There was a big thread on this drink a while back but in this week’s Cyborg, Cy defused it pretty good saying that taking caffeine does about the same thing. Any responses from those who talked about great Yerba Mate was? I was thinking of trying it, but it seems pointless now, unless it just tastes really good?
I recently tried Yerba Mate and didn’t experience anything different than I do with caffeine, which I don’t do well with.
I tried it based on the previous post you mentioned and it was a big disappointment.
I like it, it gives me a more relaxed energy buzz than caffiene does. I can fall asleep a lot easier on yerba than I can on caffiene. Yerba Mate mostly contains the xanthine mataine which has slightly different effects than caffiene. I’m not an expert on it, but I think Tampa Terry had some information that showed that mataine had a positive effect on insulin resistance unlike caffeine. I don’t really drink yerba mate for the stimulant effects, I am mostly going for the nutrient content. It has alot of the same nutrients as green tea without all the caffiene. I also like the taste better than green tea, but I wouldn’t say that it “tastes really, really good”. If you drink a lot of green tea it could stand in as a decaffinated version, but I wouldn’t say that it has amazing curative properties or anything like that. I’d never heard any claims of it helping with allergies or whatever until I read cy’s article last week.
I don’t think it tastes all that good, so IMHO that’s not a good reason.
I agree that it’s easier to fall asleep though.
Mr. R., I was wanting to get off of caffeine for a while. Yerba Mate helped me do that. It gave me enough of a CNS kick that I was able to wean myself off of coffee. A “kick” without the jitters is cool. Caffeine and mateine are in the same methylxanthine family, but nonetheless have unique pharmacological properties.
Forrester is correct that it improves/enhances/complements insulin sensitivity (a personal goal and a current area of interest and study).
Taste? I definitely like it better than green tea. Like anything, people are going to like it better or worse than something else to which they’re comparing it.
Nonetheless, I’d do further research and come to your own conclusions. There’s no one’s opinion I regard more highly than Cy.
I resently tried yerba mate. someone was brewing some up, never herd of it before, took a smell of the dried erbla mixture, and thought “hey anything that smells like rabbit food has got to be good”
having a high tolerence to caffine, i actually got a much larger kick out of mate than i do coffee. it was a mellow buz that increased my hand-eye (was juggling at the time, and yes tmen can juggle, its ok, really, jason garfield is pretty buff).
what i fould interesting was the nutritional info on the mate bag. it had loads of zinc, mag, and b12. or goodies close to this, im runnig on memory.
I have never been able to drink coffee or tea without jitters, insomnia and blood-sugar problems. I tried Yerba mate about a month ago and have been using it ever since. I love it. It gives me a short burst of clear energy and well-being and then leaves me in a good mood for a few hours after the initial kick wears off. I guess I’m a good “Yerba Responder” (ha ha). Highly recommended from me.
Rim
In Paraguay, South America, they drink Terere. Yerba Mate is like hot tea and Terere is ice tea. They are both the same thing. They drink Terere from a silver straw in cow’s horn cup. At the market they sell all sorts of herb like substances to add to the Terere. It is similar to Chinese herbal medicine.