Ten ways to drink

The leaf is the same. What changes is the grind, the temperature, the vessel and the custom of each place. From the mate gourd to the blender, choose your way and see which Cultyvada to take home.

Chimarrão

Where it's a tradition: Southern Brazil

Hot water, mate gourd and bombilla. The chimarrão circle is the gaúcho way of welcoming guests: the same gourd passes from hand to hand and always comes back to whoever is serving.

How to prepare

Fill the gourd two-thirds full with yerba mate.
Cover the top with your hand, turn the gourd on its side and shake it lightly: the fine powder rises and the yerba mate settles at a slant, forming a wall.
Pour a little warm water into the low side and wait half a minute for the yerba mate to swell.
Slide the bombilla into that same side, with your finger covering the mouthpiece, and don't move it again.
Top it off with water between 65 and 75 °C. Boiling water burns the yerba mate and washes out the flavor.

Water: 65 to 75 °C

Tip: Nativa gives you a smooth, long-lasting gourd; Coarse Grind, a chimarrão with a stronger flavor. Premium vacuum-sealed, the same native leaf sealed airtight, won the Gran Oro gold medal at the 1º Mundial de la Yerba Mate.

Recommended yerba mates

Argentine-style mate

Where it's a tradition: Argentina

A smaller mate gourd, aged yerba mate with stems, and slightly hotter water. Argentines drink slowly, from small gourds, and repeat the "cebada" until the yerba mate is washed out.

How to prepare

Fill the mate gourd three-quarters full with yerba mate.
Cover with your hand, turn it mouth-down and shake, so the fine powder ends up on top.
Lean the yerba mate against one wall of the gourd and wet the low part with warm water.
Place the bombilla on the wet side and pour water between 70 and 80 °C, always in the same spot.
The person serving drinks the first mate and passes the following ones along, one at a time.

Water: 70 to 80 °C

Tip: Aging makes the yerba mate yellower and the flavor rounder: that's what Argentine palates look for.

Recommended yerba mates

Yerba Mate Tradicional Argentina, estacionada

Uruguayan-style mate

Where it's a tradition: Uruguay

Fine yerba mate, without stems and with plenty of fine powder, in a large gourd. Uruguayans carry the thermos under their arm and drink all day long.

How to prepare

Fill the gourd (the "porongo") with PU-1 yerba mate almost to the rim, leaving a slanted mound.
Moisten the low part with warm water and wait for it to absorb.
Slide the bombilla into the damp spot and steady it carefully.
Pour a little water at a time, between 70 and 75 °C, always in the same place.
As the yerba mate beside the bombilla washes out, keep "pulling" dry yerba mate down from the mound to renew the flavor.

Water: 70 to 75 °C

Tip: This is the yerba mate, aged for 12 months, that won Cultyvada the Plata silver medal at the 1º Mundial de la Yerba Mate.

Recommended yerba mates

Yerba Mate PU-1, Uruguayan style

Tereré

Where it's a tradition: Paraguay, Mato Grosso do Sul and northeastern Argentina

Iced yerba mate. In the heat, tereré replaces chimarrão: ice water, lemon, mint and a circle that never ends.

How to prepare

Fill the cup or the guampa (horn cup) two-thirds full with yerba mate for tereré.
Add the bombilla and pour in very cold water, with ice, from a separate pitcher.
Add lemon slices or mint leaves to the pitcher, if you like.
Drink and repeat: tereré holds up through many rounds without losing its freshness.

Water: Ice-cold, with ice

Tip: Cancheada yerba mate, in larger pieces, is the favorite of those who like a milder tereré with no fine powder.

Recommended yerba mates

Arab-style mate

Where it's a tradition: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Arab communities around the world

Brought from South America by Syrian emigrants in the 19th century, yerba mate became a tradition in the Middle East. There, each person has their own small glass and their own bombilla; the kettle is shared.

How to prepare

Put one or two spoonfuls of yerba mate into a small glass ("kass").
Set the bombilla ("masasa") in place and pour hot, not boiling, water from the kettle.
Serve in small glasses and, if you like, scent it with an orange peel or a cardamom seed.
Each person drinks from their own glass; the water goes back on the fire between rounds.

