Aroma — Good yerba has a distinctive, pungent aroma. It is unique and does not smell at all like coffee, tea or any other beverage. You will soon recognize the aroma of a good mate and will thereby also recognize an inferior one. Properly seasoned yerba has a rich, satisfying aroma and does not smell “grassy” or damp. I have even heard people describe a good mate as smelling “sweet.” (Hmm? Well, maybe.)

Flavor – The formula for flavor is: “Flavor = Taste + Aroma.” In many ways, flavor is a personal preference. See my prior post on “Aquiring a taste for yerba mate” as a background for deciding what flavor is right for you.

Froth — A key indicator in evaluating the quality of yerba is the froth that appears on the top of the hot liquid poured into your gourd, French press or coffee maker. You can also see the froth in the air pockets or around the edges of a tea bag or around the rim of a poured cup. This froth lets you know that there are active nutrients in the yerba. If you sip your mate from a gourd or re-use your tea bags, the froth will diminish with each succeeding pour. This means that each new pour is providing less flavor, nutrition and benefit.

Freshness — Yerba will still be good, and provide some nutrition for as long as five years, but the potency diminishes after two or three years. For this reason, you should buy your yerba from a source that sells a lot of yerba mate. Big turnover means fresher yerba. Look for a “sell by” date on the package as an indicator of the freshness. Some yerbas sold in South America do not have a sell by date. In Argentina, yerba mate must be sold within two years.

Results – A good test is how you feel 20 minutes after you drink your mate. Consider the caffeine effect as a good indicator. Are you feeling more awake? Do you feel energized? Is your fatigue dissipating? You should start feeling these effects within 15 to 20 minutes. These are noticeable indicators that your mate is delivering the promised results. If you have been gulping coffee or colas for years, you will notice that yerba mate’s “wake up” stimulus is a little more subtle, but the energy you feel is more tangible and does not give you the jitters.

Some brands will have more “caffeine kick” than others. This doesn’t mean that the milder yerba is any less potent in other areas however. Instead, this could be part of the brand’s identity. The producer might have perfected the brand’s identity after years of experimenting with the location and elevation of the trees, the season of the harvest, how the yerba is cured, how long it is aged and many other variables.

It may take more experience to recognize the following signs, but they are equally valid indicators that your mate is working. Can you feel your sinus membranes shrinking? Are you feeling a sense of peace or calmness? Is your head clearing of distractions and leaving you with a mental clarity and focus? After a week or so, have you noticed that your stool is looser and your bowel movements are more regular? After several weeks, can you feel that your skin is softer and more elastic?

Fresh yerba mate from the gourd is more effective than drinking brewed mate from a cup; it is more concentrated and thus much stronger than other preparation methods. Still, all methods of preparation will produce the desired results if taken often enough. Three times a day is an ideal minimum for good health — regardless of the brand you choose.

I recommend that you stick with major brands until your sensitivities are grounded. The brand you buy from a neighborhood market or health food store is often the only brand they carry – but, you can order most U.S. and South American brands on the Internet. Each new brand that you try can be compared to the one you just finished. After using one brand for a week or more, you will soon recognize the differences when you begin using a new brand.

Learn to be a connoisseur! Sampling different brands of yerba mate can be as much fun as sampling any food or beverage. You will soon have favorites. Even the most expensive yerba mates are reasonably priced when compared to wine, beer or even coffee and tea. Yerba mate is truly an affordable indulgence!

Salud!

(There will be more.)

If you want the assurance that you are receiving all of the flavor and purported health benefits that yerba mate has to offer, you should have some tools to compare and evaluate brands. Here are a few guidelines to help you make your own informed decisions. You will still have to experiment with several brands to be able to recognize the differences, but now you will have a basis for your choice. 

I have used literally dozens of brands and some are pretty bad. You may be asking “what is bad?” I hope to answer by telling you “what is good!” Some criteria can be dismissed as personal preference, but there are true measurements of quality and grading that can be applied to any yerba.

Purists will insist on using the traditional gourd and bombilla, but in the U.S., most people are consuming their yerba mate brewed as a tea. This means that they are using tea bags, a French press or a coffee maker to brew their infusion. The following tests will apply to most methods of preparation. Your personal preference will be the final test.

Composition – Whether you are using loose yerba in a gourd, French press or coffee maker, you will be concerned about the mix of the four main elements of yerba: leaf, stem, dust and additives — although I am not going to discuss added herbs and flavorings. I should also mention that an inferior brand may use “fillers” that have no nutritional value.

