Wednesday 4 June 2008

Me and My 'Mate'

The first thing any Argentine ex-pat most do upon arrival in the new foreign homeland is seek out their nearest yerba mate supplier. Having spent the best part of year out in the Argentine hinterland, I couldn’t not bring back with me my own mate set along with a 4 kilos of the yerba. With great diligence and extreme rationing this was able to get me going through my first year away from the Argentina. However for the past many months, with my supply depleted, my mate has found itself lost & lonely in some forgotten corner of a kitchen shelf.

Admittedly my search for mate in London hasn’t been as earnest as it could have been. Surely there is a large enough Argentine ex-pat community in London to warrant some form of mate outlet? Well luck had it that whilst wandering the cobbled streets of Oxford, I was able to stumble upon a specialist tea & coffee store that sold yerba, albeit of the Brazilian variety.

So I probably paid an extortionate price - £2.75 for a small bag of 250g – but now I can feel that yerba caffeine kick which has gotten me through countless last-minute essay writing situations in the past. Coffee just doesn’t quite do it.

But if anyone does know of where to get cheap yerba in London, do drop me a line…






Photos - courtesy of Mikko Takkunen

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