Yerba Mate

Poor me.

I am in the sort of state where real tea, no matter how good, just has a funny unpleasant side-flavour. I do have an absolutely vile mix of licorice root and chamomile which, while soothing, is, well, vile.

On top of that I’m feeling partly the effects of fever and partly the effects of little to no tea, and therefore little to no caffeine since around noonish yesterday.

This seems to be the obvious choice under the circumstances. I’m not sure if I would call it particularly soothing, but at least it doesn’t have as much of that funny flavour. Or maybe it does, and I’m not noticing it as much because I don’t know it as well as I know tea. Or something.

It’s not giving me a lot of smoky notes, but looking at the post I made about it originally, I didn’t get a lot of smoke out of it when my tastebuds weren’t twisted all funny.

I’m mostly getting a heavy greenery flavour out of it today, the pea pod and mint notes. I’m not sure about the pea pod note, but the mint note at least is quite welcome today. Note that I don’t usually care that much for mint. It doesn’t really have the full freshness of mint but it’s leaning sufficiently in that direction to help alleviate this funky taste in my mouth that no amount of tooth brushing can seem to get rid of.

I believe I’ve found my purpose for mate. It seems to be a good tea substitute when poorly.

Poor me.

(And yes, I am also remembering to try and drink a lot of water)

My first impression of the scent of the leaves was wow! I loved the scent. I was kind of expecting to be scared off, on the basis of what I’ve heard other say, but I love the scent. Very green and herby, in a much fresher and livelier and more zingy way than with green tea. My mother thought it smelled like catnip in the bag.
It smelled sweet to me.
And the taste! It was so smooth and almost sweet!
A few sips in I noticed some astringency and a kind of grassy hay like flavour (again, totally different from those flavours in green tea).
The aftertaste kind of reminds me of rooibos – a kind of sweet, not sweet lingering flavour.
I did a second infusion guessing at the proportions (I lost some of the leaves while filtering them out. Water: 150 degrees Time: 6 minutes.

This is my first interaction with any Yerba Mate. Upon opening the pouch, I was greeted with a grassy smell, a bit on the “straw” side of grassy. I put the kettle on a low setting, just below what I use for green teas (which once measured 180ºF, but I’m not sure how accurate the old kettle is) and set the timer for 3 minutes. Smelling the resulting brew in the cup, I get a very mild scent. The smell is similar to my White Monkey brews.

I fear I brewed this on the weak side. The flavor is meek at best. As the smell reminded me of White Monkey, so does the taste, but without the sweet notes of the White Monkey. It’s weak enough for me to not get much more than that from it. Hopefully my next brew will have more strength to it and give me more flavors.

Old sample from Tea Sipper. Thank You!

Earthy +Grassy+Slightly Bitter+Caffeine = Not my favorite herb. I’m willing to try anything once, even an herb I generally don’t like by a different company or in a different blend (unless it makes me feel ill like stevia or lavender), just on the off chance that it surprises me, but this one did not.

I like it- very earthy, but a little too bitter. It has a wonderful taste though- like you stuck your head right in the garden! The kind of earthy taste I miss from black tea. (Maybe only use 1 tsp next time though, it has a very strong taste. Recommend using sugar cubes next time.)

—loose leaf w/ infuser
—approx.1 tsp of rock sugar

I really wanted to like yerba mate, i heard do many good things about it. I was looking for something to replace coffee and give me energy on those morning i have to wake up at 3am. This wasn’t it it just tasted like grass for me and not the good type. It just gave me nausea, and count finish the rest. Im not sure if all yerba mate taste like this or it was just this one. Im afraid of venturing out to other yerba mate. This tea ruin my dreams of other yerba mate teas =p

’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #38
A nice standard yerba mate, even though the leaves look tiny. I’m not sure if they should be this small or if they have just been crushed. The flavor is your typical sweet, earthy yerba mate. The second steep was TOUGH. It tasted like I was drinking vitamins. Must mean it’s a healthy cup. I like adagio’s yerba mate base. It should be used in more blends! I think that this one gets a lower rating just because so many aren’t accustomed to yerba mate and this one is stronger flavored. You certainly can’t boil it.
Steep #1 // water cooled 35 min // 3 min
Steep#2 // water cooled 20 min // 3-4 min

I’ve been tapering off drinking yerba, but I always get sucked back in. I threw in a sample of this with a tea order just to drink a little mate again. Opening the bag, I was surprised by the lack of palos (twigs), and the very fine cut deep green leaves. There isn’t much of a smell from the dry leaves, which I find a bit unusual too. Brewing the mate, I noticed that it’s definitely unsmoked, and the flavor is mostly a bitter green and oaky flavor. This yerba seems almost exactly like Ecoteas yerba, so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if Adagio got their mate from Ecoteas. There aren’t any bright and lively flavors, it’s more like the earthy smell of a cigar. I appreciate stronger flavors like that, but I find this yerba to be a bit unbalanced as it’s a bit harsh. Maybe if it had some polvo (powder), it would taste a bit smoother.

A sampler packet of Yerba Mate from Adagio was included with a box of teas and accessories from a friend. Among all those lovely teas this was lost on me—not something I’d ever order again. I rather agree with the review that called it straw-like. I’d describe it as grassy—and I’m not a fan of grassy.

Too hot/too long :(