For the last year mate has been my study companion. I started drinking mate when I was in Canada, after watching David Askaripour videos about yerba mate. Even though I had heard a lot about mate before, I never got to try it.
My first experiences with yerba mate
First I had to get used to the bitter taste of mate (here's a video on removing all bitterness from mate) At first I didn't like the taste, so I used a lot of sugar. In a short time I became used to the taste and got to the point of actually loving it and craving it! The first times, mate got me really energetic, almost too energetic! And after a night of not being able to fall asleep until 4 am, I learned that you shouldn't drink mate late at night!
Funny that me, a Colombian person, born in South America, started drinking mate, in Canada, thanks to an American guy!
But the truth is that Mate is only known in the southern part of South America (Argentina, south of Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay). Here in the north it's pretty much unknown, so finding mate here in Colombia is really hard. I remember going to the stores here in Bogota and asking for "Yerba Mate" and everybody would look at me in a weird way, like saying "what the hell is he talking about?" so I had to go to the internet forums of Argentine people living in Colombia, hoping they could give me some tips as where to find "yerba mate." I went to lots of places they recommended, and when I arrived there, they told me they weren't importing yerba mate any longer.
Finally I found yerba mate in an Argentine restaurant in downtown Bogota, the same brand that I had found in Canada. This brand is called Nobleza Gaucha.
Yerba mate improves my life in many ways
Now yerba mate helps me study, chill out with friends, or just having the pleasure or enjoying a mate by myself is something I treasure. Even though I'm Colombian, I never was much of a coffee drinker; found coffee too strong and it made me hyperactive every time, and I didn't like the the tiredness I felt after I got the coffee "high." With mate it's more of a gentle—but strong—energy burst that lasts longer and doesn't have all the side effects of coffee.
Learn about the role of the Mate Server >>
I would recommend this drink for every one. Yerba mate has a very friendly and gentle spirit, you can instantly feel it when you drink it. It helps everyone enter a loving ambient; it creates bonds between people; it helps boost your cognitive abilities when you're tired and it's actually healthy for you!
So why not give it a try?
I hope to see more and more people drinking the friendly mate around the globe.
From a mate enthusiast.
Explore the history of yerba mate >>
For the last year mate has been my study companion. I started drinking mate when I was in Canada, after watching David Askaripour videos about yerba mate. Even though I had heard a lot about mate before, I never got to try it.
