My Delicious Iced Yerba Mate Tea is refreshing and light! If you’re new to Yerba Mate, no worries. By the end of this article, you’ll be an expert tea drinker.
Whether you feel depleted from caring for a little one or from a rough night’s sleep, fatigue hits everyone at one point or another. Fatigue makes many people turn to toxic energy drinks or sugar-laden lattes as part of their daily routine. Those things provide a temporary “high,” but the crash will leave you feeling worse than before. What if I told you that Yerba Mate tea could be a natural energy boost?
Table of Contents
Why Choose Yerba Over Energy Drinks?
There are a lot of drinks on the market that promise a constant energy boost and improved athletic performance. These drinks are what many people grab when they’re feeling that mid-day slump in energy levels. They work for a little bit, but after your body has processed the excess sugar and harmful chemicals, your adrenals are worse off than before!
Caffeine is a stimulant, which isn’t bad if you’re smart about the amount you’re drinking. A cup of coffee here and there isn’t likely to cause damage. Energy drinks are often the caffeine content equivalent of as much as 4 cups of coffee. (1) They don’t just contain caffeine but other stimulants, a combination of caffeine with additional herbs like ginseng, and guarana. Energy drinks often have an entire day’s worth of caffeine levels!
Over time, the body’s adrenals become stressed at taking in so much caffeine at once and can become chronically fatigued. (2) Yerba Mate tea gives you increased energy without jittery side effects. It’s a cleaner source of energy fuel, so you’re not going to get hit with exhaustion mid-afternoon. You’re not consuming extra stimulants, so your body isn’t trying to process multiple chemicals.
Yerba Mate Sources and Uses
Yerba Mate is a drink that comes from a plant native to South America. (3) It is made from the leaves and stems of the Argentinian yerba mate plant.
Those plant parts are harvested, dried, and ground to create a tea leaf-like mixture. When steeped, this mixture makes a delicious tea.
Yerba Mate means “gourd herb,” a fitting name because the original tea drinkers drank it straight from a gourd.
People say loose-leaf Yerba Mate tea has a unique taste, similar to coffee. (4) It can be slightly bitter, so I prefer mixing it with lots of liquid stevia. I don’t recommend drinking it straight until you’re a seasoned Yerba Mate connoisseur, especially when you can flavor it naturally with sweeteners.
Using Yerba Mate in tea form weakens the bitterness, giving it a more energizing taste. That’s why this recipe is a great way to ease yourself into the world of Yerba Mate!
Delicious Benefits of Yerba Mate Tea
Weight Loss Support
Yerba Mate has numerous health benefits. It contains 8 of the 13 essential “B” vitamins, which your body needs to metabolize food properly. (5) It also contains a decent amount of caffeine, which can give your body the energy it needs to get up and get moving! It raises your metabolism, reduces appetite, and burns calories.
Superfood Quota Met!
Yerba mate leaves meet the most challenging superfood requirements and have more antioxidants than plain green tea.
Instant Bliss
Since ancient times, people have been using Yerba Mate for therapeutic purposes, including mood support. (6) Some say drinking a cup of bold Yerba Mate has the same satisfying effect on the brain as eating a piece of chocolate!
Stress Relief
Yerba Mate is an adaptogenic, healing herb that adapts to systemic health conditions (7). Adaptogens can be a significant part of your diet because they help your body resist various stressors.
Yerba Mate Tea: Less Caffeine, More Energy
Yerba Mate tea usually contains about 85 mg of caffeine, 25 mg less than coffee. If you’re cutting back on caffeine, you may want to switch out your morning cup of joe. Yerba Mate has more caffeine than most herbal teas, so you may want to implement a cut-off time to ensure a great night’s sleep. I recommend getting 8-10 hours of sleep,
Ingredients to Make Yerba Mate Iced Tea
If you want the authentic Yerba Mate experience, natives suggest getting a gourd, grinding the plant yourself, and drinking the finished result with a few friends. As incredible as that sounds, we’re keeping it simple today! All you need is a few organic Yerba Mate tea bags, liquid stevia, and purified, clean water.
You also need a glass water bottle. I always recommend glass over plastic whenever possible because it’s reusable and better for the environment.
I recommend using liquid stevia because you have more control over the additives. Sometimes, powdered stevia can be processed oddly or contain fillers. Growing your own stevia plant is easy and well worth the effort if you have space! I love using my stevia plant in recipes.
If you want to boost the essential oils, add one drop of lemon or lime EO to the mix. This hack is a lifesaver if you’ve suddenly run out of fresh citrus fruit.
The Perfect Yerba Mate Tea Recipe
This tea is a two-step recipe that even the most novice natural living guru can make.
Iced Yerba Mate Tea (Vegan)
Servings
Ingredients
- 3 organic Yerba Mate tea bags
- 4-6 droppersful plain or vanilla-flavored liquid stevia
- 8 ounces boiling purified OR distilled water
- 16 ounces cold purified OR distilled water
- Ice cubes AND/OR additional cold purified OR distilled water
Supplies
Instructions
- Place the Yerba Mate and stevia in a 32-ounce glass water bottle.
- Add the boiling purified water. Steep for 10-20 minutes. Add the cold water and fill the remaining bottle space with ice and/or cold water. Serve immediately or refrigerate. If serving immediately, fill the remaining bottle space with ice, then shake and serve.
Step 1: Prep The Tea
First, prepare your tea. Place the Yerba tea bags and stevia in a 32-ounce glass water bottle. Add boiling hot water and let it steep for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Add Additional Water
After 10 minutes, your tea will have a lovely color, as shown in the above picture.
Next, add the cold water to the bottle and fill it to the top with ice. Serve immediately or refrigerate!
- https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2012/10/25/how-much-caffeine-is-really-in-those-energy-drinks
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2257922/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate
- https://www.foodandwine.com/tea/why-you-should-be-drinking-yerba-mate-tea#:~:text=Strong%2C%20bitter%2C%20and%20vegetal%2C,coffee%2C%20can%20require%20adjusting%20to.
- https://yerba-mate.com/pages/health.html
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28809814/
- https://circleofdrink.com/adaptogenic-herbs-explained-reduce-stress-and-fight-disease#:~:text=Yerba%20mate%20(ilex%20paraguariensis)%20is,in%20nearly%20all%20adaptogenic%20herbs.
