You might have noticed professional football players are recently drinking a lot of tea from their coconut shaped cups with metal straws and it made me wonder, what are they drinking and why? So that is exactly what I am discussing in today’s blog post!
Yerba Mate popularity
First of all, what are players like Messi, Suarez and many more drinking? If you google it, you will quickly find out that it is called a Yerba Mate Tea. This is a traditional kind of tea from the South American rainforest and has almost magical health benefits. In short, Mate is a mixture of the stimulative effects of coffee, the health benefits from tea and the deliciousness of chocolate! It sounds almost heaven, am I right?
This tea derives from the leaves and twigs of the Ilex Paraguariensis plant which are still hand-harvested from small communities in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. After these leaves and twigs have been dried and ground, you fill a special cup with this mate tea and pour in some hot water. Now your Yerba Mate tea is ready to be enjoyed by you, and preferably shared with some friends! Its tradition says that Yerba Mate tea awakens the mind, brings people together and creates communities. Another fun fact, the special cup is called a gourd and comes with a metal straw which has a filter to prevent you from swallowing the mate leaves.
But enough about what it looks and tastes like, let’s get into the benefits of this tea!
Benefits of Yerba Mate
It is said that this Yerba Mate tea contains 15 amino acids and 24 vitamins and minerals. The Pasteur Institute even declared that this tea ‘contains practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life.’ But the tea does contain very little amounts of each vitamin, it’s therefor questionable if it could actually help to improve life quality.
However, drinking Yerba Mate Tea is believed to boost your energy and mental focus due to its moderate content of a caffeine. This tea contains more caffeine than a regular tea, but less than your standard black coffee, with 85mg of caffeine per cup, it hits the sweet spot of the just right amount of caffeine.
As mentioned in previous blog posts, caffeine is labelled as a central nervous system stimulant but in certain portions also works as an autonomic nervous system stimulant. Which means that it has an effect on your central nervous system and to some extent on your autonomic nervous system. The way caffeine works are by blocking adenosine actions and therefor prevents drowsiness, which means that it keeps you alert. Which makes it perfect as a pre-workout or pre-football drink!
Also, Mate tea includes anti-inflammatory properties which could boost your immune and protect you against infections. On top of that, it is believed that it lowers the risk of heart disease and lowers blood sugar levels. However, the research behind these statements are still lacking and will need more time to be conclusive.
Where to buy Yerba Mate?
Now you know more about this tea, you might want to give it a try, unfortunately, MZ does not sell the Yerba Mate leaves to make the tea. You will probably have to google and search your nearest shop or webshop which does sell this tea. However, you can still get similar effects by having a healthy and balanced eating pattern.
But if you are lacking some the caffeine, amino acids, vitamins and minerals as found in Yerba Mate Tea, you could try implementing other products into your life. For example, you can try one of MZ-Store Whey protein shakes. This contains large amounts of protein and amino acids.
For other bioactive substance, you could try Pain-Rx from Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals. It is a supplement containing wholesome blend of antioxidants. Yerba Mate extract included!
And if you didn’t know by now, you can consume coffee to get your caffeine boost. However, you shouldn’t drink more than 3 cups of coffee per day because it’s possible to get addicted and influence your concentration and focus in the long run.
And of course, the combination of these 3 things are not directly comparable to consuming the Yerba Mate tea, these are just possible supplements to consume similar nutrients.
Yerba Mate - summary
And there you have it, an overview of this popular drink and its effects. Have you ever consumed Yerba Mate? How was it? Share your experience in the comments below, I would love to hear your story! And if you have any ideas for future blog posts, don’t be shy and let us know what you want to read about next!
