To start, I don't have full access so my apologies if this is the incorrect forum.

I started drinking yerba mate in the last month and have really been enjoying it--to the point where I went out and got a gourd & bombilla. So I conditioned my gourd and yesterday was the first and only day I used it. This morning I went to fill it up and there are some little black dots that kind of look like mildew or mold. I'm kind of bummed out. Anyone know if that is a possibility--that it could become moldy overnight? I'm hoping maybe its stained in those spots but now I'm afraid to drink out of it. How would I prevent this from happening again? I feel like I followed the instructions regarding maintenance verbatim. Thanks for any advice.


Also, thank you, Yerba (user name, not beverage), for pointing me in the direction of this beverage. It is really helping me right now while I am going off my Vyvanse script. Thanks much!

I too am a mate drinker, it has material that can oxidize, the black spots you see might be this, it is unlikely for a black spored mold or bacteria to have developed so quickly.

I just put mine in a coffee maker though and don't use the bombilla.

I wouldn't be too worried, it's natural for your gourd to take on color during the curing process and as you put it to use, the walls of all my gourds turned green upon curing and over time have all turned a deep dark green/black color. Just in case what you have really is mold, the best way to wash/clean a gourd is to wipe the insides out with lemon juice and some sort of abrasive scrubber.

As far as the curing process, did you scrape the soft insides from the walls of the gourd with a spoon or similar? Did you leave it to sit full of mate' for 24 hours? If you add flavor herbs or sugar during the curing process these flavors will kind of seal themselves into the walls of the gourd and lend a hint of their presence to everything you drink from it in the future.

In any case, the moral of the story is when in doubt, scrub with lemon juice

Protip on the preparation of yerba mate':
Put your mate' in the gourd and cover it with cool/room temp water, just enough to barely submerge the the tea and rehydrate it before you add hot water. This helps protect some of the more volatile compounds from being destroyed by the heat. In general if you make it too hot to immediately drink you are burning away a lot of the medicine, think warm, like kids hot chocolate and not uber hot like coffee when you are preparing mate'.

Haapi slurping!

I make sure to clean old, wet mate leaves out of my gourd right after I finish drinking it, then leave it somewhere with good ventilation to dry. Once every couple weeks, I pour boiling hot water in the gourd (to sterilize it), let it sit till cool, and then stick the whole thing in the oven on the lowest heat setting until it's thoroughly dry. The gourd will gain a dark colour as it becomes seasoned. I have seen gourds go moldy, they seem more prone to blue mold than black though. Also don't put magic mushrooms in your gourd - I stained one blue this way, and it added a funky (but not enjoyable) flavour that I couldn't get out after that.

Thanks much, folks! I actually repeated the part where you fill it with mate and soak it for 24 hrs, then scrape the inside twice. I scraped thoroughly. I will also scrub with lemon. I too thought it was quick for mold, but thought this would be a good spot to ask. Also, I don't drink it coffee hot, I'm kind of a wimp with hot drinks. I even let my coffee cool a bit before drinking that too. Thanks for the tips; enjoy your weekend!