14 ms·

Yerba Mate – A Long but Current History (2021)

155 points by Kaibeezy 4y ago

wincy 4y ago
Is there any Yerba Mate you can buy that doesn’t taste horrible though? I consider myself pretty adventurous, but I bought some the other day and was shocked at how such a gross beverage has become popular so quickly.
- yakireev 4y ago
  > Is there any Yerba Mate you can buy that doesn’t taste horrible though? The short answer is "no". That's what it tastes like. It's an acquired taste, like coffee or beer, and it takes more than one try to get hooked. Source: am hooked.
- jmtucu 4y ago
  Try the Union Suave, but the secret is how you prepare the mate. Try to find a video from an Argentinian guy doing it.
  - elboru 4y ago
    This is it. I hated it too the first time I tried it. Then I watched a couple of videos and the experience was totally different.
- petargyurov 4y ago
  I had it once and I wasn't really a fan either, but then again I also don't really like tea in general. Like with a lot of things, some foods and drinks are "indoctrinated" to us as children. I imagine mate falls into this category. Could also argue coffee and alcohol taste horrible at first, but you learn to suss out the more complex flavours with habitual use. Of course you also learn to enjoy them because of the effects they have on your body.
- nkozyra 4y ago
  I don't think it tastes terrible at all, but I'm used to drinking matcha/sencha, kava and kratom. All are very earthy tasting, but not bad once you're used to this. I've never gotten much out of yerba versus tea, to be honest. It has so many magical benefits abscribed to it, but I think it boils down (no pun) to a lightly caffeinated drink and not much more.
- seu 4y ago
  Try adding some sugar. Traditionalists will pretend to be repulsed by it, but even in Argentina (where I come from), plenty of people add it to their mate.
  - senectus1 4y ago
    heh, i went to Argentina for work once.. (it was just pre covid) and I was shocked and amazed at their consumption of this stuff... not only do they pour copious amounts of artificial sweeteners into the cups but they share the cup and straw around the office! I shudder to think of them doing that during covid...
    - sdfhbdf 4y ago
      When I was there last month, a lot of people said that not sharing mate anymore was one of the major cultural things that happened in Argentina because of Covid. Of course the country has other problems that it deals with but yeah looking around it seemed that almost all people carry their own. I’m not Argentinian though so I might not have reliable info just very recent
      - gbaygon 4y ago
        I'm Argentinian and we keep sharing mate as if nothing have happened. Off course there may be some people that started to drink their own mate but definitely not the majority, not even close. Sharing mate is a ritual too culturally rooted to Argentinian society. It's hard to explain but it goes beyond drinking a hot beverage.
        sdfhbdf 4y ago
        Ok, that's nice to hear. I must have believed anecdata too much
    - the_af 4y ago
      Sharing the straw is definitely the way to go here in Argentina. Note: I'm Argentinian but I don't like mate and sharing a straw feels gross to me. Other Argentinians tell me there's something wrong with my genes. Mate is a social thing here. You're supposed to share and there's a ritual about how the round goes, who prepares the mate for the rest of the group, and how you signal that you don't want to drink anymore. Also curious: Uruguayans share our love of mate but for them it's an individual thing, they don't share their mates. So we say that Uruguayans are born with a mate thermos under their armpits, one for each of them!
- mumumu 4y ago
  It is hard to find yerba mate that doesn't taste stale outside of south of South America. Friends that drink it ask for people traveling to SA to bring them some. They are also very particular about how to choose it.
  - alamortsubite 4y ago
    Like any tea, yerba has a long shelf life if stored properly. It's true it used to take some sleuthing and a bit of luck to track down a bag of yerba at a nearby supermarket in the U.S., and even if you managed to find some you were unlikely to have more than a couple brands to choose from (in a supermarket in Buenos Aires, there are typically dozens). But these days you can order just about any brand of yerba you like on Amazon for the same price or less than buying it in the store, and it will be FedExed to your door in only a few days. As I write this, I'm drinking a mate made with a very fresh bag of La Tranquera. Bárbaro!
  - rodrigodlu 4y ago
    There's some brands in south Brazil that sell in a vacuum bag, like coffee, that I store for an entire year. This is how I'm "importing" the good stuff to Rio from south Brazil or Buenos Aires, Argentina sometimes. It's easier to find good brands in Auckland, NZ in specialized stores than here.
- kamiheku 4y ago
  Try Meta Mate 23 [0] if you can find it where you are. It's vacuum packed while fresh, so instead of the usual bitter road dust affair you get a vibrant-green mate with a mellow, grassy taste. Haven't bought anything else after I discovered this one. [0] https://metamate.cc/product/23/ https://metamate.cc/product/23/
- nbk_2000 4y ago
  Depends upon which flavor you find objectionable. If you don't like the taste of very strong green tea, then yerba mate may not be for you. However there are several other factors that can lead to yerba mate tasting bad. First is the quality and freshness of the yerba. It should be 6 months or less since it was packaged (check date stamps). It should be made with 80-85* C water (too hot, and it will be super bitter). Whether the yerba has stems (palitos) or not (despalada) can make a difference, stems contribute a bitter taste to the drink. As has been mentioned, knowing how to load the mate and get it primed can also have an effect (ideally, you're going for a slightly nutty, green tea flavor, with a tiny bit of sweetness). It also needs to be a high quality brand, which can be very difficult to obtain outside of S.America. Some high quality brands are: - Taragui (Argentina) - La Merced (Argentina) - Union (Argentina) - Canarias (Uruguay) - Sara (Uruguay) For preparing mate cold (called tereré) - La Rubia (Paraguay) - Pajarito (Paraguay) ... and though highly controversial, you can add sweetner to it to make it less bitter, at least until you palette adapts. But be prepared to be chided with "si no es amargo, no es mate" if mate connoisseurs catch you doing this.
  - edmonddantes80 4y ago
    I will add Rosamonte premium, best yerba ever (at least for me).
    - sombragris 4y ago
      Might not be the best ever but I can attest it's a fantastic product which I would recommend in a heartbeat.
  - artur_makly 4y ago
    1. add some raw sugar ( 1 teaspoon per gourd ) 2. try the smoked 'Barbacua' flavor https://www.amazon.com/MERCED-Barbacua-Cosecha-Limitada-500gr/dp/B014KSCA14 https://www.amazon.com/MERCED-Barbacua-Cosecha-Limitada-500g... it rocked my world.
    - nbk_2000 4y ago
      If you love La Merced Barbacua, try to get a hold of some of the Barbacua from Sol y Lluvia, it's by far the best smoked yerba I've ever had!
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  I remember trying the Guayaki brand canned version that was lightly sweetened and really liking that, but they don’t seem to offer it any longer. Odd. Definitely try various levels and types of sweetener, as others have suggested, and I’ll add: try it iced.
  - hiidrew 4y ago
    used to love Guayaki until i realized it has 20-30 grams of sugar. i've found brands that have lower amount, can't remember the name off the top of my head though
  - shostack 4y ago
    I got the loose leaf bagged stuff from that brand. How does it compare to other brands?
- pastacacioepepe 4y ago
  In some parts of Europe (especially Germany/Austria in my experience) you can find soda drinks such as "Club Mate". I like the taste as it's sweteened but not excessively.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
    I know that, but don't like it that much. What's acceptable though is Club Mate Granat. That is blended with some pomegrenade juice, and looks red. Recommended. Also still available for €0,89 per 0,5L where I live :-)
    - pantalaimon 4y ago
      I think Club Mate Granat is an atrocity that tastes nothing like Mate. But when it comes to mixing flavors, I think Mio Mio Ginger Mate is pretty great. Or Lux Mate with mint - but I’m afraid they closed down.
      - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
        Mio Mio Ginger Mate was acceptable, but not good. But they also had something Guarana Pomegrenade, which was better. While were at Ginger, ever tried Bundaberg? :-) Lux Mate Mint sounds interesting, but never had it, so far.
