Jonas Gutierrez drinks his yerba mate tea from South America in his traditional calabash gourd cup from a silver bombilla straw.
Mate is the national drink of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, it was first drunk by the indigenous Guarani people and is now a common daily social habit throughout Latin and South America.
Sportsmail reporter Colin Young drinks his Ringtons tea with milk and one sugar from a Cheshire cat mug.
Ringtons is a Newcastle-based firm, established close to the club’s training ground in 1907, who still carry out daily deliveries to households throughout the north east and the UK.
Describing the event, Colin says: ‘Jonas put the tea leaves in, tipped the gourd and created a small hole on one side in the leaves. He then poured in a good measure of hot water from his small, thin flask and placed the bambillo in the base of the gourd. Then he handed it over to suck through the silver straw.
‘It was very hot, and warmed the lips through the silver pipe, but the mate didn’t burn the mouth.
‘As for the taste, it was quite bitter and very strange, woody aftertaste. I can see the benefit of adding sugar to lose the bitterness. It was certainly not as unpleasant as Ryan Taylor has made out but it’s hard to see it replacing my daily brew.
‘Going head-to-head with Argentina’s most popular drink with Jonas Gutierrez, of course I had to bring the tea from Newcastle-based Ringtons.
‘And, as I told Jonas, sorry mate, but you just can’t beat a good old English cuppa.’