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How a German Soda Became Hackers' Fuel of Choice
- dewey 12y agoI love Mate. If you speak german there's a great Chaosradio episode [0] about the different "Hackerbrausen" / "Hackersoda" where they are talking about the history of Club Mate and other drinks in that genre. [0] http://cre.fm/cre175-hackerbrausen http://cre.fm/cre175-hackerbrausen
- qznc 12y ago"Brause" can also be translated to "lemonade" or "soda" in german. The article claims "shower", which is another meaning, but in the context the wrong one.
- ultrasandwich 12y agoHear hear. I love the variety of mate sodas in Berlin too. Club Mate is like the OG, but 1337Mate is promising so far!
- k__ 12y agoEverything besides Club Mate is Berlin Hipstery :P ;)
- spupy 12y agoDidn't know it's that popular, especially among "hackers". At work the Coca Cola crate gets empty faster than the Club Mate crate.
- TeMPOraL 12y agoVisit any Hackerspace anywhere in the world, and you'll likely find a crate of two of Club Mate there. It's a de-facto official drink of Hackerspaces worldwide. At ours (Kraków, Poland) we go through a crate or two a week.
- sleepyhead 12y agoGo to any co-working space in Berlin and you'll see.
- kanwisher 12y agoI've never seen anyone drink that outside of berlin ...
- k__ 12y agoIn hacker spaces it's everywhere.
- lispm 12y agoThe company I work for has always a few Club Mate in the refrigerator. In Düsseldorf/Germany.
- beagle3 12y agoOne of the best east coast hackerspaces, http://www.nycresistor.com/ http://www.nycresistor.com/ has practically made it the official drink of the place.
- theIV 12y agoThanks for the link! I've been wondering where I could take some beginner classes for arduino and the like, but now I know.
- kolme 12y agoIt's also available in Hamburg, Leipzig and other German biggish cities.
- Amadiro 12y agoWhen I visited the university of Göttingen, it was everywhere. Students also seem to have it adopted as the drink of choice.
- legulere 12y agoI've seen it in almost every shop in Hamburg. In other regions it's more a few group of people that drink it. In my university it's quite popular for instance.
- chpatrick 12y agoIt's everywhere in Budapest: http://www.clubmate.hu/#map http://www.clubmate.hu/#map
- lispm 12y agoAt the 30c3 there were Club Mate and Flora Power. Flora Power is actually a bit better - not that sweet. https://twitter.com/zeitiger/status/416496391209644032/photo/1 https://twitter.com/zeitiger/status/416496391209644032/photo...
- ultrasandwich 12y agoFlora Power was surprisingly great, and indeed a little less sugary. Tried it at 30c3 for the first time too.
- Crazywater 12y ago1337Mate used to taste like Flora Power, only with more caffeine, but now it tastes like marshmallows :(
- swah 12y agoI drink my coffee black. but sugar is great, someone has to say it.
- rdl 12y agoI liked Flora Power at 30c3, but still prefer the Californian Guayaki unsweetened mate (in a snapple-type bottle). http://guayaki.com/product/127/Unsweetened-Mate-(Case-of-12).html http://guayaki.com/product/127/Unsweetened-Mate-(Case-of-12)... There was a period it was 4 for $5 at Whole Foods.
- GFischer 12y agoMate is the national drink here in Uruguay, has been for a century or two :) (and for 500 years in Paraguay). And it was a fad in California some years past. ("According to a major retailer of mate in San Luis Obispo, California, by 2004, mate had grown to about 5% of the overall natural tea market in North America") But I'm surprised at the speed it's propagating in Europe. Many say it's much better suited for prolonged concentration than coffee, almost every single university student here drinks it, so I'm not surprised that German hackers are taking advantage of its benefits too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage) There's a Congress on Yerba Mate and its health effects and benefits going on right now (from the 8th to today) http://www.infoyerbamate.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=119:congreso-sudamericano&catid=80:novedades&Itemid=496 http://www.infoyerbamate.com/index.php?option=com_content&vi...
- damian2000 12y agoIs there much difference between the effects of mate and standard black tea? Because there's almost the same amount of caffeine in a strongly brewed black tea as there is in coffee. http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/nov/27/caffeine-compared-coke-coffee-aspirin-chocolate-tea http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/nov/27/caffeine-compare...
