Never use boiling water to brew your mate, because that will make the resulting brew much more bitter. This recipe uses a blend of cool and hot water to make your mate taste awesome.
Herbs to Enhance Mate Flavor and Health Benefits
Adding different herbs to mate can enhance its flavor and provide additional health benefits, making each cup a unique and aromatic experience.
These herbs not only add an extra layer of taste but also bring along their own medicinal benefits.
Brewing Tips for Great Tasting Mate
You want to make the switch to yerba mate, but you also want your morning drink to taste amazing. You don’t want to have to add a ton of sugar to get there, which would cancel out the benefits you seek from mate in the first place.
Whether you’re using loose mate or mate tea bags, it’s important to follow three simple rules whenever you brew it:
- Moisten the mate with cool water first.
- Never use boiling water—170F is ideal.
- Steep for five minutes max.
A dollop of honey and a splash of creamer are great additions, but not necessary if you follow the basic rules.
Ways to Sweeten Mate
There are four basic ways of incorporating it:
- Add a sugar cube or two teaspoons of sugar to the mate gourd and add the yerba.
- Cover the top of the gourd and shake it up and down so that mate and sugar are combined.
- Add half a teaspoon of sugar on top of the yerba but close to the bombilla, and continue adding sugar as desired.
Spices and Flavors to Add
Can you add cinnamon to yerba mate? Add a pinch of cinnamon powder before brewing. Mix in some ground ginger for a spicy flavor and improved digestion. Combine with other spices like cardamom for more complex flavors. Never use boiling water to brew mate as it makes the brew more bitter. Another trick is to add cinnamon directly to the boiled water, but too much cinnamon makes tea bitter. Use fine-ground leaves in oatmeal or baking. Add sweeteners, herbs and fruits. You may purchase pre-flavored mate with other herbs, spices or fruit.
Mate Tea Preparation
The preparation of mate involves placing dried leaves and stems in an infuser with boiled water. Aim hot water closely to the bombilla straw to avoid wetting upper leaves. To treat simply like other loose leaf tea, steep mate in hot water then filter leaves before drinking. Ideal brewing temperature is 170°F.
To make mate tea, combine one cup water with one spoonful mate. Bring to boil then let cool couple minutes. Mate is unlike other teas, with benefits to revolutionize your life, similar to coffee or black tea but no psychedelic properties. Although naturally bitter, many sweeten with sugar, honey or sweetener. Infuse maté in hot water, steep, then cool in shaker over ice with lemon, lime juice, orange and sugar. Shake then serve.
Traditional Mate Tea Preparation
To prepare mate tea the traditional way you need a gourd, bombilla straw, and hot (not boiling) water. Fill gourd 2/3 with mate leaves then insert straw. Let tea steep then drink through bombilla. This method produces rich flavor and foam.
Mate Tea Background
The leaves are harvested from a wild shrub and dried. The tea is rich in antioxidants and health benefits. It can be enjoyed with milk and sugar or flavored.