Yerba Mate can change a Life’s Trajectory and other Yerba Mate History
Yerba MontanaShare
Compiling a list of historical figures who drank yerba mate is much like naming
people who have drank a cup of coffee. It’s a cultural icon of a place. It’s simply
something that many people from a place enjoy. The drink referred to in old American
newspapers as Paraguayan Tea is culturally ubiquitous throughout southern South
American countries like Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.
The Argentinian national soccer team apparently brought over 1,100 pounds of
yerba mate with them to Qatar to drink during the 2022 Men’s World Cup. The team
includes one of the best soccer players that has ever lived: Lionel Messi. Is the secret to
his success yerba mate? Probably, dedication, hard work and a passion for the game
might trump this herbal beverage, but at the same time we can’t necessarily rule out the
influence the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in yerba mate could potentially play in
his rise to fame…
The indigenous Guaraní and some Tupi in South America began drinking yerba
mate likely since time immemorial. Jesuits and European colonizers came across this
drink when they began settling the Spanish and Portuguese colonial holdings in the area
and at least some of them must have enjoyed the herbal tea known as yerba mate.
Richard Nixon’s Goodwill Tour of South America
Once upon a time, before Richard Nixon would be impeached because of the Watergate
scandal, he was vice president during the General Dwight Eisenhower administration. Nixon
embarked on a Goodwill tour of the various South American states in 1958.
The tour had some low points and some high points. While in Montevideo, Uruguay on
April 29, 1958, our protagonist Nixon drank yerba mate from a traditional gourd. Yerba mate is a
symbol of hospitality. Nixon’s wife Pat Nixon also partook in the consumption of yerba mate.
Despite the warm welcomes Nixon received in some countries, he did not get a cordial
reception while visiting Caracas, Venezuela. In fact, his motorcade was swarmed by a crowd of
angry protesters. That same year, the United States granted asylum to the former dictator
Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who had been recently removed from power. Granting asylum had
angered many in Venezuela.
Ernesto “Che” Guevara on His Motorcycle Adventure
On the other side of the Cold War is the famous Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che”
Guevara. Che became famous in the Cuban Revolution having helped Fidel Castro gain power.
Being an Argentine must have exposed Ernesto to yerba mate from birth onwards. Che’s
father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, actually ran a yerba mate plantation in Río Paraná. Author of a
Che biography “Che Guevara: a Revolutionary Life” Jon Lee Anderson wrote that Che’s father
paid his workers in cash rather than trapping the local Guaraní laborers through binding
contracts. That would be bad press if a world famous Communist revolutionary’s family didn’t
pay wage laborers fairly. The plantation was not a success for the Guervara family and they
eventually settled in Buenos Aires.
Since yerba mate is a cultural staple of the area, Che continued to have a relationship
with the herbal tea.
While on his famous motorcycle adventure from Argentina to Mexico, he wrote about
drinking mate in “The Motorcycle Diaries” on various occasions. It was on this journey that Che
met Fidel in Mexico City and started on the path that propelled him into the icon he is today.
The decision to embark on this journey actually began over some sweet yerba mate with
his friend and travel companion Alberto. Che described the decision as follows, “it was a
morning in October. Taking advantage of the holiday on the 17th I had gone to Córdoba. We
were at Alberto Granado’s place under the vine, drinking sweet mate and commenting on recent
events, tinkering with La Poderosa II (their motorcycle). Alberto was lamenting the fact that he
had to quit his job at the leper colony in San Francisco del Chañar and about how poor his pay
was now at the Español Hospital. I had also quit my job, but unlike Alberto I was very happy to
leave. I was feeling uneasy, more than anything because having the spirit of a dreamer I was
particularly jaded with medical school, hospitals and exams.
Along the roads of our daydream we reached remote countries, navigated tropical seas
and traveled all through Asia. And suddenly, slipping in as if part of our fantasy, the question
arose:
“Why don’t we go to North America?”
“North America? But how?”
“On La Poderosa, man.”
The trip was decided just like that, and it never erred from the basic principle laid down
in that moment: improvisation.Alberto’s brothers joined us in a round of mate as we sealed our
pact never to give up until we had realized our dream. So began the monotonous business of
chasing visas, certificates and documents, that is to say, of overcoming the many hurdles
modern nations erect in the paths of would-be travelers. To save face, just in case, we decided
to say we were going to Chile.”
