2 Kg Brazil Green Yerba Mate Tea

Greenish and vegetative.  Mate is rich in caffeine and was used as a caffeine beverage in Latin  America before the advent of coffee.

Luxury Ingredients: Green Mate

Small Batch Blended and Packed in: Canada

Tea(s) From: Brazil

Region(s): Parana

Antioxidant Level: Very High

Caffeine Content: Medium 

Also known as Paraguay tea and yerba mate; mate is an herb  prepared from the leaves of a South America evergreen shrub, Illex  paraguayensis, a relative of the common holly. The leaves are oval and  about 6 inches long. Flowers of the plant are small and white. The fruit  appears in small clusters of tiny red berries growing close to the  stems of the plant. Like guarana and yopo, mate is rich in caffeine and  was used as a caffeine beverage source by the native population of Latin  America centuries before the European settlers arrived to establish  coffee plantations.

Yerba Matte is called "The drink of the gods"  by many of the indigenous people of South America who have brewed it  for centuries. It was however, a people who believed in a different God  that are responsible for the first commercial Yerba Matte plantations -  Jesuit missionaries. Upon arriving in the new world, the Jesuits quickly  adopted the native practice of drinking Yerba Matte as a tea. At the  time, Yerba Matte leaves were only being harvested from wild stands of  trees. Owing to its widespread popularity, the Jesuits realized the  large economic potential of the plant and founded the first Yerba Matte  plantations during the mid-1600?s.

Mate leaves are processed  somewhat like tealeaves. The tips of the branches are cut just before  the leaves reach full growth and the leaves are steamed and dried (in  fired mate the leaves are dried over fires) The dried leaves are sifted  and allowed to age in order to enhance the flavor of the mate. The  caffeine content of mate is comparable to that of mild Arabica coffee.