What is mate tea?
Mate tea. A drink. A health cocktail. A way of life.
Mate will probably differ from all the drinks you've come across so far, both in terms of taste and the way mate is drunk.
What is Mate?
Mate comes from Matí, a Guaraní term meaning drinking vessel. The Guaraní, the discoverers of the wonderful effect of mate leaves on the human organism, always drank them from their mate. Mate has become a fixed term for this infusion, in which, similar to tea , the leaves of the mate tree (Yerba / Erva) are infused with hot or cold water. The yerba / erva mate is filled into this mate cup and poured with water. You then drink this revitalizing extract from the gourd through a special sieve drinking tube, the bombilla. Because of the way you drink it, the taste and the effects, mate tea is probably different from any other drink you have ever drunk.
Ingredients of mate tea
Mate tea combines the positive properties of tea (antioxidants), chocolate (theobromine) and coffee (caffeine) in one drink. That's why people in South America know where the Mate tree grows and where the culture of the drink is founded. Every day here begins with a mate, the drink of the gods. It revitalizes people, provides them with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and invigorates body and mind. Anyone who drinks Mate starts the day awake and powerful, is concentrated, creative and relaxed at the same time.
This unique effect could not be denied, Mate spread rapidly, especially throughout Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil. Here the mate leaves were sometimes even used as a means of payment, and they were given the nickname "the green gold". The spread didn't stop, first further also in Peru, Bolivia and Chile, then beyond the continent, to Europe and Asia.
Mate tea comes to Germany
While in South America mate is almost always made up of a mate drinking tube , mate drinking vessel and the mate leaves poured into it, a new form developed in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Mate as lemonade. As early as 1906, the first Mate lemonade, “Yermeth”, came onto the market, the forerunner of the Club Mate that is so well known today. It took about 100 years for mate lemonades to break through. Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been this wave of mate, which arose from high culture. There are now more than 50 different mate lemonades, and new ones are added every year. Many young people these days do not understand Mate as a hot mat infusion, but Mate lemonade.
Strictly speaking, mate tea, as the mate infusion is often called, is not tea , the mate tree has nothing to do with the tea plant. It grows as a natural part of the Atlantic rainforest. Unfortunately, mate has also been cultivated in monocultures since the 19th century. Not only does nature suffer, but also the local people and animals who are exposed to chemical sprays. In addition, the quality also suffers, the majority of mate varieties / mate teas are contaminated with pesticides, and the strong sunlight also causes a lot of acid to form in the leaves, which the human organism does not tolerate well. It is therefore important when buying mate to make sure that it is organic quality, which preferably comes from mixed forests and is fairly traded. We at caámate only offer such varieties, organic, fair trade and grown in the shade.
I have attached a few mate terms with brief explanations and a preparation video. This is just a small selection of Matevokabulary. A material lexicon will follow shortly here on the site.
Conclusion: The term mate can mean different things. "The mate" can be understood as the mate drinking vessel or the ready-made mate. "The mate" means either the mate leaves that go into the mate or simply a mate lemonade.
Mate terms
• Mate – prepared mate, mate tea, mate drinking vessel,
• Mate lemonade
• Mate tree – Ilex Paraguariensis
• Mate Round – Round of friends circling a mate
• Matero/a – mate drinker
• Mate cocido – mate leaves infused as normal tea
• Yerba Mate - Mate leaves for the mate
• Erva Mate - Mate leaves for the mate
• caá mate – original name for the mate leaves
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