I hereby declare that I am not allowed to touch beverages containing yerba mate. I really got into tea when I found out that caffeine triggers my headaches. It became so much easier for me to control my caffeine intake. But at this point, I’m really sensitive to stimulants, and while I can enjoy an occasional cup of coffee or a pot of black tea, mate makes me really jittery and unfocused, and basically useless to the world.
So, if you’re interested in yerba mate, I invite you to write up your own reviews of mate tea and send them in to be posted. (And perhaps you can use some of the key words in the glossary as you go.) I’m very happy to make Gongfu Girl a group effort, and I don’t want to leave out whole categories of content just because I shouldn’t drink them.
On that note, the Republic of Tea “Mate Latte” was an interesting tangle of cocoa, nuts, and flowers, with a strange cedar note that research has told me is rooibos. I should have known! The aroma is bold, but the taste had to be brought up to expectations with a touch of sweetener. Again, the mate was extremely stimulating, and I’m filing this under “caffeinated.” True to the “latte” in the name, it was creamy even without the addition of milk, and I saw no need for it.
I’d love to enjoy it again, but maybe only when I’m doing a more high-energy activity. I invite you try it and tell me what you think: girl (at) gongfugirl.com
Possibly Related Posts:
- New look for Gongfu Girl!
- Backpacking Tea
- Tea Review: China Yunnan Ning Rong Organic
- New Uses for Teaware
- Experiments with caffeine.
[...] I can’t think of a better way to start here than by writing about a gift. This Christmas I received my very own mate (a gourd used for drinking yerba mate) and bombilla (a metal straw/filter used to drink from the gourd) — from none other than Colleen, the original Gongfu Girl. (See her earlier posts about yerba mate, Tea in the Sahara with you … and Yerba Mate (Mate Latte).) [...]
Left by Passing the Gourd --Gongfu Girl on January 9th, 2007