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It’s also good for people suffering from mental or physical fatigue.īut yerba mate is more than just another performance enhancer. It is so nutritionally dense that it’s been said you can almost live on it. It’s loaded with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients such as tannins, flavonols, polyphenols, and amino acids. Some athletes use it to enhance physical performance.
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These three alkaloids work together to provide unique, mildly stimulating effects. Yerba mate drinkers describe the caffeine boost they get as gentle, clean, calm, and generally not as addictive as coffee.īesides caffeine, yerba mate contains two related compounds, theobromine and theophylline. Unlike coffee, it rarely causes caffeine jitters or interferes with sleep, and is not acid forming. At 85mg per 8-ounce serving, yerba mate contains somewhat less caffeine than coffee. Much like coffee, yerba mate’s most obvious effects are increases in physical energy, mental clarity, and focus. It has been called “ the drink of the gods” by many indigenous South American cultures and “ the green gold of the Indios” by European settlers. Let’s take a look at the many ways this drink lives up to its impressive reputation.ĭried yerba mate. South Americans share yerba mate with friends by drinking from the same gourd using the same straw as a sign of friendship and bonding. You might meet friends at Starbucks to chat over a cup of coffee, but the sharing of mate is a considerably more communal affair. Yerba mate is as much a part of their culture as coffee drinking is in the United States or tea drinking is in Asia.
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The cultural significance of yerba mate in these countries cannot be overstated. It’s not unusual to see Uruguayans walking down the street drinking yerba mate while carrying a thermos of hot water to refresh their drink. The biggest consumers of mate are the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and especially Uruguay, where it’s consumed in 92 percent of all households. Argentinean “Yerba mate” seedlings in a plantation.