The latest super tea to join the YTTP lineup is yerba mate, a tea with a history of both energizing and unifying a community. Yerba mate brings a wallop of energy, a dose of euphoria, and mega antioxidants—it has more natural caffeine than even coffee.
It also has the power to bring people together. Yari, the mythical goddess of mate, named the tea a symbol of friendship, and no wonder: it’s been ritually shared for centuries, primarily in Brazil and Paraguay among the Tupí and Guarani tribes who pour boiling water over the leaves, passing the hot beverage around in a hollowed-out gourd called a mate or cabaça, sipping the shared tea through a bombilla straw as a way to foster community. In this practice, sharing is caring. (Though, importantly, custom dictates that anyone contagious or unwell decline to sip from the shared drink.)
The tea itself is considered a healthful part of each day—it’s a diuretic and brings energy, and also contains plentiful vitamins and phytonutrients including vitamins E, A and C, pantothenic acid, chlorophyll, polyphenols, amino acids, and choline—according to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, “practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life."
We’re big fans of yerba mate both as an ingested tea—spy Guayaki scattered throughout our headquarters any day of the week, or now more likely through the Zoom lens—and to amp up the effects of our skincare routine. It’s currently featured in our Yerba Mate Resurfacing Energy Facial. Both ways, yerba mate is an ideal morning pick-me-up.
