A community dedicated to those who enjoy the drink Yerba Mate
It might have to do with the shape of your gourd.
Can you describe the shape or post a picture?
Also, what do you mean by swell? Are you just letting it soak with room temp water?
Rosamonte is pretty coarse when it comes to cut size. The more coarse the mate is cut, the harder it will be to form and keep the montanita.
it's a kinda round cup with a slightly wider bottom. and yes, that's what I mean
Its it like this
Or more like this?
The first one is going to be much harder to get a proper montanita due to the shape.
definitely more like the second
though, I don't have a proper gourd, I'm literally using a glass cup
I definitely recommend a proper gourd, the curved side of the gourd allows the mate to kind of shape into it.
You may want to position your bombilla in a way so that it kind of holds everything up and supports montanita. You can use the bombilla to press into the mate to form a wall of mate.
Another component is dust content, which I think rosamonte has fairly low dust. Basically the dust kind of acts like a glue and holds everything together.
Argentine style cut is more prone to this issue. I found La Merced, De Campo had a bit more dust and I had no problem with it. You could also try a Uruguayan style such as Canarias, or Chimarrao which have its own set of challenges to prepare such as clogging the bombilla.
Just remember that there really isn't a right or wrong way to prepare it. If you enjoy the experience it should be good enough.
i think my glass mimics well enough the shape of a gourd, and i already do press the yerba. I guess it's the yerba