Yerba Mate: About the Drink and How to Make it
Yerba mate is an unusual and very popular tea from South America. it has a high caffeine content with supposedly fewer negative side effects than other caffeine-rich drinks.
It’s prepared in an ingenious way. Rather than separate the herb from water after brewing, the leaves are dumped into a mate, or gourd used as a cup, with a filtered straw (the bombilla) in the middle of the leaves. Hot water is poured over the leaves and, after brewing for a few minutes, is sipped through the bombilla. Water can be added many times before the leaves become flavorless; the drink is popular in social settings because even a large group of people can share one gourdful of yerba.
Yerba mate containes xanthines, the chemical family that includes caffeine. Some claim the drink has no caffeine at all, but rather a substance called “mateine.” Mateine is listed as a synonym for caffeine in chemical databases, and yerba mate actually has a high caffeine content.
Many yerba mate drinkers claim the side effects of the beverage are less than other caffeine-heavy drinks like coffee. I drink a lot of yerba mate, and have never felt jittery from it, but it can upset an empty stomach and impede sleep, though many drinkers report no difficulty sleeping after drinking yerba mate late in the evening.
Preparing Yerba Mate
Making a great gourd of yerba mate is as challenging and rewarding as brewing the perfect cup of tea or coffee. This guide is a good way to start.
1. Fill the gourd with yerba leaves.
Usually filling halfway or a third of the gourd works best. What’s nice about yerba mate is that how much of the herb or water you use doesn’t necessarily determine the flavor; how long the water is left to brew is more important.
2. Shake the gourd to get the smaller particles on top.
Cover the opening of your gourd and turn it upside down. Shake it hard at first, then use less force with each shake. This moves the smaller leaves, more likely to slip through your bombilla and down your throat, to the top of the mound. The larger leaves and stems, now on the bottom, will keep the smaller pieces out of the straw.
3. Pour in enough cold water to cover the leaves.
The yerba absorbs the cold water and the mass usually swells a little. This is supposed to protect the leaves from being scalded when the hot water is added, and it usually tastes better this way.
4. Pile the leaves on one side of the gourd and insert the bombilla.
Pack the yerba into an incline, like the side of a mountain. Dig the straw into the side of this “mountain,” touching the bottom of the gourd.
5. Add hot water and steep for a minute or two.
The water should never be boiling; it can destroy the flavor of the mate. This step can be repeated until the water tastes like plain water.
6. Scrape out the yerba and rinse the gourd.
Your bombilla is the best tool for scraping out the used yerba. Rinse out the remaining yerba and pat the inside of your gourd with a paper towel. How quickly it dries out depends on the gourd, but mine is usually dry in the morning if emptied and patted out the night before.
Most cured gourds are waterproof enough to hold yerba for a day or longer; I’ve forgotten to empty mine and left it sitting for a weekend-long trip, and it was neither moldy nor damaged (not that I’d recommend this!). If you do find mold in your gourd, it can be destroyed with very hot water; don’t use dish detergent on your mate, unless you want to sip Dawn Tea for a few days. Strangely enough, many native drinkers think of the mold as a flavor enhancer!
As with teas and coffee, many people like to add things to their yerba mate. I’ve never tried it, but some drink yerba with sugar or milk. Because of the sticky residue they can leave, it’s best to use a separate gourd or regular mug for “mate dulce.” Other popular additives are stevia (a sweet, calorie-free herb), cinnamon, mint leaves, citrus fruit peels, vanilla beans and extract, lavender, guarana, chamomile, rooibos and just about anything else found in coffee and tea blends.
At only $4-7 for a kilogram (a little over 2 lb.) of high-quality yerba mate, it beats Starbucks easily and, as you might find, it’s tastier too.
