Get out your gourd. Yerba Mate is the South American tea that deserves all its praise
Words by Matt Dursum
If you’ve traveled to South America, you’ve likely seen people of all ages walking around with gourds or egg-shaped ceramic cups with a straw and a large thermos of water. This is the omnipresent mate culture of South America, a tea drinking practice that puts other tea-obsessed places like England and Japan to shame.
Yerba Mate is a South American tea that has been consumed for centuries. Its preparation involves steeping the dried leaves of the plant Ilex paraguariensis in hot or cold water. People then consume the tea in a hollowed-out gourd or vessel. Using a narrow straw with a built-in filter called a bombilla, the drinker sips the energizing liquid, often enjoying it throughout the day.
Yerba Mate’s Long History
On top of being energizing and rejuvenating, Yerba Mate has a long history. The plant is native to South America, specifically to the subtropical Atlantic Forest regions of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The indigenous Guarani people were the first to cultivate it. For them, the plant had medicinal properties that could treat various ailments.
The consumption of Yerba Mate spread to other parts of South America. By the 17th century, the Spanish colonizers in the region took notice and started drinking it themselves. Soon, Yerba Mate plantations were created throughout the region and the drink became inseparable from every strata of the population, from the very poor to the elite. Even the aristocracy of Europe became obsessed with it for a time. Today, it remains cheap and accessible, unless you’re buying it outside the continent.
Yerba Mate is strong and bitter, with plenty of earthy notes that keep fans of tannic wines, tea, and coffee excited. People either drink it straight or add honey or sugar to it. In Paraguay and some other regions, the leaves are toasted, and mixed with other herbs to create a super rich and nutrient packed beverage.
While it doesn’t contain as much caffeine as coffee, it still packs a healthy punch of caffeine and other energizing compounds like theobromine. This combo provides a more sustained energy boost than coffee and is less likely to cause jitters or crashes, which makes the drink perfect for all-day consumption.
On top of its stimulating properties, it is high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals like calcium and magnesium. Researchers are even looking at links to a reduced risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.
A Ceremonial Beverage
Besides the obvious perks, consuming Yerba Mate is one of the most important cultural practices in southern South America. People not only drink it daily, they set up rituals and traditions around the drink. The act of sharing a gourd of Yerba Mate with family, friends, and strangers is a universal symbol of hospitality.
The drinking ritual typically involves a circle of people. One person volunteers or is stubbornly selected as the preparer, known as the cebador. The cebador adds the dried leaves, filling around 2/3rds of the gourd. The cebador then adds a splash of cold or luke-warm water on one side. Carefully, they insert the straw (bombilla) at an angle. Then, they fill the gourd with hot water, around 70 to 80° C or 160 to 170° F. From here, the vessel gets passed around and enjoyed by everyone in the group.
Although this ceremony has evolved and changed since Covid, Yerba Mate continues to hold an important place in the culture of South America. Companies and artisans now develop individual sized mate cups to reduce the chance of exposure from sharing the drink. With a growing world-wide interest in Yerba Mate, producers are looking forward to the future and more producers and consumers are pushing for more socially and environmentally sustainable production to lead the way. With this, Yerba Mate’s future looks bright.