What is Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate is a caffeinated beverage made from the dried leaves and twigs of the Ilex paraguariensis plant. It originates from South America and has a slightly bitter, grassy, and somewhat smoky flavor.

Traditional Uses

Yerba mate has been a cultural staple in South America for centuries. Its traditional uses include:

• Energy and Focus: The natural caffeine offers a stimulating effect, promoting alertness and focus, but without the jitters often associated with coffee.
• Nutrition: Yerba mate provides vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
• Social Ritual: Sharing mate with friends and family is a deeply-rooted social tradition in countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil.
• Digestive Support: May help ease digestive issues.
• Potential Health Benefits: Some studies suggest potential benefits like improved cholesterol levels and weight management, but more research is needed.

How to Prepare Yerba Mate Traditionally

You'll need:

• Gourd (Mate): Traditionally, a hollowed-out calabash gourd is used, but ceramic, wood, or metal variations also exist. If no Gourd, use it as a normal tea
• Bombilla: A special metal straw with a filter at the base to strain out the leaves.
• Yerba Mate: Loose-leaf yerba mate
• Hot Water: Ideally between 160-175°F (70-80°C) not boiling

Instructions

Absolutely! Here's how to prepare yerba mate like normal tea if you don't have a gourd and bombilla:

Methods

You have a few options:

1. French Press:
   • Add 1-2 tablespoons of loose-leaf yerba mate to your French press.
   • Fill with hot water (160-175°F / 70-80°C).
   • Steep for 3-5 minutes. Carefully press the plunger down.
   • Pour and enjoy!
2. Tea Infuser or Teapot:
   • Place 1-2 tablespoons of yerba mate into your infuser or teapot.
   • Add hot water (160-175°F / 70-80°C).
   • Steep for 3-5 minutes.
   • Remove the infuser or strain the tea into your cup.

Important Tips

• Don't use boiling water: This will make your mate excessively bitter.
• Experiment with steep time: Start at 3 minutes and adjust for your taste preference.
• Adjust the amount: Use more or less yerba mate to control the strength of your tea.
• Re-steeping: You can often re-steep yerba mate leaves a couple of times, though the flavor will become milder with each infusion.

Keep in Mind

While these methods offer convenience, the traditional preparation in a gourd provides a unique experience and better control over the mate's strength throughout the drinking session.

1. Fill the Gourd (or the teapot) : Fill the gourd about 2/3 to 3/4 full of yerba mate.
2. Tilt and Shake: Cover the gourd with your hand and tilt it to one side, so the yerba mate gathers on one side. Gently shake to mix the fine dust with the larger leaves.
3. Create a Well: Gently tilt the gourd back, leaving a space on the side where the yerba mate was gathered. This is where you'll pour the water.
4. Add a Little Cold Water: Add a small splash of cold water to the empty space to prevent the leaves from burning.
5. Insert Bombilla: Carefully insert the bombilla into the empty space, reaching the bottom of the gourd. Don't move it too much once inserted.
6. Add Hot Water: Gently pour hot water into the empty space, filling it about 3/4 full.
7. Drink: Sip through the bombilla. Enjoying mate is a continuous process where you refill the gourd with hot water as you drink. Traditionally the gourd is passed around.

Important Notes:

• Water Temperature: Using boiling water will make your mate overly bitter.
• Variety: Yerba mate comes in different varieties (with/without stems, aged, flavored), which affect the taste.

Source : http://www.wikiphyto.org/wiki/Mate

Reference on http://www.wikiphyto.org

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plant name

Mate, Tea from Paraguay , Tea from the Jesuits , Yerba mate , Tea from Brazil . When the leaves are steeped in hot water, either fresh or dried, the drink may be called 'chimarrão'. Infused in cold water, it becomes "tererê". [1]

International Latin denomination

Ilex paraguariensis Saint-Hil.

