This master's thesis explores the social significance of a popular caffeine drink in South
America. In the first part, the author describes the methods used and briefly summarizes the
theoretical framework of food and drink anthropology, which presents different forms of food
and drink analysis in various research fields. This is followed by a description of the yerba
mate plant and a lengthy historical account of its cultivation and production. The next chapter
questions whether there is a dark side to the cultivation of this plant. The author then briefly
describes the production of mate tea from the plant to packaging, and focuses on the various
forms of drinking mate tea around the world, with different countries presented in individual
sub-chapters. The author then fully examines the cultural significance of yerba mate, the
culture of straws and pouring, the issue of social class in mate tea drinking, the herbs added to
hot mate tea and its cold version, and the ritual surrounding it. The author also discusses the
concept of gaucho culture, pacha mama, and mate tea as a symbol of national identity and
pride. In sub-chapters, the author presents slogans and messages on different yerba mate
packaging and discusses their meaning and how they aim to bring yerba mate closer to
consumers. The topics of these messages include mate and time, mate as an original drink, mate
and family, mate as tradition, mate as nature, mate as nostalgia for the past, and more. The
author continues with a chapter on the imagination of mate tea on social networks, describing
on what occasions and with whom Instagram artists envision drinking mate tea. The subchapters present mate for relaxation and reflection, mate for conversation and love, mate as a
companion, and drinking mate tea in different weather situations. In the final part of the thesis,
the author asks interviewees what mate tea means to them and presents their responses to this
question, followed by an analysis.
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