Yerba mate is a shrub from the holly family and looks nothing like the tea plant. But there is one thing the two plants have in common: the infusion of their leaves is just as delicious. While it is difficult to describe a taste or flavour, we take up the challenge to encourage you to try yerba mate, an age-old drink...
What is mate?
While South Africa is famous for rooibos (sometimes called "red bush"), Latin America is proud of another indigenous plant: yerba mate or Ilex paraguariensis, which grows in northeast Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil. The story goes that this plant was already consumed by the Guarani Indians, who chewed it or soaked it in their fresh water gourds. Although it grew wild, it was later cultivated and its consumption spread to other Latin American countries (Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, etc.), before gaining followers throughout the world. Nowadays, mate is most often drunk hot, infused in a kind of gourd, called a calabash. This is a metal tube (bombilla) that serves both as a filter and as a straw.
What does mate taste like?
This is a difficult question to answer. It's a bit like asking what tea tastes like, when there are different types of tea (white, green, black), with flavours that vary according to the place of cultivation, the infusion, or the fact that it is flavoured or not. For mate, it's a bit the same, there are different types. If we were to summarise its general taste, we would speak of a slightly bitter vegetable flavour. The classic/traditional mate, consumed in Latin America, is very bitter, whereas the green mate (which has not been refined), more present in Europe, is sweeter, more aromatic, sometimes with caramelised flavours. The preparation of the mate also affects its taste. To avoid a drink that is too bitter, it is important not to use water that is too hot (70-80°) and not to let it infuse for too long.
Also read: The different tastes and flavours of mate
Can the taste of mate be influenced?
As with tea, you can influence the taste by adding flavour. Depending on your preferences, you can add milk, honey, sugar, maple syrup, spices (cinnamon, cardamom, aniseed, etc.), coffee beans, mint, ginger, or citrus peel to mate.
How to prepare mate properly?
To prepare mate in the traditional way, all you need is a calabash and a bombilla. The calabash is a container specially designed for mate and the bombilla is a filtering straw that allows you to drink without letting the leaves pass.
Here are the steps:
1- Heat water in a kettle without boiling it, the temperature should be between 70° and 80° C.
2- Fill the calabash up to the ⅔ with organic mate. Stir so that the dust falls to the bottom.
Make sure the leaves form a pile on the side.
3- Place the bombilla in the calabash.
4- Pour in the hot water and let the mate steep for a few seconds.
The mate can be brewed several times, depending on your taste.
What are the benefits of mate?
More and more popular, mate is successful thanks to its many benefits. First of all, it is a stimulating drink made up of caffeine (1%), which provides a little "boost". Secondly, mate is a concentrate of antioxidants, minerals (potassium, magnesium) and vitamins that help concentration, strengthen our immune system and reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Another advantage of mate is that it has an appetite suppressant effect, forcing the body to draw on its reserves. Its infusion is therefore recommended during certain weight loss diets.
For a quality drink, opt for organic mate
At Kusmi, mate is included in several of our flagship recipes, all of which are organic, assembled and packaged in France. The organic designation guarantees numerous quality controls during the production and elaboration of the tea, respectful of the environment and without pesticides.
On our menu, the Euphoria blend, which combines roasted mate, cocoa and orange, Detox , which combines mate, green tea and lemon, or BB Detox (mate, green tea and grapefruit), Lovely Morning (green tea, mate, citrus fruit), Lov is pure (green tea, mate, nettle), Boost (green tea, mate, ginger), Blue Detox (green tea and mate). Note that we can supply you with a bombilla, a stainless steel straw, specially designed to enjoy your mate.
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