The infusion called mate is prepared by steeping dry leaves (and twigs) of yerba mate in hot water, rather than in boiling water like black tea. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a mate in Spanish, or cabaça or cuia in Portuguese) with a metal straw (a bombilla in Spanish, bomba in Portuguese) is a common social practice in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern Chile, eastern Bolivia and southern and western Brazil and has been cultivated in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.