Yerba Mate me.

Silvio and his wife Estella Rodriquez recently opened their long awaited Argentinian Yerba Mate tea shop called ‘El Almacen’. They are the brother and sister-in-law of my partner Sergio. It’s located at 1078 Queen street west, just east of Dovercourt on the north side.

They specialize in a traditional herbal tea known as Yerba Mate. This tea was first introduced to me at a family function at Sergio’s parents house. It is a communal drink, shared by everyone attending. It’s a wonderful way to be welcomed.

So many people have written about the tea and location itself. So I wanted to write about a different aspect of the location aside from it’s wonderful tea and it’s healthy properties. I want to write about the artwork. The painting above hung in my living room for 6 months before it took up its current residence. It’s a portrait of Sergio’s twin brother Christian Rodriguez and his wife Debra dancing the tango. It was painted by Christian himself and is absolutely incredible. Life size.

This painting above is one of the newest of Christians work. His style is Urban classicalism. The concept consists of classical painting techniques similar to 17th century artists mixed with current urban situations and themes.

Visit his website at cristianrodriguez.webs.com for a look at all his works.

Another artist who’s work you can see in the cafe is that of Dean Radic, friend of the family for some years. His work is featured on the two front tables of the cafe as well as canvases on the wall. Above is one of my favorites.  FIAT MIHI , studio on Facebook