Teapot Makers & Yerba Mate Gourds

Product designer Joey Roth has a Web site, where you can check out his quite striking looking Sorapot, among other things. Espresso fanciers might also be interested in the Moka Pot.

If yerba mate is more your style, or if someone on your gift list has a taste for it, you might want to check out the impressive selection of mate gourds at Patagonia Gifts.

Image: Joey Roth

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Guayaki’s New Unsweetened Mate Drink

Guayaki’s New Unsweetened Mate Drink Honors Rainforest Tradition
(from a press release)

The beverage innovator that introduced energizing yerba mate bottled drinks to North America is pioneering the way again by offering the first ‘naked’ organic yerba mate drink. Guayaki Yerba Mate has announced a new traditional-style Unsweetened Mate. This new low-calorie beverage highlights the robust flavor of brewed rainforest yerba mate in a premium 16-ounce bottle.

Guayaki’s organic Unsweetened Mate is styled in the South American tradition known as terere – a technique of preparing yerba mate cold, as opposed to the more typical hot tea version that is the most popular drink in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and much of Brazil.

Unsweetened Mate can be purchased at natural foods stores, supermarkets, cafes and gyms throughout North America and here.

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The Icon of the American Epicurean Experience

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Yerba Mate Ale & T Bars

Can't decide whether to have yerba mate or beer? You're in luck. As we mentioned before, Mateveza Yerba Maté Ale is a new product that combines both. The product and its creator were profiled recently at SFist.

If we're to believe the gang at Food Processing magazine, T Bar Green Tea Nutrition Bars are nothing to write home about. The vegan-friendly bars are available in three flavors — Green Tea, Natural Rice and Tropical Fruit - but the reviewers tasked with evaluating them were quite unimpressed.

How unimpressed? How about "I once ate a paperback novel that tasted like this.” Now, that's not very nice, is it?

Image: Tzu The

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Yerba Mate Beer & More

It seems that yerba mate is all the rage these days. So it was probably only a matter of time before someone came up with yerba mate beer. That someone would be Butte Creek Brewing Company, who, in concert with Mateveza USA, have devised a brew called Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale.

As the manufacturer puts it, Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale is "an organic, naturally caffeinated pale ale brewed with yerba mate, the ancient tea from South America."

Butte Creek Brewing Company is based in Chico, California. Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale will be available initially on draft and in 22-ounce bottles throughout California and Oregon. Retailers will include Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and more.

The Web site is here, though it looks kind of sparse at the moment.

In other yerba mate news, be sure to check out the new Happy Gaucho site. It's a production of the gang over at Natural Latitudes, who got me started on "proper" yerba mate consumption.

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Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

If you've read my blather before, you might recall that I don't do caffeine real well. Which is kind of a pain in the butt for a tea fancier, but that's life.

So while the rather caffeinated items in this entry are not necessarily too enticing to me, they might be to some of you.

For example, there's Bazza High-Energy Tea, which appears to be another entry in the green tea energy drink category. More here.

Speaking of green tea energy drinks, the gang at Steaz, who are best known for their green tea sodas, have come out with an energy drink. They call it Steaz Energy Organic Fuel. It contains green tea, yerba mate and acai. Find out more at the Steaz site, here.

I've heard of acai, but until recently I hadn't heard of chá de bugre, which is apparently some sort of Brazilian herb. It's also a component, along with yerba mate and acai, in something called Brazilian Body Diet and Energy Shot. You can check out their site, here.

Last up is a product whose name some might consider to be in poor taste. That would be Meth Coffee, which is said to be a "super caffeinated brew." No, we're not broadening our focus to cover coffee here at TGS. I only bring this one up because it contains yerba mate.

Image: Steaz

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Bombilla Gourd & CoffeeSlender

Ready for another bottled yerba mate beverage? How about Bombilla Gourd Mate Tea? It's available in five flavors - blueberry, pomegranate, lemon, peach, and mint and honey. Check out their Web site here. BevNet has reviews of three of the five flavors here.

Perhaps taking a page from the Coca-Cola marketing primer, the makers of a new beverage called CoffeeSlender seem to be positioning their new beverage as a weight loss aid. Lift your feet, I say. Of course, coffee is far from being our preferred subject matter around these parts, but this one caught my eye since Coke is making somewhat similar claims for Enviga, their new green tea beverage.

Read about CoffeeSlender here. And remember, dubious weight loss schemes are always a far better weight loss solution than eating right and exercising.

