About Yerba Mate:

Yerba Mate is an incredibly healthy tea beverage.  It has the strength of coffee with powerful antioxidants making it an amazing beverage for your health.  Yerba mate (yer-bah mah-tay) is made from the naturally caffeinated and nourishing leaves of the holly tree indigenous to South American rainforest.

Health Benefits:

Yerba mate naturally contains 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, abundant antioxidants, and is generally consumed for vitality, clarity, and well being. Yerba mate is the uplifting and nourishing choice of health-minded individuals.

Studies & Research:

There have been so much research done on this incredible and amazing tree and its abundant health properties.  Some of the most exciting research was done by The Pasteur Institute of the Paris Scientific society in 1964 concluding “it is difficult to find a plant in any area of the world equal to mate in nutritional value” and that yerba mate contains “practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life.”

The Yerba Mate tree is small and native to the subtropical Atlantic forests of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. This evergreen member of the holly family was introduced to modern civilizations by the indigenous Guarani of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

Legends of Yerba Mate:

There are many legends surrounding yerba mate, discovered by its people the Argentine Gauchos (cowboys) who revere yerba mate as their “liquid vegetable”.  To the native forest people who have survived periods of drought and famine by drinking yerba mate alone they feel it must be the “Drink of the Gods”.

Yerba mate does contain caffeine, making it a great morning drink or alternative to your traditional coffee.  Yerba mate contains theophylline, and theobromine, which are well-known stimulants also found in tea, coffee and chocolate.  The caffeine content is a bit lower then coffee bringing it between that of green tea and coffee.  Unlike tea, yerba mate has a low tannin content so it can be strong with out becoming extremely bitter.  Unlike coffee, yerba mate is not oily and acid forming, so it is less likely to cause stomach acid and jitters.

Ways to Prepare Yerba Mate:

The versatility of yerba mate is great in that it can be prepared many ways, from a tea infuser or French press to a coffee machine, even an esspresso maker.  It can be consumed hot, or cold, and served with with milk, soy milk, honey, agave, lemon and or mint.

Yerba mate was discovered centuries ago by the South American people and has been consumed to enhance health, vitality, and longevity. With 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, abundant antioxidants and naturally occurring caffeine, yerba mate is nature’s most balanced stimulant. Of the six commonly used stimulants in the world: yerba mate, coffee, tea, kola nut, cocoa, and guarana, yerba mate is the healthiest, delivering both energy and nutrition.

Yerba Mate and Wear it Grows:

Yerba mate, is a shade subtropical. Like high quality coffee, high quality mate is shade-grown. Yerba mate delivers more flavor and contains more medicinal and nutritional properties than the commercially grown, sun farmed varieties. It thrives in its natural rainforest environment located between the 10th and 30th parallels, in high humidity with up to 1500 mm of annual rainfall.

In the wild, the tree takes about 25 years to develop completely, reaching a height of up to 15 meters. When cultivated, the mate trees are pruned to a height of 3-5 meters to allow for harvesting. The harvesting of the leaves and tender stems begins after 3-4 years of age. Harvest takes place annually between May and July in most regions. At maturity, yerba mate has a unique bittersweet flavor. The trees produce for about 40 years making it a perfect crop when sustainably harvested.

The term “mateine” is a reference used when discussing the stimulant in yerba mate. Researchers feel that the stimulating compound in yerba mate does differ from caffeine. We have elected to use the phrase “Naturally Caffeinated” to share the most accurate scientific information currently available.

My Favorite Brand GUAYAKI YERBA MATE, Organic:

Yerba mate is sold both loose and in tea bags.  My most favorite type of Yerba Mate is the Guyaki Yerba Mate brand.  If you have not tried this please do yourself and health a favor and pick some up.  I love the Guyaki brand as it is sustainably harvested, always ORGANIC, gluten free, kosher, certified ccof, non gmo and verified by the nongmoproject.com, fair for life registered, and a fair trade product protecting the rainforest and the people of this beautiful land.  This company ensures the restoring of the rainforest as well as the product remaining fairly traded. Such a great company to support which not only preserves the rainforest and reforestation projects in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil.  Your support of this company follows the market driven restoration business model directly linking your purchase to the partner farming communities in South American Atlantic Rainforests.  Guayaki’s partners sustainably harvest organic yerba mate from rainforest cultivations and reforestation projects, generating renewable income stream which enabling these communities.  They also use only vegetable based inks and paperboard for their boxes which is made from 100% recycled content. The beautiful art on the package is done by an incredible artist named Akari Inoguchi, whose styles portrays rainforest wildlife and plants.

Yerba Mate – “The Antioxidant Powerhouse”

Source:  http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/news/2010/06/yerba-mate-drinks-have-most-antioxidants-polyphenols.aspxClinical Studies of Antioxidant Properties of Yerba Mate.
Yerba mate has significant antioxidant activity. In a study published in 1995 by Biochemicaland Molecular Biology International, researchers concluded that water extracts of yerba mate “were more potent antioxidants than either ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or butylated hydroxytoluene.” A few years later, a group of researchers embarked on a study to again investigate the antioxidant properties of Ilex paraguariensis infusions. Those findings were published in March of 2000 in the journal Biochemical and Biophysica Research Communications. Their results suggest “that ingestion of extracts of Ilex paraguariensis could contribute to increase the antioxidant defense of an organism against free radicals attack.” In a more recent study, published in the November 2001 issue of Fitoterapia, researchers took a look at seven different plant species in South America. They found that yerba mate “contained a higher content of flavonoids and caffeoyl derivatives than any other assayed species.”