South American \'mate\' tea a long-time Lebanese hit

They passed around biscuits and sweetened bread as they discussed their favourite brands and the health benefits of the drink. Halabi and several other locals prefer the Argentinian brand Amanda, because it has a mild taste and can be drunk with or without sugar. He recommends a bitter preparation for a post-meal digestive aid, and insists that the drink also helps "clean the kidneys". Ghada al-Halawi, another Barouk local, likes to drink mate first thing in the morning, instead of coffee or tea. "We don't feel like we've woken up until we drink it!" she laughs, preparing both bitter and sweetened versions in traditional gourds that some locals make at home from dried out squash shells. She also keeps a ceramic Amanda-branded gourd on hand to prepare mate with hot milk instead of water, saying the milk flavour spoils squash gourds. - 'Mate-karaoke nights' - Wissam Hamdan, who grew up drinking mate in his village, decided to introduce the drink to a wider audience. In 2005, he opened The Mate Factory, a restaurant in the picturesque mountain town of Aley, near Beirut. "A very big percentage of our customers are people who want to try it, because it's something that's specific to certain areas in Lebanon," he told AFP. He imports around five tons a year from Argentina, blending his preferred leaves, and offers peach and lemon flavoured mate along with traditional types. For a little less then $7 (five euros), customers get a tray with the tea, hot water and snacks. Hamdan says the formula has been successful, and on weekends he also offers "mate-karaoke" nights, serving mate-infused alcoholic drinks. Such innovations are far from the ritual observed in Ghada al-Halawi's home. She likes to serve the drink with the dried figs, raisins and nuts that are traditional snacks in the area, though she adds that chips and biscuits that have become more common. In between each drinker, she cleans the bombilla with two pieces of lemon rind, which lightly flavour the straw. The drink is best enjoyed with guests, she says, and she begins heating water as soon as visitors arrive at her house near a forest of Lebanon's famed cedar trees. "When someone comes to your house, you have to make mate for them," she insists. "If you haven't served them mate, it's like you haven't served them anything."