- raverbashing 12y agoWell, to be fair it's traditionally drank in a kind of tea preparation (in the broad sense of an infusion, not in the strict sense of a tea plant) It's mixed with hot water (or cold) than drank through a filter/straw
- code_chimp 12y agoI've had it the traditional way, but it's more efficient at the office to use a French press.
- huhtenberg 12y agoNevermind the tea. How does it compare to modafinil?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 12y agoLearned about when visiting LeineLab in Hanover, stuck with me forever since. At Hackerspace Kraków we go through a crate or two in a week, and this drink kept us through many sessions of night hacking. Edit: Re Club Mate being semi-official drink in Hackerspaces worldwide, see http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/The_Club_Mate_Pattern http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/The_Club_Mate_Pattern :).
- Vektorweg 12y agoOr tea. Probably the hackers second choice.
- lispm 12y agoIf I look at the company I work for, it's quite diverse. Munich: human-made espresso and beer. I haven't seen much tea. Düsseldorf: machine-made espresso, Club-Mate and a variety of tea. Don't know what they drink in Frankfurt. The tea drinkers in Düsseldorf are not yet very sophisticated. What most of them failed to understand: absolutely excellent Japanese green tea is available - due to s strong Japanese community. Many of these trends are actually from Hamburg. The CCC originated in Hamburg. New drinks like the Flora Power mate and 1337MATE are from Hamburg. http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/leetmate-hackerbrause-aus-hamburg-a-877927.html http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/leetmate-hackerbrause-aus...
- Vektorweg 12y agoIn thuringia, clubmate is preferred. But i also saw many hackers just drinking tea.
- mch0lic 12y agoIt's all lovely and shit, but once you hook up on Club Mate and leave Germany you feel quite damned. I feel the same about Savanna Dry (South African Sider) but in recent years they expanded the market quite dramatically hope germans will do the same :)
- TeMPOraL 12y agoYes, it's damn difficult to get it outside of Germany, but well... if you're really hooked up on it, you'll always find a way :).
- mch0lic 12y agoIt gets way harder if you travel a lot. To get some delivered within EU should be fairly easy there are plenty of individuals doing cargo delivery business with insanely low prices but if you in asia or africa you out of options...
- Havoc 12y ago>I feel the same about Savanna Dry There is always the Hunters range produced by the sister company of the Savanna Dry producer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider#South_Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider#South_Africa
- leoc 12y agoTry living without tap Deuchars IPA https://www.caledonianbeer.com/beers/deuchars-ipa/ https://www.caledonianbeer.com/beers/deuchars-ipa/ . :(
- coldcode 12y agoIf it's so good why shouldn't someone Kickstarter a company to make something similar in the US? Seems like a real opportunity. Just advertise on HN and profit.
- rizumu 12y agoI think it is similar in that are many cola options, but only one Coca-Cola. Although there are many mate alternatives as well, the mystique surrounding Club Mate and its recipe is what makes it stand out from the rest.
- ultrasandwich 12y agoMan I have given this serious thought before. Anyone else? Get in touch if you want to kick some ideas around. I don't know the first thing about distribution, but I'm interested in brewing craft sodas, and I could make a kickass website for it.
- manav 12y agoWhere are you based? Email me manav@me.com.
- stusmall 12y agoYou can already get it in the US here: http://store.2600.com/clubmate.html http://store.2600.com/clubmate.html That stuff will scrap your taste buds out and keep you awake for days. For some reason I like it... not sure why. Its an acquired taste and I can't see it going gangbuster here.
- jkrems 12y agoMany hackerspaces try or tried to brew their own. It's not as easy as it sounds.
- _ak 12y agoClub Mate is the only caffeinated soda that isn't overly sweet, doesn't give me a bad stomach and doesn't make me jittery. The first time I had it was at a CCC event in 2002, and back then, it was really obscure. In the last 5 or so years though, it has became a staple in Berlin, and you can get it at practically every corner shop.
- brassybadger 12y agoIndeed, I'd say it's more popular in Berlin than Coke.
