 Simpley put. Yerba Mate is this really cool green tea from South America and you drink with a gourd and a straw called a Bambillia. It has a wonderful kick to it that will keep you awake, alert and will help you stay focused when you would normally be tired and warn out. I mean this stuff really has some herbal wonders to it. Tastes great and keeps you awake without all the cafein of coffee. On top of it tasting great and keeping you awake and alert it has many herbal health benfits as a major plus! That about sums it up for me.
To the right here you can see a photo of the beautiful Yerba plant! If you want to get more technical you can read the info below.
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Yerba Mate is a South American Spiritual Drink. It has been used for healing effects like weight loss, stress stress and for networking. Yerba Mate is a relaxing drink that energizes the body.
Yerba Mate is not so well known in North America, but in South America it is quite popular. In places like Paraguay, Argentina, and other South American countries, it is used as a herbal drink to help both physically and emotionally.
Yerba Mate is much like coffee, but without the sleepless and addiction that the caffeine in coffee can bring. It has many vitamins and nutrients, so the South Americans use it as a food staple. There has been many uses for Yerba Mate, like mental clarity, to retain energy, and to help the immune system. Some people have even used it to help cure allergies, help them sleep, and even for weight loss.
Yerba Mate has been a tradition for many year in South America, claimed to be a gift from a god to help give them with good health and happiness. Which may be very true with all of the benefits that many people share by using it.
Some great fun to be had on Flickr in regards to Yerba Mate, check it out! Thouseands of Yerba Mate photos!
Some Yerba Mate History: (Misc. articles gleaned from the web)
Traditional Use of Yerba Mate:
Yerba Mate is the national drink of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil where it is consumed 6 to 1 over coffee. I have personally visited Argintina and I saw first hand how much the people in South America really love this drink. Everywher I went I saw Yerba Mate gourds and water thermos., but so very little coffee. In Argentina, mate is a leading ingredient in their diet. In fact, in the poorer regions of Argentina, the government recommends that parents give mate to their children as a nutritional supplement. The Argentine Gauchos (cowboys) drink mate as their "liquid vegetable", relying on its array of nutrients to power them throughout the day. And the native forest peoples have survived periods of drought and famine drinking yerba mate and revere it as the “Drink of the Gods”.
In Paraguay, yuyeras (herbalists) have been using yerba mate for centuries as the base of herbal medicine mixtures called “remedios” or remedies. It is common to make “remedios” with yerba mate by steeping medicinal herbs in the water used to prepare mate in the gourd. It is believed that by improving circulation and promoting balance, yerba mate acts as a catalyst to enhance the healing powers of other herbs. Guayakí’s tea bag blends are inspired by the yuyeras. s
The Name Yerba Mate
“Yerba” means herb. “Mate” is derived from the quichua word, "matí," which is the name of the gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) traditionally used to drink yerba mate. So, literally, yerba mate means “herb cup”. A special ceremony has been developed over the centuries for drinking yerba mate. Custom has it that a hollowed out gourd is filled with the leaves of the yerba mate tree, and a bombilla (straw filter) is inserted. The gourd is then filled with hot water repeatedly and shared in a circular ceremony. This method of enjoying yerba mate inspires openness between those in the circle allowing the mate to do more than just nourish their bodies but also to nourish the souls and relationships gathered there.
The Gauchos and Yerba Mate
The gauchos (Argentine cowboys) are notorious for drinking yerba mate as their "liquid vegetable," relying on its array of nutients to power them throughout the day.
"...the Gaucho, possessing few wants and poor in the midst of inexhaustible riches, is the child of unconcern; with food or without, with shelter or not, a paper cigar, a little mate (Paraguayan tea), one meal a day of meat cooked in the open air without bread or vegetables, and his guitar at night, and he rests content; but if you add a Sunday suit of clothes with silver mounted trappings for his horse, his pride and delight are unbounded, and as he curvets over the plain, having attained the summit of his ambition, no more a vivid picture of human self-satisfaction could be presented."
