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Why I started making Calabash Yerba Mate gourds

The idea of ​​making calabash Yerba Mate gourds came spontaneously. When I was visiting my friend, he treated me to Yerba Mate, and I really liked it. From that point on, I became interested in the culture of Yerba Mate: tradition, history, preparation methods; the lifestyle of it all. I began to read books and articles about Yerba Mate and, specifically, about calabash gourds. After all of this, I started looking for gourds.

After searching around a bit, I found a few and tried to make calabash gourds out of them, but the first experiment turned out very funny and not presentable. The second was better, and became go-to method of making calabash gourds. But, I had to continue to search for more gourds, and eventually found a lot, which allowed me to start making calabash Yerba Mate gourds for sale. Eventually, the theme of drawing on gourds and customizing for individual customers emerged – people love them.

How Calabash Yerba Mate gourds are made

In terms of making a calabash Yerba Mate gourd, let’s start from the very beginning. It takes about six months for the calabash to grow and mature. Then, another half a year is needed for drying.

After a full year from when the calabash is planted to fully dried, it’s necessary to carefully clean the gourd before drawing a picture on it. And, once a picture is drawn on it, the picture needs to be engraved then burned, to both make it look good as well as ensure the drawing will last.

But, since no Yerba Mate kit is complete without a bombilla, I started to make those out of reeds, just as the Maya Indians did.

Originally, I’m from Ukraine, and I currently sell calabash Yerba Mate gourds to Europe. Eventually, I’d like to expand to the USA, Argentina and Brazil. I receive many inquiries, since people are incredibly interested in purchasing them, but the delivery can prove to be difficult, since it could be $25-30, and the cost of the calabash gourd, itself, is $15-20. But, $40-50 for a hand-carved calabash Yerba Mate gourd is worth it. I’m a firm believer that only from using a calabash gourd can someone truly discover the real taste of Yerba Mate.

After pouring in the water, you can listen to how the calabash talks to you.

Rules for Calabash Yerba Mate gourds

1. Before first using your calabash Yerba Mate gourd, it’s necessary to fill up three-quarters of the gourd with loose-leaf yerba and hot water. Then, leave it like this for a day. As you observe the water going down (due to the gourd and leaves absorbing it), continue to pour more hot water in. It’ll take a few hours to notice the gourd absorbing the water, but remember to add more hot water whenever you notice this.
2. After letting the gourd sit for a day, you have to remove the insides of the gourd with a spoon, carefully (gently) peeling off its internal walls. Once you’ve done this, you should wash the gourd out and leave it to fully dry.

Doing this prepares your gourd for drinking Yerba Mate out of it. After each drinking sessions, the calabash should be cleaned and dried. But, how to do it correctly? Below are some tips:

1. Try not to leave the loose-leaf yerba in the gourd for a long time. So, right after you’re done drinking for the day, remove it all.
2. After you’ve washed your gourd under running water, turn it upside down and leave it like this to dry, but not for more than thirty minutes. After thirty minutes, turn it back to its normal position and leave it to dry. Make sure you don’t put it next to anything hot, like a stove, heater, etc. For faster drying, you can wipe the inside of the gourd with a paper towel, and then leave it to dry.  

How to prepare Yerba Mate in a Calabash gourd

Option 1

1. Fill two-thirds of your gourd with loose-leaf Yerba Mate. If you want to fill it up to three-quarters, this will make your drink stronger and it will last longer.
2. Place your palm over the opening of the gourd, turn it over, and give it a few vigorous shakes while varying rotational movements. All of this is done to ensure that the loose-leaf moves in the right way (bringing smallest particles to the top), thus preventing blockage of the bombilla.
3. Tilt the gourd in a way that the loose-leaf yerba placed in it forms a “hill” on one of the walls, leaving an empty space in the other. This “hill” must be preserved during all use of the gourd.
4. Add some water 60-80 ° C (140-175 ° F) and let it soak into the yerba.
5. Insert the bombilla into the gourd as follows: close the opening of the bombilla with your finger and place the bombilla into the part of the yerba that’s already moistened.
6. Top up the gourd with water 80-85 ° C / (175-185 ° F). Try to pour gradually so that the water doesn’t overflow over the surface of the gourd.
7. Only let the water sit for a maximum of 2 minutes after pouring and before drinking.
8. Gradually pour water on your “hill” to maintain the yerba’s taste, since it eventually becomes “washed” or diluted in taste, and adding water to the dry “hill” of yerba gives freshness to the infusion.
9. After around 12 cycles (full pours and drinking to the end), many people consider the mate to be “washed,” although it entirely depends on the taste preference and quality of the yerba.
10. The suggested water temperatures above are conditional. How hot you want your water to be depends on someone’s preference, and it’s important to choose a water temperature that’s comfortable for you. Maybe it’s 70 ° C (160 ° F) or even 60 ° C (140° F).

