About Organic Yerba Maté

Organic yerba maté or organic erva maté is a species of holly in the family of aquifoliaceae native to subtropical South America, Argentina, Southern Paraguay, Western Uruguay and Southern Brazil. The drink called yerba is prepared by steeping the organic dry leaves and stems in hot water (145 Degrees) rather than boiling water. Un-smoked yerba maté has a clean taste from tumbling the loose leaf. Drinking organic Yerba Maté energy tea with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a Maté in South American Spanish, or cabaça or cuia in Portuguese) with a metal or wood straw (a bombilla in Spanish, bomba or canudo in Portuguese) is an extremely common social practice in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, eastern Chile, Southern Bolivia and Brazil.

The flavor of organic brewed yerba maté is strongly vegetative, herbal, and grassy, reminiscent of some varieties of green tea. Many consider the flavor to be very earthy with a wholesome organic feel. Because of the high caffeine content it creates a powerful feeling that is very hard to explain until you have tried the organic yerba maté plant.

In Argentina, an unsmoked, cold version of yerba maté, known as "Terere", is sold in tea bag and loose form, and served, sweetened with fresh squeezed lemon juice, widely drunken on Yerba Maté farms. An iced, sweetened version of Yerba Maté will make you smile. The unsmoked variety of Yerba Maté has no smoke smell or taste making it great with Terere or hot with a Glass Gourd and Bombilla. It is very popular consumed in the traditional way (organic Yerba loose leaf, drunk with a bombilla from a shared gourd). Similarly a form of yerba is sold in tea bags to be drunk in a similar way as traditional cup of tea. This is known in Spanish as 'Maté cocido' or more commonly 'Cocido'. In Argentina this is commonly drunk with breakfast or 'la merienda' (afternoon Tea) often with a selection of 'facturas' (sweet pastries). It is also made by heating yerba in water and straining it as it cools.

The yerba maté plant is a small tree growing up to 3 meters tall (9'10") the tree is an evergreen with leafs 7–11 cm long and 3–5.5 cm wide, with a serrated margin. The flowers are small, greenish-white, with four petals. The fruit is a red berry 4–6 mm diameters organic yerba maté is a tea made from the leaves and stems of the tree Ilex paraguariensis, is a widely consumed nonalcoholic beverage in S. E. America which is becoming more and more popular in the world market, either as Tea itself or as ingredient in processed beverages, foods and dietary supplements. The indigenous Guarani humans have used it for centuries as a social and medicinal Tea. Organic Yerba Maté has been shown to be hypocholesterolemic, hepatoprotective, central nervous system stimulant, diuretic, and to benefit the cardiovascular system. It has also been suggested for obesity management. Organic Yerba Maté protects DNA from oxidation and in vitro low-density lipoprotein lipoperoxidation and has a high antioxidants. In addition organic Yerba Maté Tea has gained public attention outside of South America, namely the United States and Europe, and research on this Tea has been exciting. In this article we investigate the consumption, chemistry, biological activities, health benefits and affects, and some technological considerations for processing organic Yerba Maté. Last, we look at the concise and comprehensive way the Ilex paraguariensis (Organic Yerba Maté Plant) could be a source of biological compounds for the nutraceutical industry.

Yerba maté tea (maté), an herbal tea beverage widely consumed in southern Latin American countries (southern Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) is gaining rapid penetration into world markets, including the United States. It is made from an infusion of the dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, a plant of the Aquifoliaceae family (Small and Catling 2001; Grigioni and others 2004). In Latin America, Maté is often drank out of a dried gourd using a metal straw called “bombilla.” The dry leaves (about 50 g) are packed into the gourd and hot water is poured over them; this is then repeated multiple times, with as much as half to 1 L of water. In the United States, however, Maté is commercially packed in individual Tea bags (1 to 2 g) or as Maté Tea concentrate for use as ingredient in the food or dietary supplement industries. Considering the importance of the growing consumption of Maté Tea and Maté Tea containing products, the objective of this review is to compile and comprehensively analyze updated scientific information on Yerba Maté, including its composition, physiological effects, and potential health implications. In addition, this review hopes to further stimulate uses of Yerba Maté as nutraceutical ingredient. This compiled knowledge may provide a central resource for future research on Yerba Maté.

Organic Yerba Maté Tea has been noted for its health benefits but there have been also been concerns about the safety of over consumption. Many of the scientific papers, on one hand, report that organic Yerba Maté Tea is hypocholesterolemic, hepatoprotective (Filip and Ferraro 2003), central nervous stimulant, diuretic and antioxidant. It also has benefits to the cardiovascular system, and is a protector of DNA oxidation and in vitro low-density lipoprotein (LDL) lipoperoxidation (Bracesco and others 2003). Some research has also suggested its management of obesity (Andersen and Fogh 2001; Pittler and Ernst 2004; Opala and others 2006). Numerous active phytochemicals have been identified in organic Yerba Maté leaves that may be responsible for many of the plants health benefits. These include 2 of the highest compounds, polyphenols (chlorogenic acid) and xanthines (caffeine and theobromine), followed by purine alkaloids (caffeic acid, 4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 5-dicaffeoylquinic acid), flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, and rutin), amino acids, minerals (P, Fe, and Ca), and vitamins (C, B1, and B2). Not only has organic Yerba Maté shown to have high concentrations of bio active compounds, the leaves show cytotoxic to human cancer hepatoma cells (HepG2).

It seems over consumption in epidemiological studies have reported a link between organic Yerba Maté and an increased risk of various types of cancer, including oral, oropharyngeal, esophageal, laryngeal, and bladder (Goldenberg and others 2003) Interesting to note that some of these studies have been sponsored by Coffee Organizations. To date the best rule of thumb while consuming any stimulant is to drink responsibly. Drinking access amounts of organic coffee has been shown to cause various health concerns.