Botanical classification

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Class: Magnoliopsid
• Order: Celestrals
• Family: Aquifoliaceae
• Genre: Ilex

Description and habitat

• Shrubby woody species, erect or flared. From 3 to 8 m high in culture, it can reach 20 meters in height in the natural state
• Erect trunk, whitish or ash-grey smooth bark. Persistent and thick leaves, large (5 to 15 cm by 2 to 5 cm), oval with a serrated edge and small stipules, resembling an orange tree. They are dark green with a lighter underside, shiny and hairless. Flowers white to greenish-white, axillary, in cymes at the end of the branches.
• Fruits: spherical drupes with glutinous and fleshy pulp, red sometimes going to purplish-black. 5 to 7 mm in diameter, contain 1 to 4 seeds.
• Edge of streams and forests of South America, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, 500 to 700 m altitude. Appreciates semi-shaded places, with clayey and sandy, rich and humid soil.

History and tradition

• The indigenous peoples of Brazil and Paraguay have been drinking mate since ancient times.
• The first uses were made by chewing the leaves without preparation, its infusion not being done until much later.
• Europeans only heard about it in the 16th century, through the travel accounts of a Spanish explorer who reported that the Guaraní Indians of Paraguay prepared an infusion of the leaves to promote good humor and banish fatigue. The drink was all the rage in Spain, which prompted the Jesuits on mission in Paraguay to establish its culture, hence its name Jesuit tea.
• It thrives in Brazilian farms called “yerbales”.
• It is also called “Green Gold of the Indios”.
• Argentina's national drink is mate or " yerba mate ", an infusion that Argentines drink at any time of the day. The word mate also means the calabash which serves as a container for the infusion. Mate is drunk using a large metal straw with a filter at the end called a bombilla.
• The name “mate” means “gourd” in Spanish, an allusion to the small hollowed-out calabash in which the drink is served with hot, non-boiling water in South America.
• Species today almost threatened in the wild, in particular because of deforestation.

Parts used

• Leaf

Dosage forms available

• Leaf tincture
• leaf infusion

Usual dosages

• 3 grams of drug

Composition

Main components of the plant

• Purine bases ( methylxanthines ): caffeine (0.3 to 2.4%), theobromine (0.1 to 0.5%), theophylline (traces), trigonelline )
• Tannins , catechins
• Caffeyl-quinic acid , formerly called “pseudo-tannins” (4 to 14%): chlorogenic acid , neochlorogenic acid , and derivatives of dicafeylquinic acid , caffeic acid , quinic acid , cafeoyl glucose , caffeoylquinic acid , feruloylquinic acid , dicafeoylquinic acid
• Flavonoids  : rutin , quercetin , kaempferol
• Triterpene saponosides : matesaponosides , mateglycosides A, B, C
• Vitamins, essential oil

Main components of buds or young shoots

Main components of essential oil

Properties

Plant properties

• Caffeine is partially bound to caffeyl -quinic acids , which alters activity (increased diuresis)
• Tonic, stimulant of the central nervous system, potential in Parkinson's disease [2]
• Anticonvulsant, neuroprotective [3] , [4]
• Stimulant and anxiolytic [5]
• Prevention of neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's) by reducing glutathione and improving mitochondrial dysfunction [6]
• Analeptic, glycogenolytic and lipolytic effects, stimulates the heart muscle (positive inotropic and chronotropic effect of caffeine ), with delayed effect
• Promotes satiety [7] , by acting on glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and leptins [8]
• Anti-obesity activity [9] , anti-pancreatic lipase activity [10]
• Inhibition of adipogenesis (preparation named YGD, mixture of yerba mate , guarana , damiana , and resveratrol ) [11]
• Reduces glucose uptake [12]
• Relaxes smooth muscles, especially those of the bronchi, and acts favorably on peripheral blood circulation (migraine headaches)
• Antioxidant effect [13] , [14] , [15] , [16]
• Anti-inflammatory [17] , synergistic effect with quercetin on COX-2 inhibition [18]
• Anti-atheromatous, limits the progression of atherosclerosis [19]

Bud properties

Properties of essential oil

Directions

Indications of the whole plant (phytotherapy)

• Mental and physical asthenia
• Weight gain, obesity [20]
• Prevention of neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's)
• Migraine headaches

Indications of the bud (gemmotherapy)