- oftenwrong 12y agoSeems like a "submarine" http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- TeMPOraL 12y agoMaybe. But it is also interesting. I upvoted this because the "every Hackerspace in the world drinks Club Mate" phenomenon is real, and I'm happy I could learn more about the stuff I drink all the time ;).
- kybernetyk 12y agoHmm, I don't know. The small brewery that's making Club Mate here in Germany doesn't do any PR/advertisement. It's also a hassle to get it here in Germany outside of Berlin. I'm living in a 300k pop city and there's only one store that sells Club Mate. So I wouldn't really believe it to be some marketing tactics.
- oftenwrong 12y agoSeems like a "submarine" http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- bshimmin 12y ago"The golden soda has become essential nourishment for anyone in Berlin involved in hacktivism, club culture, dance music, tech—just about everyone in the city under the age of 40." What a ridiculous sentence.
- im3w1l 12y agoIt's probably written by Club Mate copywriters.
- bshimmin 12y agoThe first half of the sentence definitely feels that way... the second half just feels almost offensively exclusionary. Unless Berlin is a really weird, dysfunctional place, like London's Old Street roundabout on a city-wide scale - which is a horrifying thought.
- tormeh 12y agoLondoners usually think Berlin is kinda weird. Things are very different. The London ideal is suit, tie and lots of money. In Berlin it's actually the opposite. It's a bit hipsterish, but also really cool.
- TillE 12y agoBerlin isn't really any more "hipster" than other cities, it's just...more relaxed. As you say, not so concerned with money and status. Not as frantic and crowded as New York or London. Lots and lots of trees. It's basically achieved the perfect urban population density thanks to blocks of six-story buildings. Very lively, but rarely uncomfortably crowded.
- collyw 12y agoIt is. People wandering around with stupid glasses with no lenses in them. Fixie bikes everywhere.
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- cessor 12y agoI'd like to stress what the article says about the difference to other caffeinated drinks. I drink coffee a lot, since it is more easily available, but I prefer club mate if I can get some. For work it is much better than coffee. I tend to get very shaky and restless from coffee, my leg will start bouncing after a lot of programming (i.e. concentrated work periods in front of a computer). With mate the caffeine rush is much better, I stay more focussed and can concentrate more easily. I am not as restless. Yet it is possible to overdose. One bottle can last for hours, I bet the guy in the article could look through time after 10 bottles a day. If you can get it, try it!
- lispm 12y agoWe also have a matekarte, which shows Mate availability world-wide: https://www.matekarte.de https://www.matekarte.de Various Mate brands: https://www.matekarte.de/brands https://www.matekarte.de/brands
- myers 12y agoWhat the heck is up with the URL?
- downer73 12y agoI know, right? Normal: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-of-choice http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-a-german-soda-became-ha... Abnormal: http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-of-choice http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com/blog/ho...
- ChrisArchitect 12y agowhere did someone get ahold of that URL to begin with....random appspot test server? some dev probably not happy to see that in the wild heh.
- olssy 12y agoYou can order it in North America from the 2600 store: http://store.2600.com/clubmate.html http://store.2600.com/clubmate.html Funny there was no mention in the article that they are the eastern distributor what with them being a hacker organization with deep ties to the CCC.
- stox 12y agoIf you live in the NYC are, come to the H.O.P.E. convention, there will be plenty for sale.
- stox 12y agoAlso, that these fine locations in the NYC area: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zxNGGEaFaiHs.kth4fFW69QaM https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zxNGGEaFaiHs....
