What Is Yerba Mate <> How To Prepare Yerba Mate <> The Health Benefits of Yerba Mate

Welcome to YerbaMateDrinker.com. I am a serious drinker of Yerba Mate! I just love the stuff! I've created this website so I can share my love for this wonderful tea from South America and what I have learned from the past 8 years of drinking it. First, I feel I must share the story of how I came to start drinking Yerba Mate Tea.

Back in 2000, I went on a missions trip to Resistencia, Argentina. An area called "The Chaco Province". It was an amazing time! I spent a lot of time in the poor neighborhoods working with the children. It was then that I was introduced to Yerba Mate. I'm not from South America, I'm not Argentine, I don't even know the culture that well, but I can tell you I fell in love with Yerba Mate the first time I tried it. During this missions trip I stayed with an Argentine family, they did not speak English and I did not speak Spanish. I stayed with them for 10 days. There was an older son who lived there that was learning English and he could speak just a little bit of it. We stayed up late several nights trying to communicate. We talked about American culture and he shared a bit with me about his culture. The first night we stayed up late talking, he shared Yerba Mate with me. I was in love with this tea from my very first sip! It was wonderful! I drank it every night I was there. Then we went out to an Indian reservation somewhere in the Chaco Province area and there was the very old man with very few teeth left and he was all smiles as he shared Mate with me. It was such a wonderful experience. We shared Mate back and forth not really talking with each other at all, just drinking Yerba Mate together. I still remember it like it was yesterday!

One thing I was really amazed at when I was in Argentina is that they drink Yerba Mate there like we drink Coffee here. Everywhere you go you would see someone with a gourd and a thermos! Argentina is a wonderful country with very friendly people. I'm looking forward to going back one day.

That was almost 8 years ago now and I've been drinking Yerba Mate every day since! Oh I still have my American coffee every morning, I would be a monster without it, but every afternoon I have my Yerba Mate Tea and it gets me through that hump of the afternoon lull. Such a nice energy kick with this stuff and so many health benefits!!!

Over the years I have tried many brands of Yerba. My very favorite Yerba Mate is Rosamonte Especial. Here you can see a nice fresh bag just received in the mail and then opened and ready to brew! So nice! Nothing better then a fresh bag of Yerba Mate!

Here we have a fresh bag of Rasamonte Especial! Best tasting Yerba there is in my opinion.

...and here we have my favorite gourd filled up and ready to brew.

Yerba Mate and Mate are really two different things. Yerba is the actual leaf/plant, while Mate is the name of the drink/beverage

The really cool thing about this tea is that it's a very social drink. The difference with Yerba Mate is that you share this drink with others. Here is a little bit of information on sharing Yerba Mate:

1. Don't ask for sugar
Many people are accustomed to adding sugar in their coffee and tea, and it is perfectly fine to ask for it. Many people also drink sugar in their Mate. But when you are asked to join a Mate fellowship, you could make the worst sacrilege ever imagined by asking for sugar.

2. Don't say that Mate is unhygienic
You may feel that it is unhygienic to put your mouth where everybody puts theirs. Of course it is, but that is expressly why sharing a Mate is such an intimate experience. The offer to share something so intimate is the highest honor of all. If you don't want to be that close to someone, don't share a Mate with them. Otherwise, don't say anything about the hygiene of the experience.

3. Don't say the Mate is too hot
If everyone else is happy with the temperature it would be considered rude to ask them to cool it down, or to wait until it cools naturally.

4. Don't leave the Mate half-way
Despite the great similarity between Mate and the peace pipe, there are some basic differences. While everyone just takes one puff in the calumet and passes it on, don't ever do that with Mate. You must sip all the water until hearing the noise signaling the gourd is empty. See the next rule.

5. Don't feel ashamed of the noise at the end
If, after sipping, you hear the gourd "snoring," don't feel ashamed. It is all right, no one will look upon you as being rude. It's what you are suppose to do.

6. Don't stir the gourd (This rule is VERY important!)
The gourd may get clogged from time to time, due to itself, to the Yerba or to who prepared the Mate. If that happens, you have all the right to complain. But, please, don't stir the gourd. Talk to who offered you the Mate or passed the gourd to you. But don't stir the gourd, don't stir the gourd and, above all, don't stir the gourd.

7. Don't change the order
A Mate round works like a clock. The gourd passes from hand to hand, always in the same order. If you are being served, hand it back to the server. If people are pouring their own water, which happens in some places, always pass it the next person without changing the order.

8. Don't slow down the rhythm
Drinking Mate alone is an excellent way to meditate on the things in your life. You drink leisurely, thinking about whatever drifts your way. To have a Mate in a circle of people is quite different. The essence is not meditation but rather integration. In a Mate round, you talk, discuss, laugh, swear; you are part of a community; it is a fraternization. Don't forget to sip; the other people are waiting.

9. Don't condemn the server for being the first to drink
If you say the server is rude because he or she prepares the Mate and is the first to drink, well, you are the rude one. The strongest sip is the first one, and whoever takes it is seen as doing the group a favor.

Here is some great reading about Yerba Mate. A Yerba Mate blog, no kidding :-)

What Is Yerba Mate <> How To Prepare Yerba Mate <> The Health Benefits of Yerba Mate