green yerba mate

type: herbal

origin: brazil

variety: yerba mate

ingredients: yerba mate

caffeine: no-caffeine

price level: $$$$

This highly caffeinated herbal drink is both refreshing and stimulating. Yerba maté has a unique spicy-sweet flavor that is strongly vegetal, herbal, and grassy. Yerba maté (pronounced YER-bah MAH-tay) literally translates to "herb cup". Consumed from morning to evening, yerba maté is the beverage of choice for millions of South Americans as a healthful alternative to coffee. In fact, maté bars are as popular in South America as coffee bars are in the United States. Not only is yerba maté, known as the "drink of friendship", at the center of Argentinean Tea Culture, it is also the national drink of Argentina, Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as well as Syria and Lebanon. Yerba maté comes from a small tree native to the subtropical highland of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. The drink is made by steeping the dried leaves and twigs in hot water.