Yerba Mate
 

I did a search and saw nothing. Anyone else drink this stuff? It's insanely popular in some South American countries such as Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, and some parts of Chile. I've been drinking it for almost two years now. It tastes rather strong and vegetal. Coffee puts me to sleep but this stuff wakes me up something powerful.

http://www.yerbaguru.com/catalog/index.php

That's a good e-store that I've freguented. I'm lucky enough to have a brick and mortar in the metro area that sells mate as well.

http://www.yerbaguru.com/catalog/pro...products_id=48

That's my favorite variation.

http://www.yerbaguru.com/catalog/pro...products_id=41

I have the above bombilla. They no longer have the mate I bought in stock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29

Yup, I love it. It's a good morning tea because, as you said, it wakes you up and gives you a boost. I don't drink Yerba Mate for afternoon tea because at that point in the day I'm more interested in something soothing.

Awesome Mith! I love yerba mate (for those that don't know, prounounced er-ba ma-tey, not yurba mate). Mis abuelos used to go to Uruguay every year and stock up on yerba and dulce de leche. My favorite when hanging out with them is getting up in the morning have crackers and cheese and passing the mate, and then again in the afternoon same thing but toss some dulce de leche on the crackers.

I didn't see mis abuelos brand of yerba on there, but the argentinan I roomed with stocked the following

http://www.yerbaguru.com/catalog/pro...roducts_id=137

I'm not too impressed with their gourd selection on that site, but I've never found a website that I liked the gourd selection. The stainless steel bombillas they have are pretty nice, and the pricing on the site is reasonable. That same bag of mate listed above would run at least $10 at the nearest grocery store to me that would stock it (probably 90 miles away).

I may have to order some. When'd you first find out about mate?

Canarias isn't exactly my favorite, it seems more bitter than most brands. My friend in New York is 1/2 Uruguayan, she drinks that brand.

Anyway, I found out about it from a co-worker. He had a mate and bombilla at his desk and was drinking what looked like mud to me. After finding out about him and his experience it was rather interesting to me.

Apparently he was a Mormon missionary in New Jersey. One of his fellow missionaries was from Argentina. He was introduced then. I asked him about the Mormon ban on tea and he justified it as 'just water poured over leaves.' This made me smile. I gave him $10 and he came back with a bombilla and a kg of mate.

The first time I tried it I scalded the ever-loving hell out of it. It was so bitter. I got a nasty caffeine jag and nearly messed myself. I went back to work the next day and was instructed on how to properly prepare it. Much better after that. I can't really enjoy coffee too much now that I drink mate. Coffee makes me so sleepy.

I ordered a half pound of yarba mate some time a couple of years ago to give it a try. Possibly find a nice alternative to coffee or tea. But ... I just didn't like it very much. I think I tossed most of it. I didn't drinking it in any of the fancy gourds. I just made it in a tea ball and drank it from a ceramic cup.

Drinking it like tea? blech. For someone trying it for the first time I generally fill up a gourd all the way with yerba, and add some sugar to the top before pouring in hot water. If they like it, then I'll pour in just water (same batch of yerba in the gourd) and see what they think, but soaking yerba in water like tea just doesn't seem right.

That may have been my problem. Strangely, it never occurred to me to use sugar, since I drink coffee and tea black. Maybe I'll have to give it another shot one of these days.

It may be that you scorched the mate. You can't heat water above 185 degrees Fahrenheit when drinking mate otherwise it gets super bitter and nasty.

yeah mate's good.
it's pronounced sher-ba in argentina, by the way.
adding sugar to mate is a big faux par in buenos aires, real purists drink it straight.
here(buenos aires) you can mate with added orange peel, it takes the bitter edge off it. muy bueno.