  - flobosg 4y ago
    > Club-Mate has developed a following in computer hacker culture and tech start-ups, especially in Europe. ―https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Hacker_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Hacker_culture I also like Tschunk, a caipirinha-like cocktail made with Club-Mate, rum, brown sugar, and limes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Tschunk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Tschunk
    - pastacacioepepe 4y ago
      Yeah you made me remember tschunk, I liked it!! Beside hacker culture it's also quite common in the clubbing scene. I also like to mix it with vodka, it's simple and works pretty well.
- bhdn 4y ago
  In addition to the other suggestions, consider alternating the source of the mate. Argentinian and Brazilian ones are quite distinct in flavor. Lowering water temperature may lighten it a bit as well.
- elhesuu 4y ago
  I also dislike when mate is too bitter, but that doesn't generally depend on the yerba itself, but rather on how you prepare mate. Try: - removing dust from yerba, by covering the top of your cup with a slightly humid cloth and shaking it for a few seconds (the dust should stick to it, but the leaves should not) - heating using water a tiny bit under 70 degrees hot (above this temperature the first mates will be too bitter, and the last too washy) - pouring water always in the same place, so that the leaves slowly get wet from bottom to top
- varispeed 4y ago
  If I find particularly bad tasting one, I'd add some Agava syrup and lime juice. Tastes great then.
- rodrigodlu 4y ago
  If you compare to coffee without sugar, It's definitely much easier. Like others are saying, it's an acquired taste. I have the same problem living now in southeast Brazil, because many people in south acquire this taste since childhood, like myself. When I offer to people in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro they make a sad face as well. :) But my wife is liking now (she's natural from Rio). It took like a decade for her to really enjoy.
- mmplxx 4y ago
  It indeed tastes horribly to me too, but I just can't help drinking it around five times a day.
- sharperguy 4y ago
  It's probably 80% preparation and 20% acquired taste. Few people enjoy coffee when they first try it. Mate is also very easy to overextract and become extremely bitter if not prepared with caution and the correct technique.
jmtucu 4y ago
Yerba mate <3
gusfrehse 4y ago
Hah wait until you find about chimarrão
- outime 4y ago
  It's literally mentioned in the document a bunch of times.
  - bhdn 4y ago
    May refer to the demeaning origins of the name. Wikipedia: In Brazil, traditionally prepared mate is known as chimarrão, although the word mate and the expression "mate amargo" (bitter mate) are also used in Argentina and Uruguay. The Spanish cimarrón means "rough", "brute", or "barbarian", but is most widely understood to mean "feral", and is used in almost all of Latin America for domesticated animals that have become wild. The word was then used by the people who colonized the region of the Río de la Plata to describe the natives' rough and sour drink, drunk with no other ingredient to sweeten the taste.
i-petko 4y ago
Anyone else had terrible teeth pigmentation when consuming yerba mate tea? I had tried using it for some time, but had to go to the dentist because my teeth where turning brown. After realizing that introducing the tea was the only change I made before the issue started, I stopped consuming and the issue was indeed solved.
- eric__cartman 4y ago
  I'm from Argentina and consume it on a regular basis. I haven't noticed any pigmentation, although I have the habit to rinse my mouth after finishing a cup of anything that's not water so that might be why.
- wslh 4y ago
  Dentist feedback: yerba mate pigmentation could be clean with a typical prophylactic treatment.
  - 31337Logic 4y ago
    For the non-dentists here, could you obese provide an example of a "typical prophylactic treatment"?
    - adamgordonbell 4y ago
      It means getting your teeth cleaned professionally
    - parasubvert 4y ago
      The professional teeth cleaning most folks with insurance can get 2-4 times annually with a dental hygenist - eg. Scaling and polishing.
    - qiqitori 4y ago
      Hey, we're just big-boned.
  - rodrigodlu 4y ago
hjgjhyuhy 4y ago
The thing I enjoy about Mate is how long lasting and stable its stimulating effect is. Coffee just gives me a quick spike after which I feel bad. Mate helps me to concentrate on boring stuff for hours.
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  Having looked at multiple articles before posting this one, your point is definitely a major advantage mentioned consistently. The technique of adding water repeatedly is how I’ve always done oolong tea and gotten a very similar experience. I should mention I went down this rabbit hole due to the World Cup attention, but have been drinking mate for years and years.
- varispeed 4y ago
  I've been trying various Mates and they do nothing for me, in fact often I get sluggish and sleepy. I have a similar effect after coffee, but if I drink like 4 espressos at once I get a slight bump of focus. When I get past 8 espresso my hands get a bit shaky and again I feel like I need to go to sleep. I guess caffeine is not for me, however I still drink it, as it helps with migraines and ADHD.
- mmplxx 4y ago
  I have been drinking too much mate for such a long time that I can only relate it to withdrawal symptoms at this point :)
- NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
  That's because it's really just the caffeine causing a small adrenaline release. A lot of people don't realize that, I suspect. It's also why it can make you have to take a dump immediately. Caffeine doesn't amp you up, it just causes your body to release a tiny bit of adrenaline which is what amps you up. I have no clue what Mate does.
contingo 4y ago
From the introduction, which starts by trying to give some wider taxonomic context: >The genus Ilex comprises about 450 species growing in the tropical regions of South America and Asia. Ilex trees are located exclusively in South America... The roughly 500-600 species in the genus Ilex are commonly called hollies and include the European Christmas holly, I. aquafolium. The genus overall has a worldwide distribution over both tropical and temperate regions, there is no particular concentration of diversity in the South American tropics. Strange to get basic facts so wrong in the opening sentences.
- DonaldFisk 4y ago
  "Ilex trees are located exclusively in South America: in northern Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay, where they cover an area of approximately 540,000 km2." That's the range of Ilex paraguariensis, the species from whose leaves yerba mate is made, not Ilex trees in general.
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  You’re right, it’s wrong, but not that wrong. Several sources indicate the majority of Ilex species occur in South America and Asia, so that was probably what they meant to say. Ilex paraguariensis is limited to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, and are clearly the “Ilex trees” referred to in the second sentence quoted. So, yeah, it’s imprecise and syntactically sloppy but not that far out, and not the main point of the paper, but as Jack Reacher says, “details matter”.
  - contingo 4y ago
    It's woefully wrong for something in the primary literature. Yes, I understood what information they were sloppily failing to be precise about. If I were refereeing this paper I'd insist on a correction.
    - Kaibeezy 4y ago
      Aye, they've been telt ;)
MrDresden 4y ago
Yerba Mate got me through university. It was such integral part of that time of my life that even now more than a decade later I still meet people who remember me as the strange tea pipe guy (I used a traditional gourd and metal bombilla). However I stopped drinking it once it got known to me that it might have cancer causing properties. Scanning the article I can see there have been direct connections made via PAH concentration in the plant, which gets extracted along with everything else once brewed. It seems to be recommended that leafs only be used once to avoid extracting much of the PAH, but still it seems that the extraction does happen. And while we have all too many cancer causing chemicals in our daily life already, I am not sure I would want to introduce one knowingly. Am I wrong here? Is the risk negligible or some known way of circumvent PAH extraction? Perhaps a Yerba Mate cold brew?
- augusto-moura 4y ago
