Food & Drink
FinanceYerba Mate
I’m about due to put in another tea order with Teavana. I picked up some Yerba Mate on my last order and really enjoyed it. I’m mainly accustomed to green tea varieties and the mate teas offer a pleasant change with a very distinct taste.
A relative of the holly bush, yerba maté is grown and processed mainly in South America. When harvested, the branches and leaves are dried and broken up to be used for tea. The drink is generally known as mate and the plant from which the drink is derived is the yerba mate plant.
Mate contains xanthines, a stimulant in the same family as caffeine. Many people claim that by drinking mate they get the benefits of caffeine such as focus and alertness without the anxiety and jitters that often accompany caffeine. Be advised, many mate blends that you buy will probably contain some amount of caffeine as well.
In many South American countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern Chile, and eastern Bolivia it is a common social practice to share mate with friends from a hollow gourd known as a mate using a metal straw known as a bombilla.
You can get mate in many different brands and varieties, including blends flavored with mint, orange, lemon, and other spices. This time around I might pick up a mate and a bombilla to ascend to the level of full-fledged tea nerd.
Photo credit: http://flickr.com/photos/66035039@N00/2314008199/
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