• Healthy coffee answer
• How does it taste yerba mate?
• How to brew yerba?

South America has made a major contribution to shaping world cuisine, but yerba mate infusion is one of the region's most famous products. This stimulating, savory drink, somewhat similar to tea (actually quite different!), is rapidly gaining popularity.

Yerba Mate is made from the leaves and twigs of the Paraguayan holly tree that grows in the rainforests (Ilex Paraguaaria ). A delicious yerba infusion is interesting - and delicious! – an alternative to coffee and tea due to its taste and properties.

Healthy coffee answer

if the caffeine content in yerba mate is still controversial (how it is to be calculated is not entirely clear), one thing is certain: yerba is a friend of all those wanting to lose weight because it reduces the feeling of hunger. It also doesn't irritate the stomach or induce a caffeine "jump" like coffee does.

How does it tasteYerba Mate?

In terms of taste, yerba and tea are really not to be confused: the former has a characteristically tart, astringent taste and a slightly smoky, distinctly herbal (but not comparable to the taste of most European herbs) aftertaste. Like tea, it can be flavored in a variety of ways: for example, by adding dried fruits, orange or lemon peel, herbs, powdered juices, and other ingredients.

How to brew yerba ?

Just like coffee or tea, yerba mate can be brewed in a variety of ways. Traditionally, a special pumpkin (also called mate) and a bombilla are used, i.e. a straw (usually metal, sometimes bamboo or other material) with a sieve at one end through which the drink is drunk, to strain off the largest fragments of leaves and twigs from the infusion. The gourd is filled with dry yerba at least one-third, preferably up to half its volume. Then you need to tilt it so that all the herbs are on one of the walls of the jar. Then it's soaked in cold water (you can rock the jar to help the moisture spread evenly over the dried fruit), and when it's absorbed, hot but not boiling water is poured over the whole thing.

The brewing time depends on individual preference, but the standard is 3-5 minutes. An important part of the process is pouring hot water over the dried herb again after drinking the infusion – unlike tea, this can be done multiple times. And because yerba mate brews at any temperature, on hot days you can even stop pouring cold water over the dried herb, and even cold juice, plant or cow's milk, lemonade, mineral water ... - the field for experiments is huge ! What's more, the squash and bombilla can be left out and brewed in a mug, teapot, or French press (using exactly the same method). It turns out that yerba yerba is much "easier to use" than coffee and tea!