Option number 2

1. Fill two-thirds of your gourd with loose-leaf Yerba Mate. If you want to fill it up to three-quarters, this will make your drink stronger and it will last longer.
2. Place your palm over the opening of the gourd, turn it over, and give it a few vigorous shakes while varying rotational movements. All of this is done to ensure that the loose-leaf moves in the right way (bringing smallest particles to the top), thus preventing blockage of the bombilla.
3. Tilt the gourd in a way that the loose-leaf yerba placed in it forms a “hill” on one of the walls, leaving an empty space in the other. This “hill” must be preserved during all use of the gourd.
4. Place the bombilla in the bottom, sprinkling in more loose-leaf yerba to fill it up.
5. Add some water 80-85 ° C (175-185 ° F). It is necessary to wait until the loose-leaf yerba absorbs the water, then you can arrange the bombilla in position. It will help block the small particles, and they won’t bother you when you drink through rising through the bombilla. Here it’s important to remember that water should only be poured on one side, without wetting the “hill.”
6. Add more water 80-85 ° C (175-185 ° F) depending on your taste preference. And drink, adding more water as necessary.
7. The most important thing is to not move the bombilla! It must be in the same place for the entire time it is consumed. Otherwise, it will clog up and drinking will not be enjoyable.

The legend of the Calabash Yerba Mate Gourd

“The people of Guaraní had to search for a new place on Earth. The guilt of escaping from the occupied places of natural disasters was heavy on them, since they destroyed their habitual way of life. It has long been known that in order for powerful gods to be supportive of people, the people should make sacrifices. It is also established that not all gods are ready to accept as a gift vegetables and fruits, as well as animals placed on the altar.

One of the gods, whose name was not saved by history, was intended only for the most beautiful girls of the tribe. Once a year, on the holiday of the spring solstice, on the altar was another innocent beauty at the age of seventeen. And one day a young girl, knowing that in a few days she would be prepared for the ritual of sacrifice, having received a disobedient temper and impious thoughts, as the elders later said, escaped.

The terrible god had already seen the face of his chosen one. According to the ancient ritual, the beauty was shown to the statue of the deity in one of the autumn months. Therefore, the elders could not change the girl to another, because it was already “approved” by God. On the appointed day, lightning struck the empty altar, the earth opened, and the trees began to crumble into the abyss, and the rivers fled back, and the stars fell from heaven to earth. The people were seized with a superstitious horror. They realized that they had angered God. There were mudflows around the village, destroying the village behind the village.

Only a few of the Guaraní managed to escape, immediately after setting off on several fragile boats. Among them was a beloved girl who the god, unlike her fellow tribesmen, did not curse her. They floated for a long time. And many more days and nights people saw on the horizon the rage of the raging god. Soon a vast ocean appeared before them. A young man noticed that next to the boat was a small dry pumpkin, a shape resembling a woman. Without telling anyone about this, the next morning he again found it onboard. This continued until they reached the shore of their new homeland.

An old man, who was the first to get out of their boat, stepped hard on the pumpkin, crushing it. “He killed my beloved forever,” thought the young man who first saw the gourd.

People went deep into the mainland. A year later the boy’s heart prompted him to come ashore, which he called the Coast of Love. To his surprise, he discovered about five new pumpkins with the outlines of a woman. It was a pumpkin, a calabash. The same he first saw when he was still in the boat.

Carefully collecting the pumpkins, he took them to the tribe. The new gods, who had already given them Yerba Mate, did not instruct them on how to make the wonderful drink and what to drink it with. Now people had a cup. The new gods could not disguise the beauty of the cup, and they did so that the people of the tribe could forgive the girl who brought all of this destruction upon them, entrusting the most valuable thing to the girl that they had: green gold – Yerba Mate.”

Yerba Mate: Mate. Mate. Mathi. 9000 years of Paraguayan tea

Augusto Kolina Anton Shikhanov

To buy one of my gourds, head to Instagram or Facebook. You can also contact me via my personal Instagram or Facebook.

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