I love coffee. But I have come to adore a kind of tea introduced by a dear friend called yerba mate. It’s fantastic in taste and just happens to be really good for you. The package boasts that it has the “strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea, and the euphoria of chocolate” all in one beverage. I don’t disagree.
I understand that all tea is good for you, but this particular variety happens to be the national drink of Argentina and Southern Brazil. I only have one editorial comment about this fact; the women from those countries are beautiful, and I am going to attribute a fraction of that radiance to the consumption of yerba mate.
Also, my husband now works at Whole Foods Market, so he often comes home with new and unusual products to try. When he brought home a package of Guayaki Yerbe Mate, it was fun for me to tell him that I had already tried and was fond of this product. We bonded a little over tea. It made me smile.
This stuff is great, especially with a shaving of fresh ginger and a touch of agave nectar. I make it in my french press, but they make these neat little straws for preparing single servings. I purchase it in a loose leaf format as opposed to bags, so the straw was created with a screen to keep the little bits of tea leaves out of the tea and in the cup. Pretty clever, right?
In the words of the monsters from my favorite kids show, Yo Gabba Gabba, “Try it, you might like it!” Because you probably will.









