Bombilla 15cm

15cm Stainless Steel tea drinking straw with filtered end.
THE “BOMBILLA”  (FILTERED STRAW)
Before the Spanish arrived, the Guaraní drunk mate by filtering yerba mate leaves through their teeth. The Spanish; however, did not consider this a very sophisticated system and started using a flat metal spoon instead. They would spread the yerba mate on the side of a calabash cup and prevent the passage of the mate leaves while they were drinking. This special spoon became what we now refer to as the “bombilla” or metal straw with a filter or blunt tip at one end used for sipping yerba mate. Initially people used a straw with a braided fiber strainer on top made out of tacuapí cane. These primitive straws were imitated using metal filters and thus the first modern straws for mate were born. Thanks to the talent of the colonial silversmiths, the mate filter straws adopted many different forms. The oldest versions are thinner and shorter and in one piece, suffering abuses from being overused in the kitchen.