An organic sparkling maté drink in a can, from Mojo Maté — lightly sweet, herbal, and caffeinated from the leaf rather than from a bottle of additive.
What maté is. The dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, a holly — not a tea plant — native to the subtropical forests of Paraguay, southern Brazil, Uruguay and north-east Argentina, where it has been drunk since long before Europeans arrived and is still the daily national drink of tens of millions of people. It carries caffeine, along with theobromine, the compound that gives chocolate its gentler lift.
An honest note about “natural caffeine”. The phrase appears on the can of practically every plant-based energy drink, and it is worth being clear about it: caffeine from a maté leaf and caffeine from a laboratory are the same molecule, C₈H₁₀N₄O₂, and your body cannot tell them apart. What genuinely differs is everything else in the leaf — maté brings polyphenols, theobromine and saponins alongside its caffeine, and the mix is often reported as a smoother lift than an equivalent dose of pure caffeine. That is a fair thing to say. “Natural caffeine is gentler” as a claim about the caffeine itself is not.
And it is a soft drink. A sweetened, carbonated soft drink, with the sugar that implies. It is a considerably more interesting one than a cola, made with organic ingredients and without synthetic flavourings, but the honest framing is: a nicer fizzy drink, not a health product.
How to serve it. Very cold, straight from the can or over ice with a wedge of lime. Maté's slightly bitter, grassy character is what stops it being cloying, and it comes forward when the drink is properly chilled.
Not for children, and not late in the day if caffeine keeps you awake. Check the can for the caffeine content.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
Mojo Maté
ORIGINAL MATE
ORIGINAL MATE
ORIGINAL MATE
