A friend of mine introduced me to Mate when I was living in Alabama, 5 years ago. I thought of it as a sort of communication ritual when having friends over. I french pressed it a lot in those days as I was getting out of habit with coffee, but a french press was just lying around…

Then I moved to the Bay- this beautiful, beautiful city, and I found all sorts of pretty gourds, bombillas, and better quality Mate.

In time, I learned to pour it at 170 degrees fahrenheit for the perfect frothy and somewhat milky texture. I also noticed having more health benefits–increased focus,  a stronger connection with my surroundings, enhanced communication, along with digestion, clarity, amino acids and ….on and on and on.

Mate helped me in my work as a seamstress; I am able to design more, concentrate better with my eyes and hands, and just get more done (I have to crack the whip as my own boss).

I also work 2 days a week as a yogi/nutritionist in an acupuncture clinic. I mostly counsel people on vegan diet and exercise and I have shown many people the way of Mate. It really helps with the following:

• Lyme disease patients with increasing their energy

• Digestion… mostly constipation. but also slow digestion “lack of digestive fire or qi,” and a slow spleen

• Breaking off addiction to coffee… coffee is highly acidic, and acidity in the blood causes disease, and coffee drinking has a negative effect on digestion (heartburn , diarrhea) and circulation. However, Yerba mate is alkaline and has less caffeine but more natural energy, and actually increases digestion and circulation healthily

• Restoring aminos and detoxing. Mate does an excellent job at both of these at the same time because it contains 21 amino acids and 11 polyphenols (for detox)

I love, love, love it and I think it’s such a gift , and no joke–at the end of a hard days work I thank the Yerba Mate plant spirit for giving me its medicine…

Also, there are a good amount of Yerba Mate lovers in the Bay, and the enthusiasm runs high. Just a month or two ago I was on the streets of San Francisco, walking to work with my gourd and bombilla, and a man (I think an Argentinian) yelled from across the street with a huge smile on his face “YERBA MATE!!!!”

:) Hurrah!

Comment!