  There is a Yerba Mate cold brew called Tereré[1], is very common in some countries of South America. Even more than the hot version in some places. I myself had it many times, sometimes mixed with lime juice, and even mixed with vodka [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9
  - MrDresden 4y ago
    Thank you for the suggestion, but I live on a small island in the North Atlantic where availability of goods is not particularly high. I can get the Yerba Mate leaf, but the cold brew I would need to make my self. I was rather trying to see if there was any literature out there on if cold brewing limits or eliminates the PAH extraction.
    - sgallant 4y ago
      I too live on a small island in the North Atlantic and I'm making my way through my first bag of Anna Park Yerba Mate (Andrew Huberman recommendation)[1] Hello from Canada! [1]https://www.amazon.ca/Anna-Park-Yerba-Mate-Organic/dp/B01B6WUB2W https://www.amazon.ca/Anna-Park-Yerba-Mate-Organic/dp/B01B6W...
roldie 4y ago
If anyone is like me and finds yerba mate too strong or too bitter, I highly recommend guayusa. It's from the same genus so it's a caffeinated holly plant (ilex guayusa) too, but it has a more pleasant, slightly sweet taste. Anecdotally, I find guayusa gives an energy boost on par with coffee, but sustained for much longer, and with gentler slopes (I.e no crash)
- ahmadnoid 4y ago
  The first 2/3 ones are bitter by nature. Then starting the 3rd or the 4th one (you just add water on top, don't change the leaves) it gets better.
lloydatkinson 4y ago
I bought a couple of nice bags of what I believed to just be normal herbal tea. Having never heard of this "yerba mate" thing I thought it was just the brand. Once I looked closer at the bags it had a whole load of instructions like "use the pipe" and "don't stir as it blocks the pipe" which was just bizarre. Since when is a pipe or straw needed for tea? I tried to make a normal herbal tea with it but it tasted disgusting and nothing like the cherry flavour it claimed to be. Total waste of money and seems like an incredibly hipster and convoluted drink to need all that crap including a straw. I even googled it again just now and one of the top results is a reddit post saying try it with soda? Ridiculous. I just stick to herbal tea bags now.
- carpenecopinum 4y ago
  I brew it just like any regular herbal tea and I'm pretty happy with it. The whole ritual with the pipe and gourd is a bonus, but never required. If you dislike the more bitter flavors about it, try steeping it at a lower temperature (like 70-80C) and only for a short duration (2 or 3 minutes). That should make it a lot more bearable to you. You can also get packages that have less or no stems or powder, which both add to the bitterness.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
    Tsk. The green stuff. Unroasted. Sieve in glass. Boiling water. 10 minutes. 390ml Äqctiön! :-)
  - the_af 4y ago
    You're not supposed to brew it like a herbal tea, the proportion of mate to water will be all wrong :) The hotness of the water will also be wrong, mate is brewed with mildly hot water, way less hot than tea. That said, if you enjoy it, keep doing that way... there's no mate police!
- brezelgoring 4y ago
  What an incredibly judgemental answer from a person that chides other HN users for their choice of programming frameworks. > Total waste of money and seems like an incredibly hipster and convoluted drink to need all that crap including a straw. It is the opposite of hipster, the drink has been in use for 400 years in South America, and is appreciated by millions. > I just stick to herbal tea bags now. Stick to skim milk, it fits you better, child.
ahmadnoid 4y ago
Fun fact: Yerba Mate is widely used in Syria and Lebanon due to trade between Latin America and the Levant. I grew up drinking Yerba Mate Tea almost every day.
- alamortsubite 4y ago
  Yes. It used to be that a great place to leverage this fun fact to your advantage if you were looking to score yerba in the U.S. was a middle-eastern grocery. Also fun to have a bag of Cruz de Malta with an ingredients label in Arabic slapped on it. Nowadays, of course, it's easier just to go online.
- pantalaimon 4y ago
  Mate Softdrinks are ubiquitous in Germany, it’s fueling the IT industry and students.
artur_makly 4y ago
I've lived in Argentina since 2006, when I discovered mate.. it changed my whole approach to stable productivity because it would not crash you like coffee. I'm happy to see this study finally. Surprisingly when I asked my doctor here if there were any studies on it, I was shocked to hear "Oh No!" when asked why.. she responded "1. there is no $ for funding it. 2. No one cares here about the clinical health effects, we all drink it ( +/- 45 million ), it works, and the only thing people care about is how many 'palos'/sticks get into the bag". Personally, having drank it for 16 years, I do deeply wonder about the long term effects of it on the nervous system, which I don't think the paper addresses.
- jcarrano 4y ago
  There are studies: https://inym.org.ar/descargar/publicaciones/mate-y-salud/base-de-datos-yerba-mate-y-salud.html https://inym.org.ar/descargar/publicaciones/mate-y-salud/bas... Also, INYM has codified the procedures regarding analysis procedures.
- ianai 4y ago
  For long term effects, ask the long term drinkers of it. Sounds like you may have family who have drank it for a long time. They’re way better as a guide (with significant noise) as to what you could expect. This is of course not scientific in the usual sense. But family history is another thing.
- rodrigodlu 4y ago
  I grew up in the south Brazil, we share the same strong passion for things with Yerba Mate (Erva Mate in portuguese). People there drink for the entire life, like myself. There's some studies from universities from south of Brazil and Embrapa that is a institution that oversees research on things related to agriculture. One of the references I quickly found, that have more references. All in portuguese unfortunately: https://aps-repo.bvs.br/aps/a-erva-mate-possui-acao-terapeutica-comprovada-cientificamente/ https://aps-repo.bvs.br/aps/a-erva-mate-possui-acao-terapeut... Quoting a translation from there: """Another clinical study demonstrated an increase in antioxidant capacity in serum and in total blood and a reduction in LDL-cholesterol in individuals with dyslipidemia after ingestion of 1L per day of yerba mate infusion for ninety days, which suggests that this is an auxiliary dietary supplement in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in individuals who have a free food diet. The same action has already been described by other authors previously. Klein et al (2011) reported that consumption of mate tea for 60 days improved the control and glycemic profile of individuals with type 26 diabetes. Experimental research analyzed in a literature review indicates that mate tea improves glucose tolerance in obese animals. """ Yerba mate consumption has been associated with the incidence of oropharyngeal and esophageal cancer, however, this seems to be mainly related to the habit of some people to drink the drink at very high temperatures. The ideal water temperature is 70 to 80ºC. """
damontal 4y ago
does mate actually have cancer causing properties or does the cancer come about from long term sipping a hot drink through a straw?
- derbOac 4y ago
  My reading of that literature is that there isn't a lot of evidence one way or another. However, last time I looked at it it seemed like the most likely cause was from how some mates are smoked, and that unsmoked mate didn't have the same cancer risk. Take this with a grain of salt though, because although I followed that pretty closely for awhile, I stopped at some point and it's been a couple of years since.
  - mr_donk 4y ago
    Any source of what brands/varieties are smoked vs not? I’m able to get quite a few types imported from South America, but from my attempts at translating the packaging and trying to Google things, I can’t tell what’s smoked or unsmoked.
    - sharperguy 4y ago
      Argentinian mate is traditionally smoked so most brands you will find are of the smoked variety. The brazilian version, chimarrão, is traditionally not smoked, so you might start by looking for that.
penumbral 4y ago