A cup of yerba mate can inspire dreams and change the course of one’s life
apparently…
The Great MATECALYPSE of 2011
If you ever walk the streets of Berlin, Germany, you most definitely will see empty plastic
and glass bottles along with aluminum cans lining the sidewalks and stacked under the bright
orange Berliner garbage cans. These bottles and cans are not litter! Rather each of them
required a deposit making them worth 8 cents for a glass bottle or 25 cents for plastic and
aluminum. To aid Berliners who need a little extra cash, people leave their bottles in a public
spot so others can collect and return the bottles for the deposit. Berliners see this as a small act
of solidarity with those in need.
However, if bottles get broken or not returned this can affect the supply chain. Glass
bottles are expensive to replace.
Club Mate is a common drink in Berlin. It’s a carbonated sugary drink made with
yerba mate extract. This drink fuels university students and party goers. Berlin has no open
container laws, meaning people can drink beer and alcohol on the streets and in the parks.
The bodegas that fill Berliner neighborhoods sell Club Mate and they also offer small bottles
of vodka and whiskey. Some partygoers like to drink a bit of the mate and then proceed to
top off the Club Mate with some inexpensive vodka.
Yerba mate has been known in Germany by the time of the late 19th century if not
earlier. This exposure came through colonial and international trade, migration from
Germany to South America, and publicity campaigns by South American embassies trying
to promote their national products. Yerba mate became popular with the military.
The original carbonated yerba mate based drink in Germany was “Yermeth” created
in 1889 by Dr. Graf & Comp.. By 1906, the drink was being produced by Hugo Obst in
Bayreuth. In 1908, after Obst had encountered some problems, he started brewing the mate
drink under the name of Sekt Bronte in Köstritz through an already established brewery.
Club Mate as we know it today came through a manufacturer named Georg Letteier.
Letteier had discovered the drink during an unidentified exhibition and acquired a license to
produce the drink in Dietenhofen in 1924. The drink had been produced since the late 19th
century by a variety of people and names.
The drink was touted as healthy, stimulating and full bodied that can aid in the
treatment of kidney disease. This yerba mate drink gained in popularity over time.
In the mid 1990s, the license for the drink was purchased by Loscher, a brewery in
Bavaria. At this point, it was sold as Club Mate, the name we know it by today.
Well to the MATECALYPSE… In 2011, not enough bottles were returned and the
manufacturer had to limit production due to the lack of bottles. To remedy this situation,
everyday heroes united to encourage individuals to do their part. A possible slogan could be
“Keep Calm and Return Mate Bottles.”
A Facebook event was created to spread the word about this impending disaster.
Fortunately, everything worked out and there is plenty of Club Mate available in
Germany nowadays. It would seem even Leonado DiCaprio ordered two Club Mates during
his visit to Berlin.
Leo S Rowe former Director General of the Pan American Union
Returning to our side of the pond, Leo Stanton Rowe comes up as yerba mate adjacent
and rightly so. He was the Director General of the Pan American Union, the predecessor to the
Organization of American States (OAS), from 1920 to 1946.
The Pan American Union has its origins in the goals of José de San Martín and Simón
Bolívar, both men led the fight against the Spanish Empire in the early 19th century. The main
goal post independence was to foster common security and defense along with international
cooperation. Their aspiration fell apart in the 1820s with the disintegration of Gran Colombia.
José de San Martín was born in what is now Argentia, so it’s probable he consumed
yerba mate. He is viewed as a national hero in Argentia, Chile and Peru and he is considered
one of the Liberatores of Spanish South America.
The need and desire for economic, defensive and political cooperation remained despite
the disintegration of Gran Colombia. In the late 1880s, countries in North and South America
came together in Washington D.C at the first International Conference of American States. In
1910, at the fourth meeting in Buenos Aires, the Pan American Union was born.
Leo Rowe became the director general in 1920 until 1946, when he was killed while
crossing the street in Washington D.C.
During his tenure, he desired educational and economic development of states in the
Pan American Union.
Rowe met with the Paraguay minister Enrique Bordenave to discuss importing yerba
mate to fuel the US Army and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a New
Deal work program created by Franklin D Roosevelt aimed at getting young men to work on
environmental projects on government owned land. For the sake of this article, no further
records were found to show if yerba mate was served to these individuals working through the
Great Depression. But it certainly is a fun mental image to picture young Depression era men
passing a traditional gourd around filled with yerba mate while working on New Deal projects.