Water: Hot, not boiling

Tip: Syria is one of the largest importers of yerba mate in the world, and the Arab market is the one growing fastest for Brazilian yerba mate.

Recommended yerba mates

Yerba Mate Tradicional Argentina, estacionada

Hot mate tea

Where it's a tradition: Brazil, Europe, China and wherever people drink tea

In a teapot or an infuser, yerba mate is a tea: no gourd, no bombilla, with the same green and the same caffeine. It's loose leaf: you put it in the teapot, let it steep and strain it into the cup. That's how it reaches China and Europe, and that's how the For Health blends are prepared.

How to prepare

Use one tablespoon of the For Health blend, or of yerba mate with no fine powder (grind 6), for every 200 ml.
Heat the water to between 75 and 85 °C, without letting it boil.
Steep for 3 to 5 minutes. The longer it steeps, the more bitter it gets.
Strain and serve plain, with lemon or with honey.

Water: 75 to 85 °C

Tip: For the Chinese market, the grind without stems and without fine powder goes over best: it reminds people of loose-leaf green tea.

Recommended yerba mates

Iced mate and cold brew

Where it's a tradition: United States, Europe and Brazil

Cold infusion draws out the leaf's sweetness and leaves the bitterness behind. It's the base of the ready-to-drink yerba mate beverages that are growing in the United States and Europe.

How to prepare

Put one tablespoon of For Health blend, or of yerba mate with no fine powder, in a pitcher for every 250 ml of cold water.
Cover and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours.
Strain and serve with ice, lemon, orange or mint leaves.
It keeps for up to three days in the refrigerator.

Water: Cold water, 6 to 12 h in the refrigerator

Tip: Yerba mate cold brew is a natural alternative to energy drinks: the leaf's caffeine, in an iced glass.

Recommended yerba mates

Yerba mate matcha

Where it's a tradition: Ancestral and modern

The whole leaf, micronized, the way the Guarani pounded ka'a. Instead of infusing and discarding, you consume the leaf, whisked with water, milk or inside a recipe. Whisking the powder until it foams is the day's small ceremony.

How to prepare

Sift one teaspoon (about 2 g) of the powder into a bowl or cup.
Add 60 ml of water at 70 °C and whisk with a bamboo whisk or a mini mixer until foamy.
Top it off with water, milk or a plant-based drink, hot or iced.
Or blend it straight in the blender with banana and oats for a smoothie; or mix it into cake batters and ice creams.

Water: 70 °C, or iced

Tip: Since you consume the whole leaf, a small portion already brings the caffeine of a cup: start with half a teaspoon.

Recommended yerba mates

Yerba Matcha

Blends and herbs

Where it's a tradition: Brazil

Yerba mate as the base and herbs as the complement: guarana and catuaba for energy, cinnamon and hibiscus for flavor. Loose leaf in the teapot: steep, then strain.

How to prepare

Use one tablespoon of the blend for every 200 ml of water.
Water between 75 and 85 °C, steeped for 5 minutes.
Strain. Drink it hot, or refrigerate and serve over ice.

Water: 75 to 85 °C

Tip: The 100 g refill packs make about 20 cups.

Recommended yerba mates

Gastronomy and industry

Where it's a tradition: Chefs, beverages, cosmetics

Outside the mate gourd, yerba mate is an ingredient: seasoning for meats, base for ice creams and cakes, extract for ready-to-drink beverages and energy drinks, active ingredient for cosmetics.

How to prepare

In the kitchen: use yerba mate matcha as a green seasoning in pasta, sauces and desserts.
In beverages: concentrated infusions of yerba mate with no fine powder make syrups and bases for mixed drinks and sodas.
In industry: we supply cancheada and made-to-order grinds, in bags or big bags, with a spec sheet.

Water: Depends on the recipe

Tip: Gastronomy and cosmetics are the segments that add the most value to Brazilian yerba mate.