Coming from an Argentine family Yerba Mate is great. I'm American but have been drinking it frequently since the time I was 14 or so. I drank tons in college but took a multi-year break a few years down the line due to reflux issues that it made worse. Those are some things to look out for - heartburn, sinusitis, negative changes in mood, tension headaches. I notice that there is a huge difference between Yerba Mate brands in terms of the perceived effects. Lately Union Suave and Rosamonte have not been sitting well in my stomach or mind (irritability, lack of concentration, tension headaches, etc). Taragui Liviana and my new favorite Playaditos are the best for me. I've been drinking them twice a day with no perceivable ill effects. Although I do lose some endurance performance on the high end when drinking Yerba Mate before running which I've tracked with a chest mounted heart rate tracker. I'd like to send the different brands off to a lab to have a better understanding of WHY I feel such a difference in the effects when going brand to brand. I'd assume its due to different concentrations in the three primary Xanthines - Caffeine, Theobromine, Theophylline. Anyways, definitely worth the squeeze, but don't be surprised if you need to try a few different brands to see which affects you the best.
- gosukiwi 4y ago
  Playadito is great. There's a kind of Yerba Mate that is easier on the liver and stomach now called Cachamai, and there's some alternatives too. It normally comes in with extra flavors such as Mint, Orange, etc. I'm Argentinian, been drinking Mate daily (sometimes several times a day) since I was ~18 (32 now) and that Yerba is great :)
  - drukenemo 4y ago
    Are there negatives effects on the liver from consuming mate?
    - gosukiwi 4y ago
      You can have dried lips caused by the liver (at least that's my understanding), but that's if you consume a lot, daily, for a long time
- 4y ago
slicktux 4y ago
Club Mate Anyone?
- tombh 4y ago
  Berlin right?
dematz 4y ago
I've wanted to visit Argentina since reading https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.... (2006) which mentions mate as a national obsession and love affair The whole post is great so I don't want to copy too much here - click the link! read it all - but on mate's possible effects: Mate aficionados will tell you that mate contains a special compound, mateine, that serves as a tonic and mild stimulant, promoting alertness without making it hard to sleep, reducing fatigue and appetite, helping the digestion and serving as a mild diuretic. Scientists will tell you that mateine bears a suspicious resemblance to a chemical called caffeine. Mate aficionados will then grow indignant, explaining that mateine is really a stereoisomer (mirror image) of caffeine, with different effects, which will in turn irritate the scientists, who will snap that caffeine doesn't have a chiral center, so it can't have a distinguishable mirror image, and why don't the mate aficionados just put a sock in it. Since I am writing this from Argentina, I will just diplomatically state that mate includes a constellation of chemicals, whose presence may affect the way the body absorbs caff... er, mateine, giving it a unique physiological effect.
scoutt 4y ago
Other than the chemical analysis, I like to think that Mate has another useful property. That is: Mate is a great chance to get together and share a moment with family and friends. Note that drinking Mate happens almost every morning and every afternoon (in many places like work, school and home), and since it takes 4 or 5 rounds to "quench" your desire of Mate, before you notice it, half an hour has passed. In the meantime you got ready to work in the morning, or talked with your kids or wife about the day in the afternoon, etc.
electrondood 4y ago
For anyone who drinks yerba mate, the throat cancer incidence [0] is likely due to consumption of benzenes produced when smoking the leaves. You can buy unsmoked leaves in bulk. [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19695149/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19695149/
sombragris 4y ago
Read it while drinking my Tereré. Nice :)
bovermyer 4y ago
After reading the whole thing, here's my summary: Yerba mate reduces cholesterol, encourages fat loss, improves heart health, and has similar stimulative effects to coffee. However, the method of its preparation is important, as some varieties can increase the risk of certain types of cancer. Drink it cold in moderate daily amounts for the best effect.
- opinologo 4y ago
  70C / 158F would be enough. According to the paper, it is not different than coffee or tea when it comes to the risk effects drinking it hot
deleted 4y ago
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2snakes 4y ago
First, I love the saying that Mate is the "drink of hospitality in South America." Second, there have been some very interesting studies done with Yerba Mate -capsules- where if taking 6 500mg capsules there is an association with weight loss and especially appetite suppression. It functions much the same way (though not as acute) as GLP-1 like Ozempic/semaglutide which is all the rage right now.
glonq 4y ago
I spent a few weeks in Uruguay this year, and those folks are big on mate. I brought a cup and bombilla back as souvenirs, but they are currently just 'decorative' right now; I haven't used them to drink mate yet.
artur_makly 4y ago
ha! NYTimes just ran this article on it: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/sports/soccer/argentina-yerba-mate.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/sports/soccer/argentina-y...
ggm 4y ago
How to spot an Uruguayan: they're nursing a thermos flask under both arms. How to tell its an Uruguayan when they speak: "Its a bombeeja.."
tombh 4y ago
I'm a Yerba Mate drinking, HN regular and started live streaming my open source work recently. Here's a clip of a calabaza and bamboo bombilla slurp in the wild https://clips.twitch.tv/EnjoyableEvilSnakeTBTacoLeft-vQBnhCzyASDS2exq https://clips.twitch.tv/EnjoyableEvilSnakeTBTacoLeft-vQBnhCz...
pronlover723 4y ago
I just wish Club Mate was popular in the states. I love it and it's super popular in Berlin but I have yet to introduce it to a single person in the USA who like it (T_T)
- VonGuard 4y ago
  2600 Magazine on the East coast and Noisebridge on the West Coast are the only 2 registered distributors of Club Mate in the USA. If you are in SF, you can get one at Noisebridge for $5.
  - ryukafalz 4y ago
    And 2600 is often sold out.
  - pantalaimon 4y ago
    Are there any attempts to produce it locally? $5/bottle is crazy, here you can get a crate of 20 bottles for 15€ [0] A few years ago there was a real boom with many small soda companies/startups popping up to challenge the Club Mate hegemony with their own Mate brews. Many disappeared again but some did stick around, so there is still a good variety in Mate vendors. There are still many rather small operations too [1][2], so entering the soda market doesn't seem to be that hard compared to other things. And having a product that's mildly addictive is good for customer retention. [0] https://www.flinkeflasche.de/categories/52 https://www.flinkeflasche.de/categories/52 [1] https://kolle-mate.de/ https://kolle-mate.de/ [2] https://www.flora-power.de/ https://www.flora-power.de/
- ruph123 4y ago
  Total Wine and More usually carrys it although it is currently sold out: https://www.totalwine.com/accessories-more/mixers-water-soda/clubmate/p/172528233 https://www.totalwine.com/accessories-more/mixers-water-soda...
erie 4y ago
This may sound weird yet, in my country,Yerba mate has different connotations during the sectarian strife, it was a indication of particular sects. 'Yerba mate becomes a major import commodity in Syria' On 8 December 2019, the Central Bank of Syria included mate in the list of basic commodities supported for import. This underlines its significance in Syria as Syria is considered the world’s largest mate importer. Syria received 34.5 thousand tons of mate from Argentina in 2018, according to the National Institution of Argentine Yerba Mate (INYM), from which Syria imports 99.7 percent of its mate annually. Those figures were “historical” in Argentina, according to the Buenos Aires Times, Argentina’s only English-language newspaper. https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/01/interesting-story-of-yerba-mate-tea-in-syria/ https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/01/interesting-...
erie 4y ago
There is some weird thing about it in my country, pre-war,'Yerba mate becomes a major import commodity On 8 December 2019, the Central Bank of Syria included mate in the list of basic commodities supported for import. This underlines its significance in Syria as Syria is considered the world’s largest mate importer. Syria received 34.5 thousand tons of mate from Argentina in 2018, according to the National Institution of Argentine Yerba Mate (INYM), from which Syria imports 99.7 percent of its mate annually. Those figures were “historical” in Argentina, according to the Buenos Aires Times, Argentina’s only English-language newspaper.
- mgarciaisaia 4y ago
  They mentioned Syria in the proposal to add a Mate emoji

