It was a peculiar sight in the MakerSpace during Republica24, the renowned festival for digital society in Berlin, to find a simple wooden construction with seemingly archaic hardware named the MateVerse. Over a 69 hour period we managed to serve 108 Mates using about 4.2kg of Mate Leaves and infinite litres of hot and cold water spreading the Meta and connecting with Mates from around the world at the Global Innovation Gathering
Mate in its bubbly brause form fuels festivals such as this where visitors often pay up to 4€ for a bottle of sugar and chemical caffeine. Over the past decade Meta Mate has been on a mission to provide people with the chance to try a real mate in a somewhat traditional style.
Conferences do not provide the calm setting for sitting and sharing a meta moment in silence with a mate. and so we adapted the Angebote and offered single mates in glass cups that were easy to take with and refill with water throughout the day.
We did provide a few options in terms of drinking the mate hot or cold and with a dash of hounder and lime. For some it was a sustainable way to stay energised and hydrated during the day.
The MateVerse was an open space where participants had a chance to stop and savour the moment in the here and now and infuse themselves with some fresh forest energy. Mate is more than just a natural energiser . The theobromine and vitamins lead boost the immune system and lift the spirits. Facilitating communication and sharing time offline, mate is a way of bringing people form different backgrounds together to engage in a dialogue.
In the past Mate used to be a drink to pass around and partake in a ritual of sharing endless time together. Those days a long gone like the South American rainforests. Our circles have been disrupted and we re:learn to connect from within. Living in virtual urban bubbles, we need the renewable fresh forest energy to invigorate us.