The leaf is where the flavor and nutrients are, but the stems play a significant role too. If the leaves are finely cut, the stems will help keep small particles from clogging your bombilla. Stems will also allow water to flow through your coffee filter more easily too. The larger cut of some whole leaf brands allow water to flow just as efficiently. The nutrients are in the leaves and the finer the leaves are cut, the more the nutrients are released into the infusion. The super fine cut of the Brazilian chimarrao style erva mate is fine for a large gourd full of creamy mate, but it does not work well in a coffee maker.

No matter what the blend ratio is, there will be some powder (or dust). This is normal and nothing to be concerned about. Too much powder however, is a sign of inferior yerba and will quickly become a big problem. When it gets wet, it turns to mud! The mud will inhibit water flow through some types of French presses and will likely cause an overflow in the basket of your coffee maker. The Brazilian chimarrao has many characteristics of powder.

Color — In the finest hotels throughout South America, I have ordered “mate cocido”  (brewed mate) and the cup of mate I was served consistently had the same greenish-amber color. When sampling mate at the plantations in South America, guess what? It was the same color. In evaluating the color of brewed mate, I remember that color as the color standard.

You can see that same color for yourself by brewing your mate with a tea bag and letting it steep for about five minutes in a white or a clear cup. This is as close to a benchmark as you can get because each tea bag is pre-measured. Inferior yerba will appear too yellow and yerba that has not been properly seasoned will be a dark, emerald green color — not the greenish-amber color you are looking for. Trust me – if it’s dark green — it’s gross!

Although I have described the color as a standard, to many connoisseurs it is a little weak. Maybe you like your mate stronger. When sipped from a gourd, it’s much stronger of course, but even in a cup, some folks will prefer to let it steep longer. I also know of fans who will use two tea bags, just to make it stronger. Stronger mate will have a much darker color, but it should still be that distinctive greenish-amber.

There is much more to learn about comparing yerba. I’ll share more in the future.

Salud!

(To be continued.)

Yerba mate flavor variations are important because different regions have different taste preferences. That is why there are now an estimated 200 brands of yerba mate. Regional preferences are also based on the consistency of the product, the method of preparation, or the way the mate is consumed and whether it is consumed hot or cold. Of course, with so many different brands available, there are many flavor options to choose from too.

In April 2006, my wife and I had the honor of a private tour of Establecimiento Las Marias in the Corrientes province of Argentina. Las Marias is the largest yerba mate company in the world. They produce four major brands (LaMerced, Mananita, Taragui and Union) and several varieties of each brand. It should be obvious that this company knows something about flavor and taste.

As Maria Ines, our gracious hostess and guide, showed us around the lush green grounds of the Las Marias plantation, she explained that each of their brands has a distinctive blend of three main ingredients – leaf (“hoja”), stemlets (“palo”) and powder (“polvo”). The leaves create the flavor, the stemlets soften and balance the flavor and the powder binds the flavor components. Therefore, varying combinations of these three primary ingredients produce different consistency, color, aroma and flavor.

She went on to say that there are many other factors that contribute to variations in brand flavor attributes. Yerba mate grown in the mountain regions tastes different from the yerba grown in open fields; it is bolder and more robust. The time of year the plants are harvested also makes a difference in the flavor; the winter harvest produces milder yerba that summer. The cut of the leaves, fine or coarse, causes still another difference; the finer cut leaves have a stronger flavor. Even the length of time the yerba is aged (or “stationed”) contributes to a difference in flavor; the longer it is aged, the milder the flavor.

Adding further to the flavor differences are the methods of curing. Some brands offer “roasted” yerba, some brands are “smoked,” some are aged from 9 to 24 months and some are more “green.” All of these curing alternatives develop what is known as the brand’s flavor profile.

There is also a fourth component to some of the brand offerings – added herbs, spices or fruits. These special “additives” are blended with yerba mate to produce extra health benefits or to simply add a new flavor to the mate. The added ingredients might be: boldo, mint, lemon, orange, ginger or chai spices. I’m not a big fan of flavored mate, but I do like the grapefruit (“pomelo”) flavor and the chai spices.

You are, no doubt, familiar with wine “tasters” and maybe even beer and tea tasters, so it should come as no surprise that Las Marias has yerba mate tasters too. It is a revered calling in South America. These highly trained professionals are often second and third generation tasters and they represent an important component in a quality control plan that assures customers of a perfect mate – every time. They know exactly what each of their signature brands should taste like and reject inferior product. The yerba that does not pass their “taste test” is discarded and used for compost.

Although I am not an expert taster by any measure, I have used dozens of brands, and I like some much more that others. So, let me humbly offer this advice: If you have only tried one or two brands, you are not in a position to pass judgement on the taste of yerba mate. Keep sampling and you will eventually find a brand that you like. And remember – it’s an acquired taste.

Salud!