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Tea Guy's Tea Articles

In real life, Tea Guy is a working freelance journalist type. Here are a few articles I've written about tea.

The Art of Tea (excerpt) - Body & Brain

The Buzz on Tea - AskMen.com

Confessions of a Reluctant Yerba Mate Drinker – Epicurean Online

Tiny Bubbles - Specialty Retail Report

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Tea – The Gilded Fork


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Mate Like Oxygen, Twinings & More

If you can't understand what would motivate someone to quip that "mate is like oxygen," then read this article by Colin Barraclough. It's from the San Francisco Chronicle and it's a rather in-depth examination - at least by newspaper standards - of yerba mate culture in Argentina.

The Save Twinings guy is still at it, trying to get Twinings to go back to their "original" Earl Grey formulation. Twinings says they have not changed the blend, but one of the company's VPs recently invited ST guy to visit their offices in New Jersey.

Imen, at Tea Obsession, offers up some information about the origin of tipping, as in gratuities. If he (she?) is to be believed, the practice originates with tea drinkers.

Last up is a new product announcement from Seagram's, whose Cooler Escapes line will now include Tea Breeze. It's a flavored malt beverage that blends peach, mango and green tea flavors.

Image: Twinings

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Adagio Teas - Free Shipping with $75 Purchase

Natural Products Expo East & Mood-Teas

One of my tea industry contacts made it possible for me to spend some time at Natural Products Expo East, which is currently underway in Baltimore (thanks, Alex). I headed out yesterday to have a look around, but didn't cover nearly as much ground as I had hoped. It's a big show and my time was somewhat limited.

According to Expo's directory, there are about three dozen companies at the show that have something to do with tea. I recognized quite a few of them, including Adagio, Bigelow, Yogi, Good Earth, Honest Tea, Inko's White Tea, ITO EN, Numi Tea, Republic of Tea, Stash Tea, Steaz and more.

I didn't actually make it to the Mood-Teas booth while I was at the show - or perhaps I overlooked it - but it looks like they have kind of an interesting approach to this whole tea selling thing. They currently offer a line of what look to be custom-blended teas using tea, yerba mate, rooibos and various herbs and flavors. Among the varieties, Mood-Renewal, Mood-Passion and Mood-Energy.

The gimmick here is aromatherapy and the parent company - Mood Factory - also makes mood lighting products and aromatherapy scents. Check out the Mood-Teas site here.

Image: Mood-Teas

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Adagio Teas - Free Teapot Offer

Tea Review 73 - Sol Mate Energy Beverage

Sol Mate Sparkling Yerba Mate, Original
Sol Mate Sparkling Yerba Mate, Lemon Lime
Sol Mate Beverage Group Ltd.

Tea Guy has nothing against bottled teas and tea-based soda type drinks, at least not in theory. In practice, it seems that a lot of manufacturers pushing these beverages err on the side of over sweetening. But that could just be me, since I'm not really a sweetened beverage kind of guy.

I wrote about Sol Mate a few months ago, but recently I had a chance to sample both of their flavors. The company says the product is "the world’s first organic sparkling mate energy beverage." Which kind of makes it sound like an energy drink. In reality, at least in my ever so humble opinion, it's closer to a soda, albeit a rather lightly sweetened one.

Which is a good thing, if you ask me. Both flavors have a light taste with just a little bit of sweetness. If you're looking for a strong yerba mate taste, you're likely to be disappointed. The yerba mate content here is very understated. But that's probably a good thing if the company's planning to get their product to the largest numbers of consumers possible - and I'm assuming they are.

As I was drinking Sol Mate, I couldn't thinking of Steaz, who make a similar product that's based on green tea, instead of yerba mate. Both products are quite a bit lighter and less sweet than the average soda or bottled tea and both are quite nice. Another reference point would be Kombucha Wonder Drink, who do something along the same lines, but with kombucha as the base for the drink.

In any event, both flavors of Sol Mate get the thumbs up. Give 'em a shot.

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Tea (& Yerba Mate) Time At The Times

The New York Times, that is.

Technically this first item isn't about tea, but here at TGS we've always gone with a broader definition of that term. It's a brief bit, from a few days ago, that claims that some athletes are seeing a performance boost from yerba mate.

Tea Guy always tends to be skeptical about lofty claims for tea, yerba mate and whatnot, but I'm hardly the definitive authority when it comes to these things. The article is located here and here's a link for a slideshow that goes with it.