155 points by Kaibeezy 4y ago

Is there any Yerba Mate you can buy that doesn’t taste horrible though? I consider myself pretty adventurous, but I bought some the other day and was shocked at how such a gross beverage has become popular so quickly.

yakireev 4y ago
> Is there any Yerba Mate you can buy that doesn’t taste horrible though? The short answer is "no". That's what it tastes like. It's an acquired taste, like coffee or beer, and it takes more than one try to get hooked. Source: am hooked.
jmtucu 4y ago
Try the Union Suave, but the secret is how you prepare the mate. Try to find a video from an Argentinian guy doing it.
- elboru 4y ago
  This is it. I hated it too the first time I tried it. Then I watched a couple of videos and the experience was totally different.
petargyurov 4y ago
I had it once and I wasn't really a fan either, but then again I also don't really like tea in general. Like with a lot of things, some foods and drinks are "indoctrinated" to us as children. I imagine mate falls into this category. Could also argue coffee and alcohol taste horrible at first, but you learn to suss out the more complex flavours with habitual use. Of course you also learn to enjoy them because of the effects they have on your body.
nkozyra 4y ago
I don't think it tastes terrible at all, but I'm used to drinking matcha/sencha, kava and kratom. All are very earthy tasting, but not bad once you're used to this. I've never gotten much out of yerba versus tea, to be honest. It has so many magical benefits abscribed to it, but I think it boils down (no pun) to a lightly caffeinated drink and not much more.
seu 4y ago
Try adding some sugar. Traditionalists will pretend to be repulsed by it, but even in Argentina (where I come from), plenty of people add it to their mate.
- senectus1 4y ago
  heh, i went to Argentina for work once.. (it was just pre covid) and I was shocked and amazed at their consumption of this stuff... not only do they pour copious amounts of artificial sweeteners into the cups but they share the cup and straw around the office! I shudder to think of them doing that during covid...
  - sdfhbdf 4y ago
    When I was there last month, a lot of people said that not sharing mate anymore was one of the major cultural things that happened in Argentina because of Covid. Of course the country has other problems that it deals with but yeah looking around it seemed that almost all people carry their own. I’m not Argentinian though so I might not have reliable info just very recent
    - gbaygon 4y ago
      I'm Argentinian and we keep sharing mate as if nothing have happened. Off course there may be some people that started to drink their own mate but definitely not the majority, not even close. Sharing mate is a ritual too culturally rooted to Argentinian society. It's hard to explain but it goes beyond drinking a hot beverage.
      - sdfhbdf 4y ago
        Ok, that's nice to hear. I must have believed anecdata too much
  - the_af 4y ago
    Sharing the straw is definitely the way to go here in Argentina. Note: I'm Argentinian but I don't like mate and sharing a straw feels gross to me. Other Argentinians tell me there's something wrong with my genes. Mate is a social thing here. You're supposed to share and there's a ritual about how the round goes, who prepares the mate for the rest of the group, and how you signal that you don't want to drink anymore. Also curious: Uruguayans share our love of mate but for them it's an individual thing, they don't share their mates. So we say that Uruguayans are born with a mate thermos under their armpits, one for each of them!
mumumu 4y ago
It is hard to find yerba mate that doesn't taste stale outside of south of South America. Friends that drink it ask for people traveling to SA to bring them some. They are also very particular about how to choose it.
- alamortsubite 4y ago
  Like any tea, yerba has a long shelf life if stored properly. It's true it used to take some sleuthing and a bit of luck to track down a bag of yerba at a nearby supermarket in the U.S., and even if you managed to find some you were unlikely to have more than a couple brands to choose from (in a supermarket in Buenos Aires, there are typically dozens). But these days you can order just about any brand of yerba you like on Amazon for the same price or less than buying it in the store, and it will be FedExed to your door in only a few days. As I write this, I'm drinking a mate made with a very fresh bag of La Tranquera. Bárbaro!
- rodrigodlu 4y ago
  There's some brands in south Brazil that sell in a vacuum bag, like coffee, that I store for an entire year. This is how I'm "importing" the good stuff to Rio from south Brazil or Buenos Aires, Argentina sometimes. It's easier to find good brands in Auckland, NZ in specialized stores than here.
kamiheku 4y ago
Try Meta Mate 23 [0] if you can find it where you are. It's vacuum packed while fresh, so instead of the usual bitter road dust affair you get a vibrant-green mate with a mellow, grassy taste. Haven't bought anything else after I discovered this one. [0] https://metamate.cc/product/23/ https://metamate.cc/product/23/
nbk_2000 4y ago
Depends upon which flavor you find objectionable. If you don't like the taste of very strong green tea, then yerba mate may not be for you. However there are several other factors that can lead to yerba mate tasting bad. First is the quality and freshness of the yerba. It should be 6 months or less since it was packaged (check date stamps). It should be made with 80-85* C water (too hot, and it will be super bitter). Whether the yerba has stems (palitos) or not (despalada) can make a difference, stems contribute a bitter taste to the drink. As has been mentioned, knowing how to load the mate and get it primed can also have an effect (ideally, you're going for a slightly nutty, green tea flavor, with a tiny bit of sweetness). It also needs to be a high quality brand, which can be very difficult to obtain outside of S.America. Some high quality brands are: - Taragui (Argentina) - La Merced (Argentina) - Union (Argentina) - Canarias (Uruguay) - Sara (Uruguay) For preparing mate cold (called tereré) - La Rubia (Paraguay) - Pajarito (Paraguay) ... and though highly controversial, you can add sweetner to it to make it less bitter, at least until you palette adapts. But be prepared to be chided with "si no es amargo, no es mate" if mate connoisseurs catch you doing this.
- edmonddantes80 4y ago
  I will add Rosamonte premium, best yerba ever (at least for me).
  - sombragris 4y ago
    Might not be the best ever but I can attest it's a fantastic product which I would recommend in a heartbeat.
- artur_makly 4y ago
  1. add some raw sugar ( 1 teaspoon per gourd ) 2. try the smoked 'Barbacua' flavor https://www.amazon.com/MERCED-Barbacua-Cosecha-Limitada-500gr/dp/B014KSCA14 https://www.amazon.com/MERCED-Barbacua-Cosecha-Limitada-500g... it rocked my world.
  - nbk_2000 4y ago
    If you love La Merced Barbacua, try to get a hold of some of the Barbacua from Sol y Lluvia, it's by far the best smoked yerba I've ever had!
Kaibeezy 4y ago
I remember trying the Guayaki brand canned version that was lightly sweetened and really liking that, but they don’t seem to offer it any longer. Odd. Definitely try various levels and types of sweetener, as others have suggested, and I’ll add: try it iced.
- hiidrew 4y ago
  used to love Guayaki until i realized it has 20-30 grams of sugar. i've found brands that have lower amount, can't remember the name off the top of my head though
- shostack 4y ago
  I got the loose leaf bagged stuff from that brand. How does it compare to other brands?
pastacacioepepe 4y ago
In some parts of Europe (especially Germany/Austria in my experience) you can find soda drinks such as "Club Mate". I like the taste as it's sweteened but not excessively.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
  I know that, but don't like it that much. What's acceptable though is Club Mate Granat. That is blended with some pomegrenade juice, and looks red. Recommended. Also still available for €0,89 per 0,5L where I live :-)
  - pantalaimon 4y ago
    I think Club Mate Granat is an atrocity that tastes nothing like Mate. But when it comes to mixing flavors, I think Mio Mio Ginger Mate is pretty great. Or Lux Mate with mint - but I’m afraid they closed down.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
      Mio Mio Ginger Mate was acceptable, but not good. But they also had something Guarana Pomegrenade, which was better. While were at Ginger, ever tried Bundaberg? :-) Lux Mate Mint sounds interesting, but never had it, so far.
- flobosg 4y ago
  > Club-Mate has developed a following in computer hacker culture and tech start-ups, especially in Europe. ―https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Hacker_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Hacker_culture I also like Tschunk, a caipirinha-like cocktail made with Club-Mate, rum, brown sugar, and limes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Tschunk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate#Tschunk
  - pastacacioepepe 4y ago
    Yeah you made me remember tschunk, I liked it!! Beside hacker culture it's also quite common in the clubbing scene. I also like to mix it with vodka, it's simple and works pretty well.
bhdn 4y ago
In addition to the other suggestions, consider alternating the source of the mate. Argentinian and Brazilian ones are quite distinct in flavor. Lowering water temperature may lighten it a bit as well.
elhesuu 4y ago
I also dislike when mate is too bitter, but that doesn't generally depend on the yerba itself, but rather on how you prepare mate. Try: - removing dust from yerba, by covering the top of your cup with a slightly humid cloth and shaking it for a few seconds (the dust should stick to it, but the leaves should not) - heating using water a tiny bit under 70 degrees hot (above this temperature the first mates will be too bitter, and the last too washy) - pouring water always in the same place, so that the leaves slowly get wet from bottom to top
varispeed 4y ago
If I find particularly bad tasting one, I'd add some Agava syrup and lime juice. Tastes great then.
rodrigodlu 4y ago
If you compare to coffee without sugar, It's definitely much easier. Like others are saying, it's an acquired taste. I have the same problem living now in southeast Brazil, because many people in south acquire this taste since childhood, like myself. When I offer to people in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro they make a sad face as well. :) But my wife is liking now (she's natural from Rio). It took like a decade for her to really enjoy.
mmplxx 4y ago
It indeed tastes horribly to me too, but I just can't help drinking it around five times a day.
sharperguy 4y ago
It's probably 80% preparation and 20% acquired taste. Few people enjoy coffee when they first try it. Mate is also very easy to overextract and become extremely bitter if not prepared with caution and the correct technique.

