What is Yerba Mate?
Mate is a plant native to South America that has properties similar to caffeinated plants. The leaves and twigs are dried, typically over a fire, and steeped in hot water to make an herbal tea called mate. Mate is popular in parts of South America and contains caffeine.
Traditionally, mate was passed around in a shared gourd as a show of communal friendship. Before using a mate gourd for the first time, you need to cure it to ensure good flavor.
Our Favorite Yerba Mate Brands
Our favorite yerba mate brands combine great flavor with responsible production practices, reasonable pricing, and ease of use. If you’re new to tea, you may prefer a non-traditional blend with added flavors and fewer stems. If you’re a fan of green tea, you may enjoy a traditional yerba mate brew. We’ve chosen each tea below to represent the best of yerba mate.
Mate tastes somewhat like green tea, with hints of tobacco and oak. Whether it be with a tea strainer, tea pot, French press, or even a coffee maker, these are all viable options.
Choosing Yerba Mate Leaves
When it comes to choosing the right yerba mate leaves, there are different types to consider.
- Traditional yerba mate leaves are strong and bold, while flavored varieties add a touch of sweetness or herbal notes.
- Popular options include Cruz de Malta, Taragüi, and Amanda.
- To ensure freshness, store yerba mate leaves in an airtight container away from light and moisture.
Although mate is naturally bitter, many prefer to sweeten their mate tea by adding sugar, honey or any other sweetener during the brewing process.
Brewing Yerba Mate
- Fill up a your french press with three spoonfuls of Yerba Mate.
- Add cold water and make sure it covers all of the leaves.
- Add hot water (80 – 100 degree F / 27 – 38 degrees C).
- Let sit for two minutes.
Mate is a drink made by steeping dried leaves from the yerba mate plant in hot water. The caffeine in mate is a stimulant drug. Depending on how much you consume, it can feel very trippy. The energy boost produced by yerba mate is more subtle and it lasts longer compared to energy drinks.
Though caffeinated like coffee and green tea are, mate has some stark differences from these two other wildly popular beverages. It has the same amount of caffeine as coffee does, but it does not make the drinker jittery. Unless you are super sensitive to caffeine, you will feel the body and mind stimulation long after drinking yerba mate. Coffee drinkers, however, often suffer a caffeine crash at some point.
Can you make yerba mate in a normal cup? We’ve helped hundreds of people like you to prepare their first mate. Follow along as we share the secrets to always get your mates right! By now you’re probably wondering whether drinking mate with a coffee maker is better than drinking mate the traditional way – with a gourd and bombilla. Although I always recommend people to stick with tradition, using a coffee maker for yerba mate has its purpose. One is convenience.
Despite mate not actually being psychedelic or hallucinogenic, there are some things you can do to bring about that experience as much as possible. Though I don’t recommend this to everybody. First, drink mate on an empty stomach.
Harvesting and Preparing Yerba Mate
The plant is harvested and brewed similar to tea, to make a specialty beverage popular throughout South America. But let’s take a deeper dive into this subject, here I’ll take you from start to finish, from growing to preparation, to drinking it and more everything I know, condensed into one (hopefully) helpful page!
Enjoying Yerba Mate Your Way
Make Mate Tea Just the Way You Like It! There are many ways to brew and enjoy yerba mate tea. You could try the traditional way of brewing and enjoying yerba mate tea when spending time with friends and relatives. However, in the middle of a hot summer day, you could choose to drink some ice-cold yerba mate tea with a dash of lime juice and some mint and honey. Try different mate products and different brewing methods to discover your personal favorites!
Like tea, it’s made from steeping leaves in hot water, but there are many more steps in the process that set yerba mate apart. Mate is meant to be enjoyed slowly and mindfully with people you care about. Brewing its leaves with the reverence this traditional practice deserves, makes the whole experience special. So, what are the different methods of making yerba mate? Let’s dive in.