Speaking of slideshows, here's one on China's teahouses that the New York Times ran a while back. I'm guessing there must be an article to go with it, but I wasn't able to locate it. Check out the slide show anyway. It's a good one.

Image: Pixie Mate

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Vodka & Yerba Mate

We've written about several combinations of tea and vodka thus far. Here's a link to one of those pieces.

Now here comes Zygo Vodka, which combines vodka with yerba mate, among other things, to make a spirit that's supposed to energize you at the same time it's making you tipsy. Now what do you make of that?

Anyway, here's a piece on Zygo from the Boston Globe and here's the link to the company's flashy Web site with mucho bells and whistles. Which is all well and good unless you're actually trying to find some info.

Image: Zygo

tea, green tea, food, food and drink, vodka, energy drinks, yerba mate

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Yerba Mate Basics

Wondering what all the fuss is about yerba mate? Feeling intimidated by all the talk of mates, bombillas and whatnot? Well, here are a few resources that will help you unravel the basics of yerba mate.

Ma-Tea.com offers a pretty extensive selection of yerba mate and related stuff. To help you sort it all out they also have a Yerba Mate Buying Guide, which simplifies the process of Choosing a Gourd, Choosing a Bombilla and Selecting Yerba Mate.

For additional tips, refer to this post on How To Drink Yerba Mate.

Image: Ma-Tea.com

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Iced Yerba Mate

Iced tea season has arrived, at least for most of us, though the temperatures in this neck of the woods (Pennsylvania) plunged close to the freezing mark last night.

While you're trotting out your assorted variations on iced tea, why not give iced yerba mate a whirl? According to an article at the Goyerbamate.com Web site, this is called "Terere" and it can be prepared in a variety of ways.

For a little more information, try this brief Wikipedia article.

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Yerba Mate Soda

Behold Sol Maté, which bills itself as "the world’s first organic sparkling mate energy beverage". Sounds like a pretty intriguing concept to me, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Actually, I have no idea what that saying means, but then I'm not William Safire here and besides, I digress.

Anyway, Sol Mate is made with organic aqueous Mate extract - whatever that is - organic cane sugar and assorted other ingredients. It's available in an Original flavor and Lemon Lime.

As for availability, don't expect to find it on your local store shelves just yet, but the manufacturer's Web site say it will be stocked at "your favorite natural products retailer this summer". We'll be waiting.

Link

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Tea Review 68 - Yerba Mate (x2)

Del Cebador Superior
Sara Suave

I've had my say about sample packages of tea. I'm not going to go off on that tangent again, except to say that it's nice to be able to try teas without having to buy a large amount. Ditto for yerba mate.

I recently ordered six quarter pounds of loose yerba mate. As I've been working my way through the pile, I've found a surprising amount of difference between the different brands. Last time around I reviewed Canarias and Amanda, products of Brazil and Argentina.

This time I'm going with two brands from Uruguay, a place where - if I've got my story straight - they drink more yerba mate than just about anywhere in the world.

At first glance these two brands seem quite similar. Both are pretty finely ground, with no obvious traces of stems. Aroma is pretty similar too. Both kind of reminded me of the burnt sawdust smell of a heavily used wood shop. That might sound like a bad thing, but it's not really.

As for the taste, the first time out I liked the Sara Suave and not the Del Cebador Superior. After some more sampling I reversed my position. To my clunky taste buds Sara Suave seemed kind of tasteless, while Del Cebador Superior had a nice smoky overtone - tasting kind of like it smelled, actually. I definitely prefer the latter over the former, but I would take the Amanda over either and probably over the Canarias as well.

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Yerba Mate Gourds

Since it's still Yerba Mate Month here at TGS I thought I'd direct your attention to a great page I ran across recently. It's called Yerba Mate Gourds of South America and it's posted at the Arizona Gourds Web site. The site is a showcase for Tucson gourd artist Bonnie Gibson and has some interesting stuff in addition to the yerba mate page.

There's an interesting note here about the correct spelling of mate, which is without the accented "e" that seems to have become common usage. Apparently this accent mark changes the meaning rather considerably. Gibson also relays another great description of what yerba mate tastes like - "drinking grass clippings through a cigar".

A very informative page with some great pictures. Worth a look.

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Tea Review 66 - Yerba Mate (X2)

Canarias Yerba Mate
Amanda Yerba Mate

I know - yerba mate is not tea, at least not in the strictest sense of the word. But, as you've probably noticed, we take a pretty loose approach to semantics here at TGS.