jmtucu 4y ago

Yerba mate <3

gusfrehse 4y ago

Hah wait until you find about chimarrão

outime 4y ago
It's literally mentioned in the document a bunch of times.
- bhdn 4y ago
  May refer to the demeaning origins of the name. Wikipedia: In Brazil, traditionally prepared mate is known as chimarrão, although the word mate and the expression "mate amargo" (bitter mate) are also used in Argentina and Uruguay. The Spanish cimarrón means "rough", "brute", or "barbarian", but is most widely understood to mean "feral", and is used in almost all of Latin America for domesticated animals that have become wild. The word was then used by the people who colonized the region of the Río de la Plata to describe the natives' rough and sour drink, drunk with no other ingredient to sweeten the taste.

i-petko 4y ago

Anyone else had terrible teeth pigmentation when consuming yerba mate tea? I had tried using it for some time, but had to go to the dentist because my teeth where turning brown. After realizing that introducing the tea was the only change I made before the issue started, I stopped consuming and the issue was indeed solved.

eric__cartman 4y ago
I'm from Argentina and consume it on a regular basis. I haven't noticed any pigmentation, although I have the habit to rinse my mouth after finishing a cup of anything that's not water so that might be why.
wslh 4y ago
Dentist feedback: yerba mate pigmentation could be clean with a typical prophylactic treatment.
- 31337Logic 4y ago
  For the non-dentists here, could you obese provide an example of a "typical prophylactic treatment"?
  - adamgordonbell 4y ago
    It means getting your teeth cleaned professionally
  - parasubvert 4y ago
    The professional teeth cleaning most folks with insurance can get 2-4 times annually with a dental hygenist - eg. Scaling and polishing.
  - qiqitori 4y ago
    Hey, we're just big-boned.
- rodrigodlu 4y ago

hjgjhyuhy 4y ago

The thing I enjoy about Mate is how long lasting and stable its stimulating effect is. Coffee just gives me a quick spike after which I feel bad. Mate helps me to concentrate on boring stuff for hours.

Kaibeezy 4y ago
Having looked at multiple articles before posting this one, your point is definitely a major advantage mentioned consistently. The technique of adding water repeatedly is how I’ve always done oolong tea and gotten a very similar experience. I should mention I went down this rabbit hole due to the World Cup attention, but have been drinking mate for years and years.
varispeed 4y ago
I've been trying various Mates and they do nothing for me, in fact often I get sluggish and sleepy. I have a similar effect after coffee, but if I drink like 4 espressos at once I get a slight bump of focus. When I get past 8 espresso my hands get a bit shaky and again I feel like I need to go to sleep. I guess caffeine is not for me, however I still drink it, as it helps with migraines and ADHD.
mmplxx 4y ago
I have been drinking too much mate for such a long time that I can only relate it to withdrawal symptoms at this point :)
NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
That's because it's really just the caffeine causing a small adrenaline release. A lot of people don't realize that, I suspect. It's also why it can make you have to take a dump immediately. Caffeine doesn't amp you up, it just causes your body to release a tiny bit of adrenaline which is what amps you up. I have no clue what Mate does.

contingo 4y ago

From the introduction, which starts by trying to give some wider taxonomic context: >The genus Ilex comprises about 450 species growing in the tropical regions of South America and Asia. Ilex trees are located exclusively in South America... The roughly 500-600 species in the genus Ilex are commonly called hollies and include the European Christmas holly, I. aquafolium. The genus overall has a worldwide distribution over both tropical and temperate regions, there is no particular concentration of diversity in the South American tropics. Strange to get basic facts so wrong in the opening sentences.

DonaldFisk 4y ago
"Ilex trees are located exclusively in South America: in northern Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay, where they cover an area of approximately 540,000 km2." That's the range of Ilex paraguariensis, the species from whose leaves yerba mate is made, not Ilex trees in general.
Kaibeezy 4y ago
You’re right, it’s wrong, but not that wrong. Several sources indicate the majority of Ilex species occur in South America and Asia, so that was probably what they meant to say. Ilex paraguariensis is limited to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, and are clearly the “Ilex trees” referred to in the second sentence quoted. So, yeah, it’s imprecise and syntactically sloppy but not that far out, and not the main point of the paper, but as Jack Reacher says, “details matter”.
- contingo 4y ago
  It's woefully wrong for something in the primary literature. Yes, I understood what information they were sloppily failing to be precise about. If I were refereeing this paper I'd insist on a correction.
  - Kaibeezy 4y ago
    Aye, they've been telt ;)

MrDresden 4y ago

Yerba Mate got me through university. It was such integral part of that time of my life that even now more than a decade later I still meet people who remember me as the strange tea pipe guy (I used a traditional gourd and metal bombilla). However I stopped drinking it once it got known to me that it might have cancer causing properties. Scanning the article I can see there have been direct connections made via PAH concentration in the plant, which gets extracted along with everything else once brewed. It seems to be recommended that leafs only be used once to avoid extracting much of the PAH, but still it seems that the extraction does happen. And while we have all too many cancer causing chemicals in our daily life already, I am not sure I would want to introduce one knowingly. Am I wrong here? Is the risk negligible or some known way of circumvent PAH extraction? Perhaps a Yerba Mate cold brew?

