All right, first of all, you will need to get some yerba mate. You can find it in health/organic food stores and sometimes grocery stores, but I don't know about L.A..
You simply prepare it like you would tea!
You don't need a gourd or a bombilla to enjoy it like some people may say, however that is the traditional method.
A good brand is Guayake, they even package it in individual tea bags for your convenience, but I recommend buying it loose, because it's better for your world (less packaging), and you get a better product usually.
If you have any other specific questions, feel free to contact me.
Cheers, and let the good energy flow!

I used to buy it online. You can get 3 kg for $15.
If you think that is too expensive just find youself a Latin grocery store. They sell brand named yerba mate for increadibly cheap. I pay $2.5 CAN per kg up here in Canada.

Virgins are so cute; we love to watch their face when they sip. How to describe... when a person shares something that is at once so bitter... yet so smooth and sweet. The wonderful thing about yerba mate is the ability to share this experience every day with people and always see something new in every mate made (it is never the same twice; be it the water, the yerba, the gourd... or the character of the people present!)

We welcome virgins, as well as the worldly and initiate, to come check out our selections and information. www.yerbamateteagourd.com

We do know Los Angeles very well and there are places to obtain tea and gourds there--but evenin Los Angeles you will be hardpressed to find the selection we have in mate gourds (beauty of the internet and being able to attract a select clientele from all over the world.)

If you are interested in trying yerba mate in the tradiitonal manner that is our forte; but as others have said it may also be made like normal tea. The two styles are distinct however--and nothing compares to the strength of flavor... and ritual comradeship!... of serving the traditional mate gourd with bombilla.

For a virgin we recommend a smooth and fairly unobtrusive yerba like Union Suave or La Merced De Monte www.yerbamateteagourd.com/YerbaMa...eas.html

A good virgin gourd if you don't know if you'll like it anything beyond the first sip (and you don't want to worry about curing the gourd correctly) might be a ceramic mate or metal mate. All of our bombillas work well; so the choice is style and cleanability, as well as material (bamboo, German silver, nickel-plated brass, stainless steel.) www.YerbaMateTeaGourd.com/YerbaMa...las.html

SERVING MATE

Mate Preparations:

Mate Amargo

"Bitter mate". By far the most popular: the traditional mate of the Gauchos, the Patagonians, the Guarani, and others.

* Fill the mate gourd two-thirds full of yerba (yerba mate herb).
* Cover gourd with palm, invert, and shake vigorously about ten times. (This will help to bring the powder to the top--far from the bulb of the bombilla.)
* Heat water in a pava (tea kettle) to near, but not quite, boiling (70-85 degrees C). (The water sings: it's warm; the bubbles form: it's hot; the bubbles release: it's very hot; the water boils: it's too hot.)
* Pour your hot water into a thermos ortermo to keep it hot for subsequent servings.
* Pour a small amount of cold water on the lowest portion of the yerba in your mate. (This keeps the hot water from "killing" your mate; lets it warm up gradually).
* Push the bombilla to the bottom of the gourd, cover the tip, and pour the hot water in the low spot. (Filling with hot water that does not wet all of the yerba will prolong the duration of your mate.)
* Serve and enjoy!

In any recipe the sharing of the mate is the same:

* The gourd is filled by the host or server and this person normally drinks the first mate (or even spits it out as do the gauchos) as this first is considered inferior.
* The server (cebador) continues filling and passing thegourd.
* When it is your turn to drink you drink down the entire infusion until it is gone--passing it back to the server. (Never move the bombilla or stir the yerba--it is not only rude, but will cause air pockets around the bombilla.)

I've been drinking all afternoon.. and you can see I'm in a loquatious mood!

Enjoy!

k

in this site you can get some adresses of stores where you can get yerba, gourds, etc.
www.argentinaxplora.com/activi...dna.htm
Good LucK!