Organic Brazilian green maté blended with peppermint — the easiest of these blends to like, and the one to hand to somebody who has never had maté before.
Why peppermint works so well with maté
Green maté is vegetal and faintly bitter, and that bitterness is what newcomers notice first. Peppermint does two things to it. Menthol produces a cooling sensation on the palate that reads as freshness and largely covers the bitter edge; and the mint's own sweetness rounds out the grassy note underneath. The result tastes considerably lighter than plain maté while carrying exactly the same caffeine.
It is also the version that makes the best iced drink by a distance.
What maté is
The leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, a South American holly. Not tea, and not a caffeine-free herbal infusion — it contains caffeine, somewhere between a cup of tea and a weak coffee per serving. This is green Brazilian maté, dried without smoke, rather than the wood-cured Argentine yerba that tastes strongly of bonfire.
Brewing it
80 °C, never boiling. Boiling water scalds the leaf and pulls out a harsh bitterness — and it also flashes off the mint's volatile oils, so you lose the peppermint as well. Boil the kettle and let it stand two or three minutes.
A teaspoon to a tablespoon per mug, five minutes, re-infusing up to three times. Cover the mug while it steeps to keep the mint in the cup rather than in the air.
Worth knowing
Let it cool below about 65 °C before drinking. The health concerns around maté relate to drinking it scalding hot in the traditional South American way rather than to the plant, and the same caution applies to very hot coffee and tea.
Contains caffeine. The guidance in pregnancy is under 200 mg a day from all sources.
Mojo Maté
Mojo Maté
ORIGINAL MATE
ORIGINAL MATE