augusto-moura 4y ago
There is a Yerba Mate cold brew called Tereré[1], is very common in some countries of South America. Even more than the hot version in some places. I myself had it many times, sometimes mixed with lime juice, and even mixed with vodka [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9
- MrDresden 4y ago
  Thank you for the suggestion, but I live on a small island in the North Atlantic where availability of goods is not particularly high. I can get the Yerba Mate leaf, but the cold brew I would need to make my self. I was rather trying to see if there was any literature out there on if cold brewing limits or eliminates the PAH extraction.
  - sgallant 4y ago
    I too live on a small island in the North Atlantic and I'm making my way through my first bag of Anna Park Yerba Mate (Andrew Huberman recommendation)[1] Hello from Canada! [1]https://www.amazon.ca/Anna-Park-Yerba-Mate-Organic/dp/B01B6WUB2W https://www.amazon.ca/Anna-Park-Yerba-Mate-Organic/dp/B01B6W...

roldie 4y ago

If anyone is like me and finds yerba mate too strong or too bitter, I highly recommend guayusa. It's from the same genus so it's a caffeinated holly plant (ilex guayusa) too, but it has a more pleasant, slightly sweet taste. Anecdotally, I find guayusa gives an energy boost on par with coffee, but sustained for much longer, and with gentler slopes (I.e no crash)

ahmadnoid 4y ago
The first 2/3 ones are bitter by nature. Then starting the 3rd or the 4th one (you just add water on top, don't change the leaves) it gets better.

lloydatkinson 4y ago

I bought a couple of nice bags of what I believed to just be normal herbal tea. Having never heard of this "yerba mate" thing I thought it was just the brand. Once I looked closer at the bags it had a whole load of instructions like "use the pipe" and "don't stir as it blocks the pipe" which was just bizarre. Since when is a pipe or straw needed for tea? I tried to make a normal herbal tea with it but it tasted disgusting and nothing like the cherry flavour it claimed to be. Total waste of money and seems like an incredibly hipster and convoluted drink to need all that crap including a straw. I even googled it again just now and one of the top results is a reddit post saying try it with soda? Ridiculous. I just stick to herbal tea bags now.

carpenecopinum 4y ago
I brew it just like any regular herbal tea and I'm pretty happy with it. The whole ritual with the pipe and gourd is a bonus, but never required. If you dislike the more bitter flavors about it, try steeping it at a lower temperature (like 70-80C) and only for a short duration (2 or 3 minutes). That should make it a lot more bearable to you. You can also get packages that have less or no stems or powder, which both add to the bitterness.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
  Tsk. The green stuff. Unroasted. Sieve in glass. Boiling water. 10 minutes. 390ml Äqctiön! :-)
- the_af 4y ago
  You're not supposed to brew it like a herbal tea, the proportion of mate to water will be all wrong :) The hotness of the water will also be wrong, mate is brewed with mildly hot water, way less hot than tea. That said, if you enjoy it, keep doing that way... there's no mate police!
brezelgoring 4y ago
What an incredibly judgemental answer from a person that chides other HN users for their choice of programming frameworks. > Total waste of money and seems like an incredibly hipster and convoluted drink to need all that crap including a straw. It is the opposite of hipster, the drink has been in use for 400 years in South America, and is appreciated by millions. > I just stick to herbal tea bags now. Stick to skim milk, it fits you better, child.

ahmadnoid 4y ago

Fun fact: Yerba Mate is widely used in Syria and Lebanon due to trade between Latin America and the Levant. I grew up drinking Yerba Mate Tea almost every day.

alamortsubite 4y ago
Yes. It used to be that a great place to leverage this fun fact to your advantage if you were looking to score yerba in the U.S. was a middle-eastern grocery. Also fun to have a bag of Cruz de Malta with an ingredients label in Arabic slapped on it. Nowadays, of course, it's easier just to go online.
pantalaimon 4y ago
Mate Softdrinks are ubiquitous in Germany, it’s fueling the IT industry and students.

artur_makly 4y ago

I've lived in Argentina since 2006, when I discovered mate.. it changed my whole approach to stable productivity because it would not crash you like coffee. I'm happy to see this study finally. Surprisingly when I asked my doctor here if there were any studies on it, I was shocked to hear "Oh No!" when asked why.. she responded "1. there is no $ for funding it. 2. No one cares here about the clinical health effects, we all drink it ( +/- 45 million ), it works, and the only thing people care about is how many 'palos'/sticks get into the bag". Personally, having drank it for 16 years, I do deeply wonder about the long term effects of it on the nervous system, which I don't think the paper addresses.

jcarrano 4y ago
There are studies: https://inym.org.ar/descargar/publicaciones/mate-y-salud/base-de-datos-yerba-mate-y-salud.html https://inym.org.ar/descargar/publicaciones/mate-y-salud/bas... Also, INYM has codified the procedures regarding analysis procedures.
ianai 4y ago
For long term effects, ask the long term drinkers of it. Sounds like you may have family who have drank it for a long time. They’re way better as a guide (with significant noise) as to what you could expect. This is of course not scientific in the usual sense. But family history is another thing.
rodrigodlu 4y ago
I grew up in the south Brazil, we share the same strong passion for things with Yerba Mate (Erva Mate in portuguese). People there drink for the entire life, like myself. There's some studies from universities from south of Brazil and Embrapa that is a institution that oversees research on things related to agriculture. One of the references I quickly found, that have more references. All in portuguese unfortunately: https://aps-repo.bvs.br/aps/a-erva-mate-possui-acao-terapeutica-comprovada-cientificamente/ https://aps-repo.bvs.br/aps/a-erva-mate-possui-acao-terapeut... Quoting a translation from there: """Another clinical study demonstrated an increase in antioxidant capacity in serum and in total blood and a reduction in LDL-cholesterol in individuals with dyslipidemia after ingestion of 1L per day of yerba mate infusion for ninety days, which suggests that this is an auxiliary dietary supplement in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in individuals who have a free food diet. The same action has already been described by other authors previously. Klein et al (2011) reported that consumption of mate tea for 60 days improved the control and glycemic profile of individuals with type 26 diabetes. Experimental research analyzed in a literature review indicates that mate tea improves glucose tolerance in obese animals. """ Yerba mate consumption has been associated with the incidence of oropharyngeal and esophageal cancer, however, this seems to be mainly related to the habit of some people to drink the drink at very high temperatures. The ideal water temperature is 70 to 80ºC. """

damontal 4y ago

does mate actually have cancer causing properties or does the cancer come about from long term sipping a hot drink through a straw?

derbOac 4y ago
My reading of that literature is that there isn't a lot of evidence one way or another. However, last time I looked at it it seemed like the most likely cause was from how some mates are smoked, and that unsmoked mate didn't have the same cancer risk. Take this with a grain of salt though, because although I followed that pretty closely for awhile, I stopped at some point and it's been a couple of years since.
- mr_donk 4y ago
  Any source of what brands/varieties are smoked vs not? I’m able to get quite a few types imported from South America, but from my attempts at translating the packaging and trying to Google things, I can’t tell what’s smoked or unsmoked.
  - sharperguy 4y ago
    Argentinian mate is traditionally smoked so most brands you will find are of the smoked variety. The brazilian version, chimarrão, is traditionally not smoked, so you might start by looking for that.