--Ernest William White (1881)
The Mate Ceremony
“When people gather to drink mate (mah-tay) something magical happens. It is a simple, daily custom and yet it has all the characteristics of a ceremony. Like any ceremony it has rites which are carefully performed in the same way, day after day. It is a moment of leisure with friends and family. In the country, the gauchos sit together around the fogón (the campfire), sipping their mate after a long day's work. Tiredness breeds silence and silently the mate gourd circles from hand to hand. And then, slowly, conversation starts, people come closer together, confidences are exchanged. The mate ceremony resembles the American rite of the calumet, the pipe of peace. There too, the pipe goes from hand to hand, completing the circle, offering hospitality and goodwill. Mate is drunk by everybody: it is a drunk by the trucker and his companion in the loneliness of the long, never-ending routes (they use a vessel with a wide mouth into which it is easy to pour the hot water in spite of the jolts along the track); by students, when studying; by workers during their midday rest; at home for breakfast or on any other occasion, rain or shine, in summer or in winter.”
– Excerpt from “The Mate” by Mónica G.Hoss de le Comteu
The Yerba Mate Circle
Tomando mate (drinking mate) is a symbol of hospitality. As the mate gourd is passed around, a sense of connection emerges. The first step of the ceremony is the preparation of the gourd. Typically, the cebador/a - mate server - prepares mate for a friend or a group of friends. The cebador/a drinks the first one or two gourd-fulls, testing the waters to ensure that only a smooth running mate is shared. Then the gourd is refilled with water and passed counter-clockwise with the bombilla (straw-filter) facing the recipient. Each person drinks the entire gourd: "you share the vessel, not the liquid." The recipient of the gourd has as much time as needed to finish the gourd-full. After the last few sips of the mate are gone, the gourd is returned with the bombilla facing the cebador/a. The gourd is refilled with hot water and follows around the circle, continuing in this fashion until the mate is lavado (flat). If someone has had enough mate, they simply say gracias (thank you) to indicate that they are finished.
Click here for a lot more info on what Yerba Mate is.
What is Yerba Mate Links
Yerba Mate - What? Where? How? When?
http://www.ushuaia.pl/yerba/what
Yerba Mate - What Is It?
http://www.noborders.net/mate/what.html
All About Mate
http://www.guayaki.com/index.php?p=mate
Yerba Mate - How Arntines Drink It
http://www.travelsur.net/mate.htm
Confessions of a Reluctant Yerba Mate Drinker ~ Great Article!
http://www.epicurean.com/articles/yerba-mate.html
YERBA MATE - HERBAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS
http://www.rain-tree.com/yerbamate.htm
Yerba Mate - Background and Preparation
http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/cuisine/p/yerbamate.htm
Yerba Mate, and the legend of the Guarani
http://www.miyerbamate.com/content/Yerba+Mate+and+the+legend+of+the+guarani.htm
Yerba Mate History & Legends
http://www.thebestyerbamate.com/yerba-mate-history-legends/
Recommended Yerba Mate Blogs
(Some informative reading on these wonderful blogs!)
http://yerba-user.blogspot.com/
http://yerbamate-secrets.blogspot.com/
http://www.yerbanlegend.com/
Hey Hey Mate'
http://www.heyheymate.com/
WoW! Yerba Mate Videos!! A whole bunch!
http://www.technorati.com/videos/tag/yerba+mate
OK - well I guess I'm going to have to make my own Yerba Mate Video now...
Recommended Yerba Mate Communities or Groups
(A great place to share passion for Yerba Mate!)
Yerba Mate Group on Flikr (550 members strong)
http://www.flickr.com/groups/yerbamate/
You can check out my own Yerba Mate Flikr account with much higher resolution photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yerbamatedrinker/sets/72157606429487251
... More to come as I find them ...
