While living in Paraguay I picked up a lot of new habits. Some of them not so healthy: sharing utensils with strangers, soda with meals, and avoiding exercise because of the heat. But I also rode my bike everywhere, planted a vegetable garden and learned to love yerba mate. The locals call it tereré, (tay-rary-ray) and after my first tentative, bitter sip it didn’t take long for a healthy addiction to set in.
Known as “The Drink of The Gods” to many indigenous groups, yerba mate grows as a tree only in the shrinking Atlantic Rainforest of South America, but is harvested for consumption as a shrub. The branches and leaves are flash dehydrated, then slow roasted in a wood-burning oven. From there the material is ground coarsely and left to age for a year before it is packaged and sold by the pound. With a slightly bitter taste, yerba mate is naturally caffeinated, and full of minerals like potassium and antioxidants. While green tea contains almost 150 antioxidants yerba mate has close to 200. Researchers at The University of Illinois have found yerba mate to exhibit cancer fighting activity while other studies have linked drinking yerba mate with weight loss and lowering of bad cholesterol.
To drink tereré in Paraguay, a set of inexpensive gear is required: a guampa, bombilla, and a thermos, which are as common to a Paraguayan household as forks are to Americans. The server starts by filling a small cup called a guampa (traditionally a hollowed out cow horn) with yerba, and then tops the yerba with hot or iced water, handing the full guampa directly to the person on the server’s left. A metal bombilla is inserted, acting as both a straw and a sieve, allowing the drinker the benefits of the yerba without having a mouthful of loose herbs. The receiver drinks all the water (it is considered unhygienic to leave any) and passes the empty guampa back to the server who refills it with more water and passes it to the next person on the left in the circle. This well choreographed dance can go on for hours, with a lot of good hearted conversation and plenty of jokes. Though often consumed as a social event in Paraguay, yerba mate is also consumed solo, especially when the sun becomes unbearable.
I find yerba mate more energizing than any sports drink or vitamin water I’ve ever tried. Because yerba stimulates the central nervous system, after just a few pours I feel refreshed and hydrated, but without any uncomfortable over caffeinated side effects. On the caffeine scale, yerba falls right between coffee and tea. When I hiked epic Iguaçu Falls in Argentina, my tereré kit came with me. When I left Paraguay to surf the shores of Bali, I found room in my small backpack for a guampa. And when my husband and I got married last year, we shared a chilled round of tereré with our family and friends. I’d also like to mention my wedding dress had to be taken in a size.
In America, yerba mate is available loose if you prefer the traditional way, or in a tea bag, (found online and in health food stores, 50 cents for 2.5 grams) giving all the health benefits without tracking down the equipment. Just like coffee or beer, the taste can be slightly bitter at first. Simply add mint, lemon or honey to sweeten things up. While I no longer consider my fork common property, I still look forward to my healthy, daily yerba mate break.
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Writer Megan Wood was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay and is launching a yerba mate import/export business, called The Complete Leaf, there in January.