penumbral 4y ago

Coming from an Argentine family Yerba Mate is great. I'm American but have been drinking it frequently since the time I was 14 or so. I drank tons in college but took a multi-year break a few years down the line due to reflux issues that it made worse. Those are some things to look out for - heartburn, sinusitis, negative changes in mood, tension headaches. I notice that there is a huge difference between Yerba Mate brands in terms of the perceived effects. Lately Union Suave and Rosamonte have not been sitting well in my stomach or mind (irritability, lack of concentration, tension headaches, etc). Taragui Liviana and my new favorite Playaditos are the best for me. I've been drinking them twice a day with no perceivable ill effects. Although I do lose some endurance performance on the high end when drinking Yerba Mate before running which I've tracked with a chest mounted heart rate tracker. I'd like to send the different brands off to a lab to have a better understanding of WHY I feel such a difference in the effects when going brand to brand. I'd assume its due to different concentrations in the three primary Xanthines - Caffeine, Theobromine, Theophylline. Anyways, definitely worth the squeeze, but don't be surprised if you need to try a few different brands to see which affects you the best.

gosukiwi 4y ago
Playadito is great. There's a kind of Yerba Mate that is easier on the liver and stomach now called Cachamai, and there's some alternatives too. It normally comes in with extra flavors such as Mint, Orange, etc. I'm Argentinian, been drinking Mate daily (sometimes several times a day) since I was ~18 (32 now) and that Yerba is great :)
- drukenemo 4y ago
  Are there negatives effects on the liver from consuming mate?
  - gosukiwi 4y ago
    You can have dried lips caused by the liver (at least that's my understanding), but that's if you consume a lot, daily, for a long time
4y ago

slicktux 4y ago

Club Mate Anyone?

tombh 4y ago
Berlin right?

dematz 4y ago

I've wanted to visit Argentina since reading https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.... (2006) which mentions mate as a national obsession and love affair The whole post is great so I don't want to copy too much here - click the link! read it all - but on mate's possible effects: Mate aficionados will tell you that mate contains a special compound, mateine, that serves as a tonic and mild stimulant, promoting alertness without making it hard to sleep, reducing fatigue and appetite, helping the digestion and serving as a mild diuretic. Scientists will tell you that mateine bears a suspicious resemblance to a chemical called caffeine. Mate aficionados will then grow indignant, explaining that mateine is really a stereoisomer (mirror image) of caffeine, with different effects, which will in turn irritate the scientists, who will snap that caffeine doesn't have a chiral center, so it can't have a distinguishable mirror image, and why don't the mate aficionados just put a sock in it. Since I am writing this from Argentina, I will just diplomatically state that mate includes a constellation of chemicals, whose presence may affect the way the body absorbs caff... er, mateine, giving it a unique physiological effect.

scoutt 4y ago

Other than the chemical analysis, I like to think that Mate has another useful property. That is: Mate is a great chance to get together and share a moment with family and friends. Note that drinking Mate happens almost every morning and every afternoon (in many places like work, school and home), and since it takes 4 or 5 rounds to "quench" your desire of Mate, before you notice it, half an hour has passed. In the meantime you got ready to work in the morning, or talked with your kids or wife about the day in the afternoon, etc.

electrondood 4y ago

For anyone who drinks yerba mate, the throat cancer incidence [0] is likely due to consumption of benzenes produced when smoking the leaves. You can buy unsmoked leaves in bulk. [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19695149/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19695149/

sombragris 4y ago

Read it while drinking my Tereré. Nice :)

bovermyer 4y ago

After reading the whole thing, here's my summary: Yerba mate reduces cholesterol, encourages fat loss, improves heart health, and has similar stimulative effects to coffee. However, the method of its preparation is important, as some varieties can increase the risk of certain types of cancer. Drink it cold in moderate daily amounts for the best effect.

opinologo 4y ago
70C / 158F would be enough. According to the paper, it is not different than coffee or tea when it comes to the risk effects drinking it hot

deleted 4y ago

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2snakes 4y ago

First, I love the saying that Mate is the "drink of hospitality in South America." Second, there have been some very interesting studies done with Yerba Mate -capsules- where if taking 6 500mg capsules there is an association with weight loss and especially appetite suppression. It functions much the same way (though not as acute) as GLP-1 like Ozempic/semaglutide which is all the rage right now.

glonq 4y ago

I spent a few weeks in Uruguay this year, and those folks are big on mate. I brought a cup and bombilla back as souvenirs, but they are currently just 'decorative' right now; I haven't used them to drink mate yet.

artur_makly 4y ago

ha! NYTimes just ran this article on it: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/sports/soccer/argentina-yerba-mate.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/sports/soccer/argentina-y...

ggm 4y ago

How to spot an Uruguayan: they're nursing a thermos flask under both arms. How to tell its an Uruguayan when they speak: "Its a bombeeja.."

tombh 4y ago

I'm a Yerba Mate drinking, HN regular and started live streaming my open source work recently. Here's a clip of a calabaza and bamboo bombilla slurp in the wild https://clips.twitch.tv/EnjoyableEvilSnakeTBTacoLeft-vQBnhCzyASDS2exq https://clips.twitch.tv/EnjoyableEvilSnakeTBTacoLeft-vQBnhCz...

pronlover723 4y ago

I just wish Club Mate was popular in the states. I love it and it's super popular in Berlin but I have yet to introduce it to a single person in the USA who like it (T_T)

VonGuard 4y ago
2600 Magazine on the East coast and Noisebridge on the West Coast are the only 2 registered distributors of Club Mate in the USA. If you are in SF, you can get one at Noisebridge for $5.
- ryukafalz 4y ago
  And 2600 is often sold out.
- pantalaimon 4y ago
  Are there any attempts to produce it locally? $5/bottle is crazy, here you can get a crate of 20 bottles for 15€ [0] A few years ago there was a real boom with many small soda companies/startups popping up to challenge the Club Mate hegemony with their own Mate brews. Many disappeared again but some did stick around, so there is still a good variety in Mate vendors. There are still many rather small operations too [1][2], so entering the soda market doesn't seem to be that hard compared to other things. And having a product that's mildly addictive is good for customer retention. [0] https://www.flinkeflasche.de/categories/52 https://www.flinkeflasche.de/categories/52 [1] https://kolle-mate.de/ https://kolle-mate.de/ [2] https://www.flora-power.de/ https://www.flora-power.de/
ruph123 4y ago
Total Wine and More usually carrys it although it is currently sold out: https://www.totalwine.com/accessories-more/mixers-water-soda/clubmate/p/172528233 https://www.totalwine.com/accessories-more/mixers-water-soda...

erie 4y ago

This may sound weird yet, in my country,Yerba mate has different connotations during the sectarian strife, it was a indication of particular sects. 'Yerba mate becomes a major import commodity in Syria' On 8 December 2019, the Central Bank of Syria included mate in the list of basic commodities supported for import. This underlines its significance in Syria as Syria is considered the world’s largest mate importer. Syria received 34.5 thousand tons of mate from Argentina in 2018, according to the National Institution of Argentine Yerba Mate (INYM), from which Syria imports 99.7 percent of its mate annually. Those figures were “historical” in Argentina, according to the Buenos Aires Times, Argentina’s only English-language newspaper. https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/01/interesting-story-of-yerba-mate-tea-in-syria/ https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/01/interesting-...

erie 4y ago

There is some weird thing about it in my country, pre-war,'Yerba mate becomes a major import commodity On 8 December 2019, the Central Bank of Syria included mate in the list of basic commodities supported for import. This underlines its significance in Syria as Syria is considered the world’s largest mate importer. Syria received 34.5 thousand tons of mate from Argentina in 2018, according to the National Institution of Argentine Yerba Mate (INYM), from which Syria imports 99.7 percent of its mate annually. Those figures were “historical” in Argentina, according to the Buenos Aires Times, Argentina’s only English-language newspaper.

mgarciaisaia 4y ago
They mentioned Syria in the proposal to add a Mate emoji