A short guide to yerba mate
What it is, where it comes from, and how it’s made.
01
What it is
Yerba mate is the dried leaf and small stems of Ilex paraguariensis, an evergreen holly. Steeped in water, it makes a drink that is green, earthy and a little bitter.
02
Where it comes from
It grows wild in the subtropical forests where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet. The Guaraní people drank it long before Europeans arrived and called the plant ka’a. Spanish settlers took up the habit in the 1500s and named it yerba, “herb”.
03
From forest to farm
In the 1600s, Jesuit missions in the region learned to grow it from seed. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, the method was lost, and plantations only returned in the early 1900s. Today Argentina grows the most, followed by Brazil and Paraguay.
04
How it’s made
After the harvest, the leaves pass quickly over fire, which stops them browning and keeps them green. They are dried, rested for months, then milled.
05
Taste and caffeine
Grassy and earthy, with a light bitterness. It has its own caffeine, the same molecule found in coffee and tea.
06
At BORIA
Across South America it is still drunk all day, shared between friends. We don’t make it the traditional way. Every BORIA drink starts from it and goes somewhere new.
See the five drinks →
