recapt wrote:Robotaz wrote:I know this is about coffee, but I’m curious if anyone knows much about Yerba Mate. My friend in AZ had a mate bar and I learned a lot. Mateine is a combination of caffeine and other alkaloids, and it has a noticeably different effect than caffeine. Much cleaner if you ask me. Highly motivational.
Anyone?
I can’t claim to know a lot about Yerba Mate, but a few months back I started replacing my afternoon coffee habit with Guayaki Yerba Mate and sometimes a tea called Morning Thunder which is a combination of black tea and mate (not sure if Yerba or not).
I’ve really been enjoying it and I know what you mean about it feeling cleaner. I do still love my morning coffee though.
My final mate hijack….
…will be to say that if you try mate, be sure to get a good bombilla and gourd. You want a natural gourd if possible and you want it very small unless it’s used traditionally with other people. Here’s a decent kit that’ll be perfect.
Yerba Mate is from a river valley in South America where Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay come together. Wiki says Bolivia, too, but I had never heard that. It may be expanding ground, and I hope so, because it is a good thing for the environment. Unlike most farming in South America, Yerba Mate is dependent on jungle canopy. Promoting the drink is promoting and incentivizing stopping the practice of cutting down the jungle. There is some seriously good karma to having a drink knowing the jungle has to remain intact to grow your mate. I always loved that.
The only real considerations when buying bulk mate is whether it has stems (con palo), is without stems (sin palo), and whether the leaves are smoked during drying, or not. My opinion is that sin palo that is not smoked is best because it’s pure mate leaves and there are carcinogens involved with anything smoked. You may not have similar concern, just be aware it comes in these forms if you order it. The smoking comes from burning wood, which would obviously require cutting trees down, under the racks of drying mate. I really don’t know the history of smoking mate, but I’ve only had a couple samples that I thought were better than non-smoked and I still wouldn’t drink it much.
My friend who operated the mate bar dried orange peels, lavender, and lot of other flowers, fruit parts, and spices that you could pay extra to add to the mate. Typically you’ll find you get more out of supplements like this when you use larger gourds for group drinking. But there are lots of options and it’s quite fun finding stuff you like in your mate.
Important considerations are how much mate to use, and how much water to use. Also water is as near as boiling as possible. You pack the mate tight. It should not be floating on the water. The water should only be soaking into the mate and barely puddling on top. You pack the mate while dry. Pack it with the bombilla in the correct place to drink, at the bottom. Prepped like this mate is very strong and you will notice a strong increase in energy, but also a very profound sense of motivation and mental clarity. It’s quite different from coffee when you’re “in the zone”.
It is typical for a host with the hot water to pour your water in and the person handed the gourd takes a drink until you hear bubbles and passes it back to the person keeping the water to refill the gourd and go to the next person. It goes to your left around the group like a peace pipe. It’s bad etiquette to hand it off to the next person without hearing bubbles indicating it’s empty of water. You suck till you hear bubbles, whether it’s one or more drinks, and pass it back to the host with the water.
Also, and importantly, do not move the bombilla after you’ve packed it and added water. It should stay put. If you’re in a group it is majorly bad etiquette to mess with the bombilla and move it. Typically people hold the gourd with the index finger over the bombilla to secure it while handling. I recommend the habit.
PM me if you have any questions or develop a thing for mate. It is a very popular drink where they grow it. I recall being told that tribes have been able to live off of it during famine because it has over 100 vitamins, minerals, and other components that discussing is honestly over my head from a biological perspective.
