Erva Mate Chimarrao dos Pampas / Mate Herb / Hierba Mate

Yerba Mate or Mate, as it is sometimes called, is South America's famous green tea which has won worldwide admiration because of its special energizing and nutritional qualities, as well as its uinque delicious flavor. Yerba Mate is made from the dried, chopped and ground leaves of Ilex Paraguarensis, a native South American holly. Long used by the indigenous people of South America it was adopted by European colonizers from the 17th Century onwards. Today Mate is consumed by millions of South Americans as an all occasion drink, occupying a position like that of coffee in the US or tea in Britian and China.