Mate' and cancer

• I really enjoy mate' a lot, but I've decided to quit drinking it. I did search after search for information about health risks associated with yerba mate'. Please see Mayo Clinic
• I developed a serious, long-lasting cough. I began to notice that it might be associated with my mate' consumption.
• I'm going back to camellia sinensis!
• See also this page
• Maybe it's just the temperature?
• more
• Aviva has what appears to be a pretty good FAQ about Mate that includes good stuff and bad stuff. Could this be the balanced info I've been waiting for?

Misc info

• Yerba Mate online
• Jaguar Yerba
• Health by the Gourd
• soygaucho - requires flash - lots of info in a fancy format. This is actually a broader site with lots of Argentinian cultural info, that has a subsection of stuff about yerba mate'.
• yerbamate.com - this used to be a top link on google, but they've been remodeling for some time now after an ownership change.

Equipment

• ancientwisdomherbals - guampas and bombillas for cheap (not taking orders Mon Nov 19 20:58:49 PST 2001)
• Guayaki': nice guampas and bombillas
• ma-tea - a nice selection of guampas and bombillas

Green

• An Argentinian whose post I ran into on the net said premium yerba mate' (presumably green) can be had for $5/kilo. Many places charge far more than this. I'm somewhat inclined to believe this information is slightly dated though. There truly is quite a range of prices out there on the net, and I've been able to find really top notch, organic, shade-grown, &c for $12/Kg.
• Nativa
  • organic and shade-grown, but I believe it's not produced on a cool nature preserve like Guayaki'
  • 1Kg, $11.95 - oops, price went up to $12.95/Kg. Since a Kg is 2.205 pounds, this is about half the price of Guayaki' yerba.
  • I got a kilogram bag of this, and am very happy with it. It's almost used up, so I ordered 3 more Kg - 2 for me and one for a friend. 2 may be a bit much, but I'm hoping to make sure it'll last through the holidays, during which I imagine shipping will be very slow.
  • It has no stems, but my bombilla has only gotten plugged up once, and it was pretty easy to unplug
  • Nativa yerba is aged for at least 1 year - some consider this the minimum.
  • Nice detailed website telling us all about their yerba
  • Good customer service
• Guayaki'
  • Their tea is not grown in sunlight, and is grown without pesticides.
  • 1-4 lbs for $12.00/lb
  • Guayaki' yerba has stems, which is traditionally considered better for properly packing a guampa, but produces a more bitter taste.
  • Their yerba is cured for 6 months. Some believe the minimum aging should be one year.
  • Guayaki' supports a nature preserve on which their yerba is grown.
  • I have some Guayaki' tea bags, and don't care for them that much, but then I've never been a big fan of tea bags.
  • A coworker got a bag of Guayaki' looseleaf, and let me try a gourd of it. I didn't like the taste as much as nativa, and I think it affected me more than the nativa yerba does - maybe a little less pleasantly. However, this is based on just one gourd, so maybe I'd grow to prefer Guayaki''s product with time.
  • Nice detailed website telling us all about their yerba
• yerba mate revolution - They have La Rubia for about $12/Kg, and a nice selection of other varieties as well, though they seem to run out of stock on various items a lot. I like it that they tell you at least a little bit about the yerba they have to offer on their website, but I wish they had the kind of detail Guayaki' and Nativa have. These folks have good customer service.
• yerbamatetea.com an alternative source of Nativa, perhaps a little higher priced
• Old San Juan Grocery - reportedly 5 to 10 times cheaper prices on mate' - IIRC, they don't have a secure web order form
• ma-tea - nice selection, very little information about what you're getting
• grantangolandia
• Lots of different brands of inexpensive yerba mate' from Mercado Del Plata - Have La Merced organic, $8.50/lb. Not sure if it's shade-grown.
• sierrasurplus - these folks appear to have some sort of relationship with ymrev
• yerba mate central. Prices seem kind of high. Very little information about the mate'. They claim their stuff is fresher. Interestingly, their guampas are all bullhorns.

Flavored

• glenbrookfarm - Has mate' chino: 16 oz, $14.99 - oops, price went up to $20.50/lb. I haven't had much desire for this sort of thing since I learned to appreciate good green yerba mate'. This is like a completely different beverage. It's far less stimulating, and tastes basically like cocoa. I wouldn't be surprised if you could leave the roasted mate' out of it and not really notice a difference.

What makes good green yerba mate'?

