiantances, neighbors.... The owner of the cuia will drink the first cuia then refill it and hand it to another in the group. That person will then drink the entire cuia, and hand it back to the owner to be refilled and passed to another.
Many gaúchos tend to have these special carrying cases for the chimarrão paraphernalia, a pouch for the hot water thermos, the cuia and bomba, and the bag of erva mate. This makes it easier for it to be carried to the park, where poeple tend to go, especially on sundays, and sit on the lawn drinking chimarrão.

To see some pictures documenting the process:
http://www.das.ufsc.br/~emerson/chimarrao/