The 1933 article out of Indianapolis claimed at that moment the only yerba mate drinkers
in the area were the Paraguayans and Leo Rowe, who served the beverage from his Spanish
patio. But that didn’t stop Bordenave from wanting to convert US-Americans into yerba mate
drinkers to the benefit of their exports. Drinking yerba mate has been a symbol of hospitality and
coming together-ness. Let’s hope it forever remains a bridge between all individuals.
At Yerba Montana we continue to share these values of international cooperation and
shared development. That’s why we strive to know our producers and sell organic yerba mate.
people who have drank a cup of coffee. It’s a cultural icon of a place. It’s simply
something that many people from a place enjoy. The drink referred to in old American
newspapers as Paraguayan Tea is culturally ubiquitous throughout southern South
American countries like Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.
The Argentinian national soccer team apparently brought over 1,100 pounds of
yerba mate with them to Qatar to drink during the 2022 Men’s World Cup. The team
includes one of the best soccer players that has ever lived: Lionel Messi. Is the secret to
his success yerba mate? Probably, dedication, hard work and a passion for the game
might trump this herbal beverage, but at the same time we can’t necessarily rule out the
influence the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in yerba mate could potentially play in
his rise to fame…
The indigenous Guaraní and some Tupi in South America began drinking yerba
mate likely since time immemorial. Jesuits and European colonizers came across this
drink when they began settling the Spanish and Portuguese colonial holdings in the area
and at least some of them must have enjoyed the herbal tea known as yerba mate.
Richard Nixon’s Goodwill Tour of South America
Once upon a time, before Richard Nixon would be impeached because of the Watergate
scandal, he was vice president during the General Dwight Eisenhower administration. Nixon
embarked on a Goodwill tour of the various South American states in 1958.
The tour had some low points and some high points. While in Montevideo, Uruguay on
April 29, 1958, our protagonist Nixon drank yerba mate from a traditional gourd. Yerba mate is a
symbol of hospitality. Nixon’s wife Pat Nixon also partook in the consumption of yerba mate.
Despite the warm welcomes Nixon received in some countries, he did not get a cordial
reception while visiting Caracas, Venezuela. In fact, his motorcade was swarmed by a crowd of
angry protesters. That same year, the United States granted asylum to the former dictator
Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who had been recently removed from power. Granting asylum had
angered many in Venezuela.
Ernesto “Che” Guevara on His Motorcycle Adventure
On the other side of the Cold War is the famous Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che”
Guevara. Che became famous in the Cuban Revolution having helped Fidel Castro gain power.
Being an Argentine must have exposed Ernesto to yerba mate from birth onwards. Che’s
father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, actually ran a yerba mate plantation in Río Paraná. Author of a
Che biography “Che Guevara: a Revolutionary Life” Jon Lee Anderson wrote that Che’s father
paid his workers in cash rather than trapping the local Guaraní laborers through binding
contracts. That would be bad press if a world famous Communist revolutionary’s family didn’t
pay wage laborers fairly. The plantation was not a success for the Guervara family and they
eventually settled in Buenos Aires.
Since yerba mate is a cultural staple of the area, Che continued to have a relationship
with the herbal tea.
While on his famous motorcycle adventure from Argentina to Mexico, he wrote about
drinking mate in “The Motorcycle Diaries” on various occasions. It was on this journey that Che
met Fidel in Mexico City and started on the path that propelled him into the icon he is today.
The decision to embark on this journey actually began over some sweet yerba mate with
his friend and travel companion Alberto. Che described the decision as follows, “it was a
morning in October. Taking advantage of the holiday on the 17th I had gone to Córdoba. We
were at Alberto Granado’s place under the vine, drinking sweet mate and commenting on recent
events, tinkering with La Poderosa II (their motorcycle). Alberto was lamenting the fact that he
had to quit his job at the leper colony in San Francisco del Chañar and about how poor his pay
was now at the Español Hospital. I had also quit my job, but unlike Alberto I was very happy to
leave. I was feeling uneasy, more than anything because having the spirit of a dreamer I was
particularly jaded with medical school, hospitals and exams.
Along the roads of our daydream we reached remote countries, navigated tropical seas
and traveled all through Asia. And suddenly, slipping in as if part of our fantasy, the question
arose:
“Why don’t we go to North America?”
“North America? But how?”
“On La Poderosa, man.”
The trip was decided just like that, and it never erred from the basic principle laid down
in that moment: improvisation.Alberto’s brothers joined us in a round of mate as we sealed our
pact never to give up until we had realized our dream. So began the monotonous business of
chasing visas, certificates and documents, that is to say, of overcoming the many hurdles
modern nations erect in the paths of would-be travelers. To save face, just in case, we decided
to say we were going to Chile.”