• Being organic of course drives up the price, but no nasty pesticides
• Fertilizers. Some folks use stuff like cow dung instead of that relatively empty, more common stuff.
• Being grown in the shade is supposed to help the taste. I haven't tried mate' that wasn't grown in the shade yet, so I have no basis for comparison.
• Stems vs no stems (con palo vs sin palo)
• Stems make for a slightly more stimulating brew
• Stems make the brew a little more bitter - I suspect this is more true of hot mate' than cold
• Stems purportedly help with the "natural filter" thing
• Stems are supposed to be better for properly packing a guampa
• Aging. Some say a year should be considered the minimum aging period, but I was told by a longtime daily mate' drinker, who's an Italian living in Brazil, that "fresh" mate' is the best, which sort of sounds like it's just been cut?
• This isn't really an aspect of the yerba itself, but drinking from a real gourd instead of a wooden guampa or bullhorn or something reportedly makes the mate' taste less bitter. I've noticed this myself with a wooden guampa

Preparation

• Comparing methods
  • I haven't tried an espresso machine. This sounds a little more intense than what I want from my mate'
  • When I use a tea ball, the mate' always comes out bitter, and it seems harder to use a little cold water first.
  • If I use a guampa and bombilla, the tea starts out a little bitter, and gets sweeter as I go through the water. This is my favorite way of having mate'.
  • The French press is very convenient, and works out better if you want something to sip while driving, or during a meeting. I prefer using a guampa when I have the freedom to do so. I find it easy to use too much yerba with a French press; somehow it always seems like I haven't put in enough until I have a truckload in there. One way of combatting this is to fill a guampa to its usual level, and dump (only) the content of the guampa into the press.
• Traditional instructions (btw, I'm not an expert at this. I've just studied about it on the web, and I had some with some Argentinians once.
• One method
1. Fill your guampa (cup) about 50 to 75% full of yerba. 75% makes the tea stronger, and you have to fill your guampa back up with water more often.
2. Poor a little cool water into the guampa over the yerba, and let it soak in. This prevents "killing the mate'".
3. Poor some hot water in (not boiling!), and let that soak in. Repeat until you see the level of the tea rising toward the brim and not sinking back down.
4. Put your thumb over the mouthpiece of your bombilla (straw), and push it into the yerba. Try not to stir it around, or you'll get more grit into your mouth through the bombilla.
5. Sip off the tea. Refill with hot water (178 degrees Fahrenheit). Repeat until you can barely taste the tea.
6. Expect it to start out tasting kind of edgy, but to get sweeter and alfalfa-y as you refill the guampa enough times.
7. As you gain more experience drinking the tea, you'll likely learn to enjoy both the edgy taste, as well as the more readily accessible sweet taste, much as a coffee drinker grows accustomed to the taste of coffee.
• some links
• Guayaki'
• Crop of the Day
• Health by the Gourd
• The Ritual of Mate'
• Baldo
• soygaucho
• Using a French Press - some different versions
• Heat cool tepid water from the tap. Steep for three minutes and serve.
• Place 2-5 Tablespoons (more or less to taste) in top of press and process as usual.
• Fill your press with 3-4 tablespoons of yerba mate' (use more or less according to your desired strength). We recommend adding just enough cool water to moisten the herb before adding the hot water. You can expect two full presses from the same mate'.
• Fill your press with a 1/2" - 1" of tea (according to your desired strength). Add enough cool water to moisten the herb. Steep 30 sec. before adding hot water. You can expect two full presses.
• Instructions for brewing coffee with a French Press. I'd recommend ignoring the advice here about temperature, amount of "coffee" and steeping time.

Gourd, aka "guampa" or "mate'" (yes, the word's used ambiguously) or "calabasse" care

• Preparing for use the first time - aka curing
• ymrev
• guayaki'
• webolution9 and again
• biznet1
• soygaucho
• Cleaning
• Nativa advocates using bleach in your gourd if it molds.
• Guayaki' thought using bleach in a gourd was a questionable idea.
• Rumor has it you shouldn't use soap in your gourd, probably because of the gourd's "memory", due to its porousness.
• Hot (maybe boiling) water and sunlight are less controversial ways of cleaning your gourd if it gets moldy inside.
• What you think is mold may in many cases actually just be stains from the tea - particularly if the colorations you see are green and not furry.
• I have a suspicion that the gourd I bleached was giving me slight gastrointestinal distress. I haven't noticed this with my other guampas. However, some weeks later, I can now use the bleached gourd with no troubles.

