在阿根廷邂逅馬黛茶

祝永華

千姿百態的阿根廷茶具 Cups for Mate tea drinkers

2011年8月中旬，我隨團前往南美洲的阿根廷、巴西、智利等國進行商務考察。雖然時間只有短短的十二天，但南美的三大奇觀——大冰川、大瀑布、大濕地給我留下了深刻的印象，阿根廷的馬黛茶也讓我回味無窮。

8月14日一大早，天還沒亮，阿拉法特小鎮還沉浸在睡夢中，我們就坐上中巴車前往阿根廷國家大冰川公園。車行片刻，只見導游端起一只葫蘆狀的小容器（茶杯），往里倒入開

阿根廷茶店即景 A view of a Mate teahouse in Argentina

水，再用一根不銹鋼材質有些像調羹的吸管在茶杯里攪和了幾下，就吮吸起來了。爾后，他又將茶杯遞給駕駛員吸飲。

我就坐在導游的后排，好奇地問他：“這是什么好東西，你們一早就吸飲起來？”翻譯告訴我：“這是阿根廷的國飲——名茶馬黛茶。”導游隨即把茶杯遞過來，要我也品嘗品嘗。我雖然感到這種傳飲方式不衛生，但出于好奇和對地主的尊重，還是接過茶杯吸了兩口，頭一回品嘗了馬黛茶。這種飲料雖然沒有西湖龍井茶的那種清香，但在略帶苦味中回味甘甜，人也一下子精

神起來，瞌睡也被趕走了，這是馬黛茶給我的第一印象。

第二天，我們回到了布宜諾斯艾利斯，與阿根廷南美東亞商會主席岡薩雷斯 ?布埃爾多先生進行商務交流時，他如數家珍般地介紹了馬黛茶。他說：馬黛茶是阿根廷人日常的必備飲料，由于它生長在南美一些沒有遭受污染的丘陵山脈，富含196種天然元素和礦物質，對人體極為有益。當年嶄露頭角的博卡青年足球隊球星馬拉多納，每次參加球賽前和中場休息以及終場后，都要喝馬黛茶。一方面是為了補充水分，另一方面這茶確有提神的作用。馬拉多納在球場上奔跑如飛，運球自如，興許與馬黛茶不無關系。因此，馬黛茶在南美也被稱為“仙草”。它不僅能沖飲，而且還能食用，它所含的活性物質中，抗氧化成分占了50%以上。據說，它對機體的抗氧化作用超過了法國的紅酒和中國的綠茶。所以，馬黛茶在南美雖然只有四百多年的歷史，但是已大量出口北美、西歐、中東和日本等地，它的經濟價值不可小視。

聽了岡薩雷斯 ?布埃爾多主席的一番介紹，我對馬黛茶產生了極大的興趣。在交流結束時，我把帶去的西湖絲綢禮品贈予他，布埃爾多主席回贈給我的正是馬黛茶，這著實讓我高興了一天。回國時，我在機場里買了沖泡馬黛茶的葫蘆狀茶杯和裝飾有阿根廷國旗徽章的不銹鋼吸管，和西湖區茶文化研究會的同事們分享這一份意外的收獲。□

By Zhu Yonghua

My first encounter with the mate tea occurred on the early morn-ing of August 14, 2011 in a small rural town in Argentina. I was with a group of Chinese business people ready to set out to visit the Argentine National Glacier Park. We were on a 12-day visit through Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The gorgeous beauty of nature in South America was awe-inspiring, but I was also deeply impressed by the mate tea that morning. It was early dawn when we filed into the bus and the whole town was in sleep. I was sitting just behind our guide and saw him pour boiled water into a small gourd and then insert a metal straw into the gourd. He drank through the straw. Then he handed the gourd over to the driver and the driver drank from the gourd.

I was so curious that I asked what they were drinking at this time of morning. Our interpreter told me that it was the mate, a well-known beverage of Argentina. The guide handed me the gourd and indicated that I could drink from it. I knew it was not particularly sanitary to share a drink this way, but I took two cautious mouthfuls of the juice from the gourd out of curiosity and respect for the host. It did not give me the mouth feel like that of Dragon Well Tea, the well known beverage of my hometown Hangzhou, but the unusual bittersweet taste was delightfully refreshing. I felt instantly ener-gized.

The next day we were back to Buenos Aires and met with some Argentina business people. The mate beverage came up as a proud topic in the business dialogue. I learned that the plant grows in hilly areas of South America. The beverage contains 196 natural ele-ments and minerals, all needed by the human body. Mate can serve as food. In terms of anti-oxidation, it is much better than French red wine and Chinese green tea. Mate as a beverage has a history of 400 years in South America and it is now exported in large quantities to North America, West Europe, Mideast and Japan.

At the end of the meeting, I presented some silk products from Hangzhou and to my delight, got the mate tea in return. At the air-port before I boarded the plane that would carry me home, I bought a gourd-shaped cup and a stainless-steel straw decorated with a badge of Argentine national flag. Back home, I shared the mate tea

阿根廷馬黛茶

Tea leaves of Mate, a popular beverage of Argentina

阿根廷包裝茶和精致的茶具

A Mate tea carton and two gourd-shaped tea containers with spoons

精美的銀制茶匙 Finely made silver spoons for mate tea sipping

with fellows at West Lake District Association for Tea Culture Re-search.□