Yerba Mate

Just order some Yerba Mate, anyone here drink it? how do you compare it to coffee? Spike? I hear it’s a really clean burn stimulant similar to Spike. I heard it lasts a long time too. Any of you T-Nation staff/mods used it before?

P.S.

Just got my Spike two days ago, its neato.

Honestly.

Treid it Nice change for a drink from my usual coffe or tea but didnt notice a thing special and some of it taste like HELLL.

Overrated IMO but if easily and cheaply accessible go for it.

yah, its about 3 bucks a pound. I bought a bombilla and a gourd and the loose leaf and stem yerba mate, to drink it the traditional way, rather than the tea bag types that it comes in also. Apparently its tricky at first to learn how to make it. Which kind did you try?

Pretty much the only info I’m goin on so far in terms or experiences, is on erowid.org.

[quote]Phill wrote:
Honestly.

Treid it Nice change for a drink from my usual coffe or tea but didnt notice a thing special and some of it taste like HELLL.

Overrated IMO but if easily and cheaply accessible go for it.
[/quote]

Agree with Phil.

I never noticed anything from it other than the effects of the caffeine.

It smells like dirt by the way.

ick! i was looking forward to it… now… not so much…

I tried it in Argentina, and it tasted like hot battery acid to me. Most of the mates I have seen in the US already have a sweetener like stevia added. There must be something to it though because everyone in Argentina, and the neighboring countries, hit it like it is crack.

yeah i studied abroad in buenos aires and it is EVERYWHERE. You cant turn down the women there when they offer you some so you grow accustomed and eventually crave it. They pass the bombilla around the way potheads pass a joint.

As a stimulant it is a powerful appetite suppressant (throw in high rates of plastic surgery and you can almost explain how gorgeous the women are there) and it gave me tons of energy. dont know about the metabolic cleanliness of it though.

The bottom line, and greatest advice that a man can be given, is to move to Argentina (or Brazil).

I drink the stuff all the time, because it doesn’t give me the jitters the way coffee does.

I don’t make it the traditional way, I usually just brew it like loose tea: I put a few teaspoons of the dried leaves into a tea pot, and and let it boil. Also, I usually leave it simmering for a while before I pour it, it helps infuse a stronger tea.

It reminds me of green tea, in terms of flavor – not unpleasant, but not something you’re likely ‘used’ to drinking. I got mine from mysips.com and it’s cheap as hell. Takes a while to get through a pound.

As for its comparison to Spike: not so much. Same type of clean stimulant, but, IMHO, not nearly as effective (this might be psychosomatic, though, too).

Just this week my health food store started carrying bottles of Yerba Mate in Traditional, Mint and Rasberry. I have used it in the past and liked it so I bought one of each. The rasberry tasted like ass, the traditional was decent (slightly sweetened), the mint was really good.

I got it today, and Ihave to say I damn suprised at the smooth feeling of euphoria/energy this stuff gives you. I tried it the traditional way at first, which is like sucking wet hay through the bombilla. Luckily I bought some instant stuff too. Two servings later, I’m grooving to some uriah heap, and I’m feelin really good. I pop a Spike. KAPOW. Ritalin doesn’t feel this good.

P.S. I ordered from ma-tea.com

In Paraguay they drink it with ice and call it Terere. It is the ice tea version of hot Yerba Mate. They make a cup out of a cow’s horn and use a special silver straw. This silver straw has a spoon like end that has holes in it and acts like a sieve. In downtown Asuncion there is a market where you can buy over 50 varieties of Terere. Cures of all kinds are claimed…