Some brands of mate' I've tried

• Nativa. I think this one is relatively accessible to the beginning mate' drinker. This one is my favorite for use in a French Press, and it works out well in a gourd as well. This one is especially good for digestion I think, and it makes my sweat smell strong.
• Guayaki'. I've had a couple of gourds of this now. It's got a lot of stems, and tastes fairly good. I find it quite stimulating
• La Rubia. This is my current favorite in a gourd, but I don't really like the way it makes me feel when I put it in a French Press. It has stems, so it's a little bitter for a beginner.
• That stuff with the cute little burro on it. I got a gourdful of this from a coworker, Evans. He said it cost $4.99 for 2 Kg at a local store. It has stems, but the initial sip wasn't that bitter. Subsequent sips didn't seem to get as nice and sweet as Nativa or La Rubia. But perhaps more importantly, this one didn't give me that gentle, clearheaded, alert feeling that the others do. It actually left me feeling a little muddy-headed.
• La Esquinia de Las Flores. I've only had two gourds of this so far. The sensation was nice, the taste was... Well, I haven't eaten snails in a long time, but it really reminded me of the taste of an unspiced snail - very different from the other mate's I've tried. I didn't find the taste as pleasant as Nativa or La Rubia or Guayaki'. I recently got 2 Kg of this, so I'll likely have plenty of opportunity to see if I grow accustomed to the taste. I may have to mix it with mint or something.
• Specialteas. I didn't have the foggiest how to properly prepare mate' when I tried this, so I really can't make an informed comment about it. I recall thinking it was very expensive, as is most of the mate' you get from mainly-camellia sinensis shops that happen to have mate'.
• That gourd I had with my ex-girlfriend's family. I really wish I'd asked what brand it was. They used a nonporous guampa, made entirely of some sort of metal. This too, alas, was before I started to get a modicum of clue about mate', so I can't say much about how good it was really.
• Davis COOP bulk mate'. It tastes kind of like salt, kind of like pepper, and not all that much like mate'. I got a gourd of this from a coworker, Richard. He said it was $12/lb. He also mentioned that when he pressed it once in a French Press, the color of the brew was very light. He pressed it multiple times, and was happy with it. I got used to the taste after a number of gourdfulls, and was quite pleased with how I felt after I finished off the gourd.
• Taragui. I've had one gourd. It tastes like mate', but I'm not sure I liked how I felt when I drank it. This one made me feel a little trembly. I emptied the gourd before running my usual amount of water through it.
• Cruz de Malta. A coworker told me his mate'-loving friend prefers this one. I like it pretty well. It comes with ("Elaborado") or without ("Despelado") stems; I only tried a bag with stems.
• Canarias. This is good stuff, and the picture of a duck that comes inside it is pretty cute. This is probably my second favorite now, after La Rubia.
• Rosamonte. I've had this twice from a french press now, but no gourds yet. It worked out nicely. The taste was slightly "dirty", but I got used to that after the first couple of sips
• Nobleza Gaucha. I'm having my first gourd of this as I type. It has a fairly strong taste, but it's not bad. More later.
• La Merced. Good stuff in a gourd. It's a bit less of a strong taste, so it might be good for a beginner. I find it a little more stimulating than my favorites though.

Some pictures

• The original picture used to create the background for this page - a true gourd guampa with a gaucho-style bombilla
• The original picture used to create the old background for this page - a wooden guampa full of yerba with bombilla in place.
• Some dry yerba in a ceramic container from specialteas.com

Comparing yerba buena to yerba mate' - they truly aren't the same thing:

• yerba buena
• yerba mate'
• yerba buena is sometimes used as an additive to yerba mate'

Comparing yerba mate' and camellia sinensis

• I used to be a confirmed camellia sinensis drinker. For years, I drank black tea every day. Some time later I switched to green tea everyday with infrequent black or oolong or pouchong.
• I found that drinking camellia sinensis every day, I would slowly get more and more tired until my energy levels were getting a bit low for my comfort. If I'd stop drinking it for a couple of months, my energy levels would go way up.
• I started drinking yerba mate' in the early winter of 2001, and so far I haven't noticed any tendency to get tired. In fact, my energy levels have gotten noticably higher, even when I haven't just been sipping mate'.
• I do miss the taste of good lung ching a little, and may switch to drinking both yerba mate' and camellia sinensis at some point in the future, but for the time being, I'm drinking yerba mate' only.
• With camellia sinensis, I could drink it all day, feel a very mild lift, and just get a little dehydrated. With yerba mate', if I have more than one gourd a day, eventually it catches up with me - my jaw starts to feel funny - quite a bit like the feeling I get if I've been smiling and laughing too much and my face gets tired out. In response, I've chosen to have only one gourd of mate' in the morning, and herbals and plain water in the afternoons. However, that one gourd gives a wonderful sensation - not drugged up, just alert and clear-headed; there's no murk between me and my thoughts.