Specific indications of essential oil (aromatherapy)

Known or suspected mode of action

Usual formulations

Regulations

• French Pharmacopoeia list A (sheet)

Possible side effects and precautions for use

• Potentially serious side effects with the ephedrine / caffeine mixture or with the synephrine / caffeine combination
• Genotoxic and mutagenic potential (oropharynx and esophagus) [21]

Bibliographic references

1. Aller↑ Miranda, Daniel DC, Demétrius P. Arçari, José Pedrazzoli, Patrícia de O. Carvalho, Suzete M. Cerutti, Deborah HM Bastos, and Marcelo L. Ribeiro. 2008. “Protective Effects of Mate Tea (Ilex Paraguariensis) on H2O2-Induced DNA Damage and DNA Repair in Mice.” Mutagenesis 23(4): 261-65. https://doi.org/10.1093/mutage/gen011 .
2. Aller↑ Afrah Abdulkarim Ismail. Effect of Intake of Mate on the Parkinson's Disease. EC Neurology 11.1 (2019): 86-89.
3. Aller↑ Branco Cdos S, Scola G, Rodrigues AD, Cesio V, Laprovitera M, Heinzen H, Dos Santos MT, Fank B, de Freitas SC, Coitinho AS, Salvador M. Anticonvulsant, neuroprotective and behavioral effects of organic and conventional yerba mate ( Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil.) on pentylenetetrazol-induced seizures in Wistar rats. Brain Res Bull. 2013 Mar;92:60-8. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2012.11.008. PMID 23270878
4. Aller↑ Mandel S, Youdim MB. Catechin polyphenols: neurodegeneration and neuroprotection in neurodegenerative diseases. Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Aug 1;37(3):304-17. PMID 15223064
5. Aller↑ Santos EC, Bicca MA, Blum-Silva CH, Costa AP, Dos Santos AA, Schenkel EP, Farina M, Reginatto FH, de Lima TC. Anxiolytic-like, stimulating and neuroprotective effects of Ilex paraguariensis extracts in mice. Neuroscience. 2015 Apr 30;292:13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.02.004. PMID 25681522
6. Aller↑ Lima, María & Colpo, Ana & Maya-López, Marisol & Rosa, Hemerson & Túnez, Isaac & Galvan, Sonia & Santamaría, Abel & Folmer, Vanderlei. (2017). Protective effect of Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill.) against oxidative damage in vitro in rat brain synaptosomal/mitochondrial P2 fractions. Journal of Functional Foods. 34. 447-452. 10.1016/j.jff.2017.05.026.
7. Aller↑ Alkhatib, A.; Atcheson, R. Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) Metabolic, Satiety, and Mood State Effects at Rest and during Prolonged Exercise. Nutrients 2017, 9, 882.
8. Aller↑ Hussein GM, Matsuda H, Nakamura S, Hamao M, Akiyama T, Tamura K, Yoshikawa M. Mate tea (Ilex paraguariensis) promotes satiety and body weight lowering in mice: involvement of glucagon-like peptide-1. Biol Pharm Bull. 2011;34(12):1849-55. PMID: 22130241
9. Aller↑ Arçari DP, Bartchewsky W, dos Santos TW, Oliveira KA, Funck A, Pedrazzoli J, de Souza MF, Saad MJ, Bastos DH, Gambero A, Carvalho Pde O, Ribeiro ML. Antiobesity effects of yerba mate extract (Ilex paraguariensis) in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. Obesity (SilverSpring). 2009 Dec;17(12):2127-33. PMID 19444227
10. Aller↑ Sugimoto S, Nakamura S, Yamamoto S, Yamashita C, Oda Y, Matsuda H, Yoshikawa M. Brazilian natural medicines. III. structures of triterpene oligoglycosides and lipase inhibitors from mate, leaves of ilex paraguariensis. Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo). 2009 Mar;57(3):257-61. PMID 19252316
11. Aller↑ Santos JC, Gotardo ÉMF, Brianti MT, Piraee M, Gambero A, Ribeiro ML. Effects of Yerba Mate, a Plant Extract Formulation (“YGD”) and Resveratrol in 3T3-L1 Adipogenesis. Molecules. 2014; 19(10):16909-16924. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules191016909
12. Aller↑ Oliveira DM, Freitas HS, Souza MF, Arçari DP, Ribeiro ML, Carvalho PO, Bastos DH. Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) aqueous extract decreases intestinal SGLT1 gene expression but does not affect other biochemical parameters in alloxan-diabetic Wistar rats. J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Nov 26;56(22):10527-32. PMID 18942839
