A ceramicist has opened a yerba mate café above a yakitori bar on Bali Lane

Matcha has had a very good few years here. Ben Loong would like a word about mate.

Go with an afternoon to spare and someone to talk to, and order the traditional service: a gourd of loose leaf and a kettle of 70°C water, good for eight to ten refills, with four blends to choose from. Yerba Yerba, upstairs from the yakitori restaurant Sa Tae Bak on Bali Lane, calls itself Singapore's first and only café devoted to yerba mate, the caffeinated South American infusion. It opens only in the afternoons, Wednesday to Sunday, so it suits a slow Kampong Glam weekend rather than a quick stop between errands.

It is the passion project of Ben Loong, a 38-year-old ceramicist who teaches at Lasalle and runs Ubi Studio of Art. An Argentinian friend introduced him to the drink about three years ago, when he was a coffee purist. Now he drinks mate every day and has mostly given up coffee, he says, save for the occasional kopi o peng (every convert keeps one exception).

The café sits inside Commongoods, a shop Loong runs with a friend who operates Sa Tae Bak downstairs. The menu is short. Cold brews start with El Clásico, plain cold-steeped mate, and run to versions with chamomile and mint, and there is a mate chocolate chip cookie on the side. The cold brew is the quick option; the gourd is the reason to climb the stairs.

Bugis is the nearest MRT. Check the hours in the box before you go, because a Monday or Tuesday visit ends at a closed door.

Good to know Yerba Yerba, 31A Bali Lane, Kampong Glam. Wednesday-Thursday 1-6pm, Friday-Sunday 1-7pm. Bugis MRT is the nearest station.

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Yerba Yerba | 31A Bali Lane, Singapore 189867