Canarias yerba mate was the first "real" yerba mate I ever tasted. Real, in this sense, referring to loose yerba mate, consumed from a gourd (mate) using a filtered metal straw (bombilla).

Though I'd tasted yerba mate in tea bag form before, my first experience with Canarias almost caused me to spew a huge mouthful of it across the room. Given the fact that, since then, I've worked my way down to the dregs of a one kilogram bag, I guess you could say I've developed a taste for the stuff.

Canarias is apparently a product of Brazil. It's a mix of smaller leaves and what I'll refer to as dust - I'm not sure of the correct terminology. It's got a pretty strong flavor, compared to some of the other yerba mate I've tasted since, and it's got more than a hint of bitterness. That's not necessarily a bad thing, at least not as far as I'm concerned, and I think I actually prefer it to some of the smoother yerba I've tasted.

Amanda hails from Argentina and it's one of those smoother varieties of yerba mate, though not by much. It's got less dust, larger leaves and some light colored stems. I gather that the latter are not considered a desirable quality when it comes to yerba mate, but I could be mistaken about that.

Amanda was not nearly as pungent as Canarias and it had a fresher taste, kind of "greener", you might say. I don't know that I preferred either of these over the other. I think it's just a matter of what you're in the mood for.

There are a quite a few yerba mate merchants on the Web nowadays. Do a little snooping around to see which one you like the best. I ordered the Canarias from Natural Latitudes, who were kind enough to provide me with my mate and bombilla, and the Amanda from Yerba Mate Cafe. Also noteworthy are Yerba Mate CC, who claim to have "the most complete inventory of Yerba Mate Tea from South America, available anywhere!"

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Tea Review 65 - Pixie Mate Limon & Lush Tropics

Lush Tropics Mate
Mate Limon
Pixie Mate

My last experience with Pixie Mate was their Chai Mate Latte and Dark Roast Mate Latte, which I reviewed here. These are boxed concentrate type drinks, but Pixie Mate also sells yerba mate in tea bag form, as well as the loose stuff.

Mate Limon and Lush Tropics Mate both fall into the tea bag category. Lush Tropics is made from all organic ingredients, including yerba mate, hibiscus, roasted chicory root, licorice root and the ever popular "natural flavors".

I'm not averse to some herbal teas, but I have to admit that I have limited patience for the rosehips and hibiscus type. Having said that, I'll also say that Lush Tropics wasn't so bad, as far as this sort of thing goes. I think the problem is that I'm just not the right audience for this stuff. So I'll shut up about it.

Mate Limon worked better for me. Although I'd never dream of ruining tea - or yerba mate - with lemon I do have kind of a weakness for lemon flavored stuff. Mate Limon's got kind of a sweet flavor and really only the vaguest hint of lemon, or at least that's what my taste buds told me. There's also an equally subtle undertone of yerba mate going on here, but it all adds up to a nice taste. I could see myself drinking this one now and then.

As for ingredients, Mate Limon is composed of yerba mate, lemon verbena, black tea, lemongrass, licorice root, natural flavors and ginger - and all of it organic.

tea, food, food and drink, yerba mate

Yerba Mate Mania?

Is yerba mate the next coffee? Nope, sorry. Green tea was the next coffee. Then white tea was the next green tea. But maybe if we wait long enough, yerba mate can can take a crack at being the next white tea. Or it can just be yerba mate and not the next anything and we can stop all this foolishness right now.

But, if we're to believe the smartypants types who make it their business to know these things, yerba mate may be poised for a breakthrough. The Center For Culinary Development decreed, in a recent trend mapping report, that yerba mate is about ready to go bonkers. I'm paraphrasing, by the way - smartypants types don't generally use words like "bonkers".

Over at the International Association for Culinary Professionals they're also keeping an eye on yerba mate. They've decided that it's one of the top five cutting edge ingredients worldwide.

If you need to brush up on your Yerba Mate 101, take a look at this recent report from London's Financial Times.

Tea and c***** trade journal Fresh Cup did a piece on yerba mate in their February issue. I couldn't find it at their Web site anymore, but maybe you'll have better luck.

As for some of those overzealous claims for yerba mate and other "healthy" products, here's an ABC News report - Energy-Boosting Supplements: Myths and Facts - that might help bring everyone back to Earth. Among the myths it addresses is that lingering one about yerba mate not having caffeine.

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