13. Aller↑ Gugliucci A. Antioxidant effects of Ilex paraguariensis: induction of decreased oxidability of human LDL in vivo. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1996 Jul 16;224(2):338-44. PMID 8702392
14. Aller↑ Schinella GR, Troiani G, Dávila V, de Buschiazzo PM, Tournier HA. Antioxidant effects of an aqueous extract of Ilex paraguariensis. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2000 Mar 16;269(2):357-60. PMID 10708556
15. Aller↑ Chandra S, De Mejia Gonzalez E. Polyphenolic compounds, antioxidant capacity, and quinone reductase activity of an aqueous extract of Ardisia compressa in comparison to mate (Ilex paraguariensis) and green (Camellia sinensis) teas. J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Jun 2;52(11):3583-9. PMID 15161234
16. Aller↑ Bastos DH, Saldanha LA, Catharino RR, Sawaya AC, Cunha IB, Carvalho PO, Eberlin MN. Phenolic antioxidants identified by ESI-MS from Yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis) and green tea (Camelia sinensis) extracts. Molecules. 2007 Mar 12;12(3):423-32. PMID 17851401
17. Aller↑ Arçari DP, Bartchewsky W Jr, dos Santos TW, Oliveira KA, DeOliveira CC, Gotardo ÉM, Pedrazzoli J Jr, Gambero A, Ferraz LF, Carvalho Pde O, Ribeiro ML. Anti-inflammatory effects of yerba mate extract (Ilex paraguariensis) ameliorate insulin resistance in mice with high fat diet-induced obesity. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2011 Mar 30;335(2):110-5. PMID 21238540
18. Aller↑ Sirima Puangpraphant, Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia. Saponins in Yerba Mate Tea (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil) and Quercetin Synergistically Inhibit iNOS and COX-2 in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Macrophages through NFκB Pathways. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009 57(19), pp 8873–8883
19. Aller↑ Mosimann AL, Wilhelm-Filho D, da Silva EL. Aqueous extract of Ilex paraguariensis attenuates the progression of atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits. Biofactors. 2006;26(1):59-70. PMID 16614483 full text
20. Aller↑ Gambero A, Ribeiro ML. The positive effects of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) in obesity. Nutrients. 2015 Jan 22;7(2):730-50. doi: 10.3390/nu7020730. PMID 25621503
21. Aller↑ Fonseca Carmem As, Otto Sandra S, Paumgartten Francisco Jr, Leitao Alvaro C. Nontoxic, mutagenic, and clastogenic activities of Mate-Chimarrão (Ilex paraguariensis). Journal of environmental pathology, toxicology and oncology, 2000, vol. 19, no.4, p. 333-346.

• Kellie P. Burris, Federico M. Harte, P. Michael Davidson, C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Svetlana Zivanovic. Composition and Bioactive Properties of Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.): A Review. Chilean Journal Of Agricultural Research 72(2) April-June 2012 full text
• Bracesco N, Sanchez AG, Contreras V, Menini T, Gugliucci A. Recent advances on Ilex paraguariensis research: mini review. J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Jul 14;136(3):378-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.06.032. PMID 20599603

Store in a cool, dry place, away from light. Keep tightly closed, away from the reach of Children and pets.

Do not exceed the daily dose.

This product is not intended to prevent or cure any form of illness or disease.
 

If you are pregnant or nursing ; If you have a medical condition or are in the course of medical treatment ; If you are programmed for theater/operation in the near future, please consult your healthcare practitioner before using this product.

This product cannot replace a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.

This product has not been evaluated by the SAHPRA for its quality, safety or intended use.

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