It wasn’t long ago that drinking yerba mate in the United States required a visit to a health food store, the purchase of a sack of dried leaves and twigs, and home brewing.
Times have changed. Now, cans and bottles of brewed yerba mate, often sweetened and flavored with juices and herbs like mint, line refrigerated shelves in convenience stores. We hear high school trash cans often overflow with yerba cans.
Where just a decade ago enthusiasm for yerba was profoundly cool, today it’s hot.
We warmed to yerba mate more than a decade ago, when we opened our first Ku Cha House of Tea shop and first tried it. We remain enthusiastic. Among the many plants that get brewed into hot beverages, we think yerba mate is among the best. In addition, we adore its South American cousin, guayusa.
Why Yerba Mate?
Yerba mate remained obscure in the United States until recently. But it’s been extremely popular in South America for decades.
Indigenous communities in Brazil, mainly the Guaranis and Tupis, were the first in the world to take the leaves and stems from a tree in the holly family, ilex paraguariensis, and brew them into beverages. They drank the beverage out of hollow gourds, and people across South America today still rely on gourds for their sipping vessels. Translated, yerba mate means “gourd herb.” We carry the gourds as well as stainless, filtering sipping straws called “bombillas.”
The drink goes by other names across South America. One of them, congonha, translates as “what keeps us alive.” Another name means “Drink of the Gods.”
Yes — just tea brewed from Camellia sinensis is central to several Asian cultures, people across South America cherish their yerba mate.
The flavor — grassy, vegetal and herbal — could be compared to some green teas. But yerba mate is its own beverage. One inescapable flavor profile? Bitterness. Just as traditional tea always offers degrees of bitterness — after all, the name of our shop translates as “Bitter Tea” — so does yerba mate. We enjoy the beverage’s unique kind of bitter.
The tree, which can grow to heights of 40 feet, produces an abundance of leaves and stems, which get harvested and dried over fire before being packaged and sold. In South America, people fill hollow gourds and other vessels as much as two-thirds full of yerba mate before steeping it in hot water. They use straws, often made of metal, to sip the drink.
Classic yerba mate is enjoyed hot. But cold yerba is extremely popular across South America as well as the United States.
Health Benefits of Yerba Mate
Like tea and coffee, yerba mate contains caffeine — about 85 mg per cup. That’s less than coffee, but more than a cup of tea. As a result, yerba offers enthusiasts energy and zip, which certainly counts as a health benefit.
The leaves and stems contain a variety of polyphenols, including quercetin and rutin. Medical research shows that polyphenols, which are antioxidants, are linked to a reduced risk of many diseases. Yerba also contains xanthines (which are stimulants) like caffeine, theobromine and theophulline. Researchers have identified caffeoyle derivatives, which are health-promoting compounds, in yerba mate, as well as saponins — compounds with cholesterol-lowering and anti-inflammatory properties.
Research into yerba mate has found that it may reduce the risk of diabetes, improve allergy symptoms, act as an appetite suppressant (and thus be a useful weight-loss tool), increase mental energy and focus, promote deeper sleep and improve mood.
Ku Cha House of Tea’s Yerba Mate
Organic Yerba Mate
Our finely chopped Yerba Mate, grown organically (much commercial yerba mate is not organic, and gets sprayed with herbicides and pesticides) in Brazil, brews a deep straw color and is bright with a sweet and earthy aftertaste.
Like all yerba mates, it is best to brew the leaves and stems at a lower temperature than coffee; avoid pouring boiling water over yerba mate.
Drink: Chocolate Yerba Mate
For this elixir, we combine roasted and green styles of yerba mate with cacao nibs, chocolate chips, spices and other ingredients for a beverage that powerfully evokes the flavors of South America.
Drink: Organic Guayusa (why-you-sa)
Where yerba mate comes from the ilex paraguariensis plant, guayusa takes advantage of its cousin, ilex guayusa. Both are members of the holly family.
Our guayusa is a touch sweeter than yerba mate, with more fruity notes. It also contains more caffeine.
The Quechua, indigenous people in Ecuador and Peru, call guayusa “mental strength and courage” and have sipped it for centuries. The earliest evidence for guayusa drinking comes from a 1,500-year-old medicine man’s tomb in the Bolivian Andes, where scientists found a bundle of the leaves. The site of the discovery was far from regions where guayusa grows, suggesting indigenous people had been savoring the plant long before it was buried with the medicine man.
Drink: Organic Boulder Boost
Coloradans pursue mountain activities with vigor. We look for energy boosts wherever we can get them! Our custom Organic Boulder Boost combines stimulating guayusa with rooibos (a South African shrub known for its stimulative properties and electrolytes), Tulsi (a balancing Asian herb) and energy-stoking black tea.
This is get-up-and-go tea!
Drink: Enchanted Forest
This custom blend stands as one of our more beguiling teas. To begin, we combine green tea with green mate, which together add layers of grassy flavors as well as caffeine. Coconut shreds, rose petals and cornflower blossoms add tropical and floral notes to the tea.
While we enjoy all of our yerba mate and guayusa teas iced, Enchanted Forest is especially enchanting. The aroma brings to mind black cherry forest cake. It’s magic in a mug.
