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Yerba Maté – "Drink of the Gods"

Also see Yerba Maté Nutrition Facts Table

The Guarani tribe in the forests of Paraguay have known for centuries of the restorative and stimulative properties of a native herb called yerba maté (Ilex Paragueriensis). Legend has it that Pa’i Shume – a tall, fair-skinned, bearded god – was the one who taught them to harvest and prepare the leaves of the yerba maté tree for a tea to ensure health, vitality and longevity. Seventeenth century Jesuits valued its energizing qualities and they cultivated plantations of the trees. Two centuries later gauchos on the region’s vast pampas utilized the herb, resting beside their fires and sipping the tea through a bombilla, a silver straw with a fine-screened strainer.

Today yerba maté is grown in the iron-rich, acidic soil and semi-tropical climates of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, which employ 400,000 people to cultivate, prepare and distribute it to Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the European community, where it is known as the "Elixir of the Jesuits".

The Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific society in 1964 were interested in this "Drink of the Gods" and did a thorough study of its properties. The findings were nothing short of astounding. The investigators concluded "it is difficult to find a plant in any area of the world equal to maté in nutritional value."

Maté contains, these scientists said, "practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life." Yerba maté contains the vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2, B complex, carotene, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin and vitamin C complex. In addition, it has 15 different amino acids, plus significant amounts of magnesium, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, manganese, silicon, phosphates, zinc, niacin, sulfur, and chlorophyll, choline, and inositol.

The list of benefits to overall health to be derived from yerba maté touches all aspects of the body and is seemingly endless. Tens of millions of south Americans drink maté to boost immunity, cleanse and detoxify the blood, tone the nervous system, control the appetite, restore youthful hair color, retard aging, combat fatigue, stimulate the mind, cure insomnia, and reduce the effects of debilitating disease.

Yerba maté supplies many of the nutrients required by the heart for growth and repair, plus it has a metabolic effect by increasing the supply of oxygen to the heart, especially during periods of stress or exercise. Research from the Paris Institute indicates LDL oxidation is inhibited by extracts of Ilex Paraguariensis. Incidence of arteriosclerosis is low in countries where yerba is consumed.

There is growing clinical evidence that yerba maté stimulates the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids, thus stimulating metabolism in muscle cells. As a by-product of this, maté has been commonly observed to decrease the severity and incidence of allergy and hay fever. This adrenocortical action also helps balance blood glucose levels, so that hypoglycemic patients respond well to yerba maté.

As a whole-body tonic, yerba stimulates a weakened or depressed nervous system, and calms an overexcited one. When stress, whether from environmental factors, bad nutrition or anxiety, throws our body’s systems out of balance, maté’s bi-directional properties restore homeostasis in the body, while not over stimulating any one system. In addition, it is non-addictive, and will not cause jitters or any contraindicators.

For these reasons, yerba maté is excellent as a coffee substitute. The tea has the ability to quicken the mind, to increase mental alertness and acuity. It is a mild, not strong, diuretic. It relaxes peripheral blood vessels, thereby reducing blood pressure. And best of all, rather than interfering with sleep as coffee often does, maté has a tendency to balance sleep cycles, inducing more REM sleep when necessary, or increasing the amount of time spent in delta states. Many people report that they require less sleep when using maté.

Consumer feedback has indicated its combined effects of smooth muscle and peripheral blood vessel relaxation, sense of stamina, energy and well being provide improved sexual interest and performance, thereby possibly offering a drug-free, all natural alternative to Viagra.

As an anti-oxidant, yerba maté is superb. Free radicals are highly toxic oxygen molecules in a reactive, unstable form. They roam freely through the body, seeking out tissues to combine with and render morbid. As well as destroying tissues outright, they increase susceptibility to a wide range of infections and diseases. Besides the free radicals produced by normal metabolic processes, we are also exposed to them through environmental pollutants. Our body’s main line of defense against free radicals is its supply of free radical scavengers, collectively known as antioxidants. These are a group of nutrients which include Vitamins A, C, E, and the minerals Zinc and Selenium, all of which maté contains in abundance. These antioxidant nutrients work synergistically to prevent further cell damage, while repairing damaged cells by neutralizing the free radicals and thus deactivating their destructive energy.

Maté tea is made from leaves and stems steeped in hot water. A maté gourd, or mug, is filled a quarter full (or to taste), the bombilla (a filtering straw which extracts the most nutrients by pulling the water across the leaves) is nestled into the herb. Hot-never boiled- water is poured to the top. The water will cause the leaves to swell and the water at the top of the gourd will look frothy and green, indicating its nutrient-rich properties. The gourd can be refilled five or 6 times until the green froth is gone, which means the leaves are depleted, and it’s time to refresh the infusion. Yerba maté can also be made in a coffee machine, a French press, and cold as a refreshing sun tea.

This special gift from the plant kingdom is best when served in community with friends, offered in a ritual of love and friendship for each other and our natural world. But even alone, the cup of maté in your hand as you begin a new day promises to leave you refreshed and with a great feeling of well being.

Traditional utensils for drinking yerba maté -
ornate silver gourd with silver filtering straw.

By: Sandra Gardner - free-lance writer/nutrition researcher – Sedona, Arizona