Content
Yerba mate is a species of Holly plant that looks similar to an evergreen tree and can grow taller than 20 feet! The leaves of the yerba mate plant are harvested and steeped like tea to make a caffeinated beverage similar to coffee. From Argentina to the Middle East and even Poland, mate has been enjoyed across cultures for centuries with a gourd and bombilla ceremony. Since many people don’t know how to prepare yerba mate tea, they pure hot water in the gourd.
A delicious and refreshing way to prepare yerba mate with lime. There is about 70 mg of caffeine in matcha and coffee has about 85 mg so it’s snugly in the middle of the two. Yerba mate can be prepared the same way as you would make tea. This gourd, created with insulated stainless steel, is able to hold both hot and cold preparations. ✅ HASSLE-FREE CLEANING – Our Yerba Mate tea mugset won’t take much of your time and effort to clean and maintain. They are dishwasher safe and easy to hand wash with a space saving compact size.
Traditionally, yerba mate is prepared in one gourd that is shared; this is part of the social and cultural amazon kitchen gadgets experience of drinking yerba mate. Each guest sips down a gourd of mate and returns it to the cebador to prepare another for the next guest in the circle. This is a traditional ritual of friendship and hospitality. As the Spanish began to colonize the countries across South America, they saw firsthand the health and energy benefits this indigenous beverage had on the people of the land.
Preparing yerba mate in a calabash gourd is like any other gourd except for one minor difference – most calabashes have a little stem directly in the middle. This stem is a natural part of the plant that you don’t want to mess with or else your gourd may leak. After each use, make sure you get rid of every leaf and stem in your gourd and pat the inside with a paper towel. Also, never leave yerba mate in your gourd for an extended period of time (max – 2 days) as this will increase the chances of mold. Here is our selection of mates and guampas for drinking yerba mate.
It’s made so that you wouldn’t accidentally swallow the leaf’s particles. Traditional mate cups are by far the most popular choice among mate tea drinkers. They are made from the fruit of a gourd vine such as calabash squash, and they need to be cured before they are used to prevent cracking and mold growth. Because they absorb some of the tea flavors during use, these gourds have high flavor-enhancing properties that allow them to improve the taste of the Mate tea each time. When people in South American and other cultures gather to drink Mate tea from a Yerba mate gourd, there is even some degree of ceremony associated with this gathering.
The best way to remove mold from your yerba mate gourd is to allow it to fully dry. Place your gourd is the sun for a few hours or allow it to dry on a counter near an open window. For the writers at Planet Yerba Mate, this is not one of our favorite loose leaf blends. It features a very bold, malty & bitter taste, and it is quite powdery in loose leaf form.
This practice preserves the nutrients and quality, while simultaneously working to restore the rainforest. And I love what Guayaki does with their ‘Market Driven Restoration’ business model where they plant trees to grow the mate under. “The xanthines draw a lot of attention because they number among them some traditional nasties, chief of which is caffeine. All of the xanthines have a similar stereo-chemistry but each has its own unique set of properties. For many years, and even now in some sectors, yerba mate was thought to contain caffeine.
I’m Paraguayan and tereré is most commonly just cold water instead of hot water. The juice variant is something I’ve never actually encountered in Paraguay but have heard of. I thoroughly recommend tereré for hot weather since it is very easy to make and easier to drink in large quantities than just water keeping you hydrated. We sell Yerba Mate and other Teas, hand crafted mate gourds, Bombillas. You will find all the popular brands including Rosamonte, Canarias and Taragui.
The drink is served in an ornate mate cup, which is commonly made from wood, glass or Calabash gourd . However, in Paraguay, guampa is also a popular choice of mate cup. Somewhat confusingly, the container or gourd that the mate drink is served in, is also referred to as mate.