Pipore Yerba Mate Tea Leaves 500g

Pipore Yerba Mate Tea | PIPORÉ TRADICIONAL CLASICA

The Argentine tea culture is influenced by local and imported varieties and customs. The country is a major producer of tea (Camellia sinensis), but is best known for the cultivation and consumption of mate, made with the leaves of the local yerba mate plant.

Mate is a tisane, or herbal tea, that is popular in Argentina as well as in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Mate is the Quechuan word for "gourd". Mate is served in a hollow gourd (or occasionally a horn or a hoof), and drunk through a metal straw called a bombilla. This serving style originated with a native culture, the Guarani. The Guarani called the yerba mate plant Caa'. Indigenous peoples made bombilla straws from hollow cane, and made a filter at the end with vegetable fibers; today's bombilla straws, although made of metal, retain the filter feature at the end that is submerged in the gourd.

The French Society of Hygiene explained yerba mate by saying, "Yerba Mate raises morale, sustains the muscular system augments strength and allows one to endure privations. In a word, it is a valiant aid." Considered to have medicinal properties by the indigenous South Americans, Mate has a range of active compounds. It has antioxidant and cholesterol-lowering properties, and contains vitamins C, B1, and B2.