Yerba Mate Drinkers?

[JRW1]

Any Yerba Mate drinkers in the house? Yerba mate offers a much clearer, exciting and euphoric caffeine/drunken stimulant high than coffee, although I do love a good cup of joe.
Yerba mate is cultivated from a holly tree growing natively in South America, has been drunk ritualistically for centuries by many native peoples, and offers a well rounded serving of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other beneficial things along with a pretty strong dose of caffeine to boot. It is drunk in different ways country to country (in places like paraguay, argentina, brazil, etc), but is most commonly drunk the traditional way, with the loose leaf sometimes dried and aged sometimes fresh leaf inside a hollowed out and cured gourd with a metal or cane bombilla, a filtered straw.
It is probably the best consumption ritual I have come across in my life, apart definitely from weed smoking and things like this in a lot of ways.

So who drinks Yerba Mate? And anyone drink Guayusa? I'm gonna order a pound or two of that soon to try in my gourd!

 

[Beernik]

Mate latte.

I drink Mate but I'm not a regular drinker of it.

I like that it's more mild on my stomach than coffee.

 

[GenIke]

I thought it was a brand of coffee all this time.

 

[Zuljin]

Any Yerba Mate drinkers in the house? Yerba mate offers a much clearer, exciting and euphoric caffeine/drunken stimulant high than coffee, although I do love a good cup of joe.
Yerba mate is cultivated from a holly tree growing natively in South America, has been drunk ritualistically for centuries by many native peoples, and offers a well rounded serving of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other beneficial things along with a pretty strong dose of caffeine to boot. It is drunk in different ways country to country (in places like paraguay, argentina, brazil, etc), but is most commonly drunk the traditional way, with the loose leaf sometimes dried and aged sometimes fresh leaf inside a hollowed out and cured gourd with a metal or cane bombilla, a filtered straw.
It is probably the best consumption ritual I have come across in my life, apart definitely from weed smoking and things like this in a lot of ways.

So who drinks Yerba Mate? And anyone drink Guayusa? I'm gonna order a pound or two of that soon to try in my gourd!

Are you drinking weird stuff out of a gourd? Do go on.

 

[Mongrel]

I'm a bad Argentine. Yeah, I own the gourd and bombilla, but I rarely use them. Give me a café batido anytime.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

This is as close as I get:
http://sambazon.com/product/energy-acai-with-yerba-mate-guarana/
Tasty, but it's hardly traditional.
Regards, GF.

 

[hunter_le five]

I like Yerba Mate quite a bit, but it has the tendency to leave me pretty wired for a few hours after drinking it, so I only partake on weekend mornings. Plus, I'd get made fun of at work for the whole gourd/bombilla thing, so I'd rather drink it at home anyway.

 

[g8rjoe]

Im a regular yerba mate drinker. Picked up the habit in Buenos Aires and southern Brazil. I have also made an imperial IPA with yerba in the whirlpool. It would give you two kinds of buzz. Traditional brazilian erva drinkers use a much larger gourd than city dwelling argentinians. It is definitely a good way to get amped up.

 

[bbrim]

I enjoy Yerba Mate. I often just make it like tea though. I feel so amped up when I drink it, its great when stuff needs to get done physically. I struggle to sit still after drinking it.

 

[Beernik]

I do have a question about the gourd/bombilla. My father-in-law brought me back one. It's laquered.

Is it supposed to be laquered? Because when I tried drinking from it, I could taste the laquer.

I gave up on it and it sits on a shelf in the back of my cupboard.

 

[hunter_le five]

It should not be lacquered on the inside. The inside should just be raw dried gourd. Or is it just lacquered on the outside? Mine doesn't have any lacquer on it at all.

Maybe it was just a decorational piece?

 

[TxBrew]

I drink it in a number of ways, Most often from tea bags as it's the simplest preparation, but I do have the gourds and bombillas.

 

[Beernik]

It should not be lacquered on the inside. The inside should just be raw dried gourd. Or is it just lacquered on the outside? Mine doesn't have any lacquer on it at all.

Maybe it was just a decorational piece?

Lacquered only on the outside. (It's a bit dusty and tarnished now)

 

[hunter_le five]

I wonder if whatever lacquer that was used is seeping through the pores and ruining the flavor then?

 

[Locksmith]

I make a pretty badass red ale with yerba mate..it's known as rocket fuel to my friends.

One of them a hardcore coffee drinker, at least 2 pots a day once told me not to feel bad if they couldn't notice the punch from "some tea" since he drinks so much caffeine from his java...half a bottle and they said they felt like they had a caffeine high..

 

[TxBrew]

I wonder if whatever lacquer that was used is seeping through the pores and ruining the flavor then?

It depends on how the gourde was prepared I would think.

Can we get some close up pics of the inside?

Do you know what that metal is by chance?

 

[Mongrel]

Do you know what that metal is by chance?

I would guess pewter. Makes for nice, decorative pieces, but I always worry about possible lead content.

 

[Beernik]

More pics of the mysterious gourd.

Metal rim is not magnetic. Originally I assumed it was the same metal as the straw. Pewter may be correct. But it never tarnished black.
So if it is pewter, it has a low lead content. It does polish with just a cloth.

 

[Beernik]

Bottom of the gourd and stand. I assume the stand is made of the same metal as the rim. It's stiff but I can bend it if I want to.

 

[Beernik]

Inside of the gourd. I only drank 3 or 4 cups out of it before I gave up on the lacquer taste.

 

[Beernik]

Closeup of the side of the gourd and frame.

 

[JRW1]

I make a pretty badass red ale with yerba mate..it's known as rocket fuel to my friends.

One of them a hardcore coffee drinker, at least 2 pots a day once told me not to feel bad if they couldn't notice the punch from "some tea" since he drinks so much caffeine from his java...half a bottle and they said they felt like they had a caffeine high..

Dang Lock, how much yerba mate tea do you use? how much dried yerba do you use to make the tea? I have thought about yerba mate beer and yerba mate mead for a whiiiiile now. Id love some dosage tips.

 

[JRW1]

Im a regular yerba mate drinker. Picked up the habit in Buenos Aires and southern Brazil. I have also made an imperial IPA with yerba in the whirlpool. It would give you two kinds of buzz. Traditional brazilian erva drinkers use a much larger gourd than city dwelling argentinians. It is definitely a good way to get amped up.

very cool. i love the Imperial IPA with yerba idea, will probably do that when my new fast ferment gets here. How much yerba did you throw into the brew? I've had big gourds before too. Now I'm drinking out of a huge metal espresso cup, not the best for full flavor but easier to pour hot water with such a huge opening.

 

[JRW1]

Do people have a favorite mate? Just talked to an old school mate who recommended me some Mate Factor yerba mate, which isnt aged the 1-2 years most dried mates are aged for, giving a different flavor. Its been pretty good so far, although not as strong as other dried yerba mate's.
My favorite mate is probably Cruz de Malta.

 

[TxBrew]

I like Guayaki. It seems to have less stem in it so it's not as bitter.

 

[diodeart]

I was just on the beaches in
b
Brazil, and finally tried the matte. Yum. These guys walk up and down the beach all day with 2 stainless steel vessels strapped under their arms, one is very strong, very sweet matte, the other is lemonade. The two are mixed together pretty much equally and are perfect for a hot sandy beach. Highly recommended.

 

[JRW1]

wow. livin the dream diode. thanks for sharing.

 

[Yoseff]

This stuff got me through college. Coffee just gave me the jitters, but with matte I could sit and actually pay attention to what I was supposed to be studying.