- fredgrott 12y agothere is an online store for the US if you promise not resell it: http://club-mate.us/ http://club-mate.us/
- omnibrain 12y agoIf there only was a sugar free variant. Having quit sugary sodas also meant having to overcome my Club Mate addiction. :(
- kybernetyk 12y agoI have the same problem. I loved club mate but now on lowcarb I really can't drink it anymore :(
- GFischer 12y agoThe original, South American variant, is a tea-like infusion, which is supposed to be bitter and sugar-free :) (though there's a "mate dulce" sweet variant) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage) I know it's sold in Austria, but I don't know whether you can find it in Germany. Edit: apparently it's sold at speciality shops in Germany too, like Delicatino www.delicatino.de/es/nosotros?b98bf9d568d475199bf586135367cc54=qjqxosww or http://www.yerba-mate.de/ http://www.yerba-mate.de/ http://www.gustoargentino.com/ http://www.gustoargentino.com/ http://www.bockandgardener.com/ http://www.bockandgardener.com/ Even the typical Uruguayan variant is available at stores like Mittemeer and Aquí España: http://tropicalizandoberlin.com/?tag=yerba-mate-en-berlin-2 http://tropicalizandoberlin.com/?tag=yerba-mate-en-berlin-2
- jeroen 12y agoDelicatino in English is probably easier for most people: http://www.delicatino.de/en/about-us?b98bf9d568d475199bf586135367cc54=qjqxosww http://www.delicatino.de/en/about-us?b98bf9d568d475199bf5861...
- omnibrain 12y agoThanks for the reply, but I would be more interested in a soda with artificial sweetener. It would be great if they made a Club Mate variant without sugar
- leoc 12y agoThe taste reminds me of fig newtons and Worcestershire sauce.
- sbarre 12y agoyou're not selling it. ;-)
- TeMPOraL 12y agoWell, about half of the people I introduced to Club Mate said the exact same thing - that it tastes like water from cigarette butts. Haters gonna hate. I still love it. ;).
- desireco42 12y agoIt does taste like that :) that is Mate taste, learn to love it.
- Derbasti 12y agoThat was my initial impression, too. Still, it tastes good. ßi love it!
- Zigurd 12y agoI love German candor in product descriptions. Right on the label it says "tanning agents." Mmmmm. Tannery. That hits the spot.
- bananas 12y agoWhat happened to Vita Cola? Only drinkable thing from Germany :) I have East German parents and they lived on that stuff until the wall came down.
- johnlbevan2 12y agoThere are also Yerba Mate beers out there: http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/mateveza-black-lager http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/mateveza-black-lager
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- taksintik 12y ago"Horse piss filtered through hay"...say no more. In.
- marsay 12y agoWhat's with the url? http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com
- icco 12y agoNot sure, did a little digging, and it should be http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-of-choice http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-ha...
- Orangeair 12y agoIs there any cheap place to buy this in the U.S.? I've wanted to try it for awhile, but I can't justify spending three dollars a bottle at the 2600 store when I can get regular energy drinks for half the price.
- wiml 12y agoYou can get loose-leaf mate for cheaper than that per drink, but probably more than $3 per purchase.
- schultkl 12y agoTrader Joe's, the American grocery chain, sells Yerba Mate tea, now, as well...it's everywhere.
- dominotw 12y agoI recently switched to matcha from coffee buying into similar claims of 'long lasting jitter free zen concentration'. Have been happy so far. Has anyone tried both matcha and matte? How do they compare?
- rmetzler 12y agoI used to drink a lot of club mate. I loved it, but I had to stop drinking it because there is much more sugar in it than you would think and I developed dental health issues.
- greggman 12y agoA lot of comments here seem to be equating various tea forms of mate with Club Mate. Club Mate is a soda as in it belongs on the self somewhere next to Coke and Red Bull. It's got more caffeine than Coke but only about 1/2 the sugar. I really liked it. Tea made from mate is the same only in the sense that orange juice is similar to orange soda. As in they are arguably not really similar. That's not to say anything negative about mate based teas. I drink those too. Just that, if you go get Yerba Mate or any other mate tea you're not drinking anything remotely similar to Club Mate.
- GFischer 12y agoI equated it mostly because I was commenting about its effects - if Club Mate has a similar effect than regular Mate "tea", it's a better alternative to coffee, and at least one comment here makes it seem so (cessor: "With mate the caffeine rush is much better"): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725211 I'll have to taste Club Mate and see what it tastes like (I might like it more than regular Mate! I find it too bitter)
- dbbolton 12y agoIs it possible to order this soda online? A quick look on Amazon and Google Shopping turned up nothing.
- jmcdowell 12y agoTry searching 'club mate' and your country. Results came up for a UK branch for me, just checked and the same happens for the US.
- lobster_johnson 12y agoUS? Some pointers here (online and physical locations): http://club-mate.us/ http://club-mate.us/