Also known as the Jesuit Tea or Missionary Tea, the drink soon became popular among the Spanish and was dubbed, Yerba Mate or Ilex Paraguariensis (S.H.). In 1628, Jesuit priest Nicaolas del Techo wrote:

"Too many virtues are attributed to the herb. It acts as a soporific at the same time as it stimulates; calms the appetite at the same time it aids digestion. It restores strength, brings happiness, and cures many diseases. All I see is that those who develop the habit can't seem to get along without it."

The Spanish would soon try to curtail consumption of the drink. Suspicous of its "magical powers", they would declare it demonic and threaten excommunication to anyone who drank it. But it was a futile effort and they soon reversed themselves and integrated the herb into the church.

Today, Yerba Mate is highly popular drink in South America, Europe, and the Middle East, but is relatively unknown in the US.

The traditional ceremony around mate involves the use of a hollowed out gourd and a bombilla. Whenever guests are over, the host will take a gourd, put some roasted mate leaves in the bottom, and add hot water. The tea is then drank through a bombilla which is a straw, usually made of silver, with a strainer on the end to keep the leaves in the gourd. The host drinks the gourd completely and then refills and passes it on to the next person in the "mate circle", who drinks his gourd until it is gone. The process is repeated until everyone has had a gourd of mate. This is a ceremony shared by both the peasant and the aristocrat, across many cultures.

Yerba Mate is rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and contains three separate chemicals in the caffeine family.

Ref: [4]

Chemical makeup


Mate contains several vitamins and minerals as well as xanthines (caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine) which are stimulants.

This list of chemicals represents the leaf material only and is not comprehensive.

Caffeine - 2,000 - 20,000 ppm (stimulant) Tannin Butyric-acid Caffeoylquinic-acid Chlorogenic-acid Choline Essential Oils Inositol Isobutyric-acid Isocapronic-acid Isovaleric-acid Neochlorogenic-acid Niacin Nitrogen 4-Oxolauric-acid Pantothenic-acid (Vitamin B5) Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6)

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) Rutin Stearic-acid Theobromine (stimulant) Theophylline (stimulant) Trigonelline Ursolic-acid Vanillin 2,5-Xylenol Iron (Fe) Calcium (Ca) Manganese (Mn) Magnesium (Mg) Sodium (Na) Potassium (K) Zinc (Zn) Copper (Cu)

Ref: [2][3]

References


1. Andersen T, Fogh J. "Weight loss and delayed gastric emptying following a South American herbal preparation in overweight patients." J Hum Nutr Diet. 2001 Jun;14(3):243-50.

2. Duke, James A. Handbook of phytochemical constituents of GRAS herbs and other economic plants. 2000 Boca Raton, FL. CRC Press.

3. Vera Garcia R, Basualdo I, Peralta I, de Herebia M, Caballero S. "Minerals content of Paraguayan yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis, S.H.)." Arch Latinoam Nutr. 1997 Mar;47 (1):77-80.

4. Ruiz de Pag s, M, Pag s, F. "The Story of Yerba Mate" The Herb Quarterly 1999 Summer