YERBA MATÉ MEMO
✓ Yerba maté is not tea but a South American shrub from the holly family
✓ It is mainly cultivated in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay
✓ Locals consume the dried leaves in an infusion in a gourd with a perforated straw
✓ It helps improve alertness, stay focused, and fight fatigue
✓ It’s a source of antioxidants and is also said to have fat-burning effects
The First Bombilla
Currently confined in Barcelona, we take the opportunity to continue our meetings with small producers and brands that inspire us, this time online.
After exchanging emails about the issue of monocultures of yerba maté in Brazil, the importance of producing it organically and respecting the forest, a meeting is quickly arranged with Jérémie, co-founder of La Bombilla, the young French leading brand for maté. He “receives” us via Skype in his garden in Val-de-Marne, surrounded by trees, birds, and his thermos of maté always at hand.
Jérémie is an engineer. In 2017, taking advantage of a job that allows him to work online and remotely, he traveled for more than a year between Mexico and Argentina. It was there that he discovered the famous maté (or Yerba maté) and its energizing power.
“Now I drink it almost every day. It’s very energizing, helps you stay focused, and you don’t get the slump you can experience with coffee.”
Anyone who has traveled there knows: Argentinians, Uruguayans, and Southern Brazilians are addicted to this plant. They drink it throughout the day in a thermos or, more traditionally, in a gourd with a perforated straw, the “bombilla.”
It is true that maté has an uplifting effect thanks to the caffeine it contains – about 1%: less than coffee but more than green tea. It also contains theobromine, a substance also found in cocoa that provides a feeling of well-being.
When Jérémie returns to France, he talks with his friend Antoine about his desire to introduce this energizing and beneficial drink to people around him. They select a supplier, handle the packaging, offer a maté discovery kit with a pouch, a gourd, and a bombilla for tasting, and talk about it around them. La Bombilla is born and finds its audience: more than 1500 pouches are sold.
Faced with the success of this first “wave” of yerba maté, the two friends are looking to refine the project. While the many feedbacks they have received are positive, others are more nuanced: maté is too bitter. How can we satisfy the French palate, accustomed to milder drinks, and “convert” more people? The best way is still to go to the source!
A 5000 km Road Trip in Search of the Best Yerba Maté
This begins a 5000 km road trip in northern Argentina and southern Brazil, in search of the best yerba maté. Jérémie and Antoine meet many producers, taste countless samples of matés – one can imagine they seldom felt tired, learn on the ground all the subtleties of this traditional and always popular drink.
Yerba maté leaves are harvested from a shrub in the holly family. This grows wild in the forest. Originally, its leaves were chewed and were part of the ritual ingredients of some indigenous people, notably the Guarani Indians.
Today, intensive cultivation of yerba maté causes deforestation: conventional (non-organic) maté is indeed grown in monoculture, with heavy use of pesticides. This type of cultivation kills forests and local fauna, impoverishes the soil… That’s why our two friends sought to identify agroforestry farms where this culture is more environmentally friendly.
After months of research and discovering dozens of plantations, they meet THE producer, in the state of Parana in southern Brazil. It’s an area where the cultivation of maté is historic.
The plants grow in small nurseries, then are planted in the forest and grow within a rich ecosystem. The harvest takes place every two years, then the leaves dry naturally, without smoke. This maté is fair-trade and organic certified.
The disastrous environmental policy of Brazil cannot currently eliminate this privileged place: since these maté shrubs grow in the forest, it is considered a crop and is less at risk of being cleared.
And what about the bitterness?
“South Americans drink a maté with leaves that are refined, aged, and therefore more bitter. We have found a green, “young” maté which is therefore milder” and more in line with French and European taste.”
Another particularity of La Bombilla: the founders chose their maté and their producer themselves, which is rare in the industry. Most European brands of maté source from a wholesaler in Germany that produces private labels.
New Blends and Collaborations
Today, Jérémie and Antoine offer three different mates: a classic mate, a mint mate, and a floral mate. These blends are designed in Brazil. In a while, the range will expand further with a matured mate (for those who enjoy bitterness), a roasted mate with a caramelized taste, which sounds divinely good.
The other focus of La Bombilla is to develop quality accessories that go along with mate tasting. A mate thermos with a spout, flat bombillas, leather gourds…
And collaborate with big names in the mate world. Such as Mateador, who crafts artisanal gourds and provides football players (and not just any players): Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Agüero…
To find out more about yerba mate and all its benefits, discover our extensive report here!
We would have loved to meet Jérémie and Antoine in person, and even better over a good mate deep in the heart of Parana, but the virus decided otherwise. One thing is certain, we are going to follow La Bombilla closely and start drinking liters of mate right away 🙂