A cup of yerba mate can inspire dreams and change the course of one’s life
apparently…
The Great MATECALYPSE of 2011
If you ever walk the streets of Berlin, Germany, you most definitely will see empty plastic
and glass bottles along with aluminum cans lining the sidewalks and stacked under the bright
orange Berliner garbage cans. These bottles and cans are not litter! Rather each of them
required a deposit making them worth 8 cents for a glass bottle or 25 cents for plastic and
aluminum. To aid Berliners who need a little extra cash, people leave their bottles in a public
spot so others can collect and return the bottles for the deposit. Berliners see this as a small act
of solidarity with those in need.
However, if bottles get broken or not returned this can affect the supply chain. Glass
bottles are expensive to replace.
Club Mate is a common drink in Berlin. It’s a carbonated sugary drink made with
yerba mate extract. This drink fuels university students and party goers. Berlin has no open
container laws, meaning people can drink beer and alcohol on the streets and in the parks.
The bodegas that fill Berliner neighborhoods sell Club Mate and they also offer small bottles
of vodka and whiskey. Some partygoers like to drink a bit of the mate and then proceed to
top off the Club Mate with some inexpensive vodka.
Yerba mate has been known in Germany by the time of the late 19th century if not
earlier. This exposure came through colonial and international trade, migration from
Germany to South America, and publicity campaigns by South American embassies trying
to promote their national products. Yerba mate became popular with the military.
The original carbonated yerba mate based drink in Germany was “Yermeth” created
in 1889 by Dr. Graf & Comp.. By 1906, the drink was being produced by Hugo Obst in
Bayreuth. In 1908, after Obst had encountered some problems, he started brewing the mate
drink under the name of Sekt Bronte in Köstritz through an already established brewery.
Club Mate as we know it today came through a manufacturer named Georg Letteier.
Letteier had discovered the drink during an unidentified exhibition and acquired a license to
produce the drink in Dietenhofen in 1924. The drink had been produced since the late 19th
century by a variety of people and names.
The drink was touted as healthy, stimulating and full bodied that can aid in the
treatment of kidney disease. This yerba mate drink gained in popularity over time.
In the mid 1990s, the license for the drink was purchased by Loscher, a brewery in
Bavaria. At this point, it was sold as Club Mate, the name we know it by today.
Well to the MATECALYPSE… In 2011, not enough bottles were returned and the
manufacturer had to limit production due to the lack of bottles. To remedy this situation,
everyday heroes united to encourage individuals to do their part. A possible slogan could be
“Keep Calm and Return Mate Bottles.”
A Facebook event was created to spread the word about this impending disaster.
Fortunately, everything worked out and there is plenty of Club Mate available in
Germany nowadays. It would seem even Leonado DiCaprio ordered two Club Mates during
his visit to Berlin.
Leo S Rowe former Director General of the Pan American Union
Returning to our side of the pond, Leo Stanton Rowe comes up as yerba mate adjacent
and rightly so. He was the Director General of the Pan American Union, the predecessor to the
Organization of American States (OAS), from 1920 to 1946.
The Pan American Union has its origins in the goals of José de San Martín and Simón
Bolívar, both men led the fight against the Spanish Empire in the early 19th century. The main
goal post independence was to foster common security and defense along with international
cooperation. Their aspiration fell apart in the 1820s with the disintegration of Gran Colombia.
José de San Martín was born in what is now Argentia, so it’s probable he consumed
yerba mate. He is viewed as a national hero in Argentia, Chile and Peru and he is considered
one of the Liberatores of Spanish South America.
The need and desire for economic, defensive and political cooperation remained despite
the disintegration of Gran Colombia. In the late 1880s, countries in North and South America
came together in Washington D.C at the first International Conference of American States. In
1910, at the fourth meeting in Buenos Aires, the Pan American Union was born.
Leo Rowe became the director general in 1920 until 1946, when he was killed while
crossing the street in Washington D.C.
During his tenure, he desired educational and economic development of states in the
Pan American Union.
Rowe met with the Paraguay minister Enrique Bordenave to discuss importing yerba
mate to fuel the US Army and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a New
Deal work program created by Franklin D Roosevelt aimed at getting young men to work on
environmental projects on government owned land. For the sake of this article, no further
records were found to show if yerba mate was served to these individuals working through the
Great Depression. But it certainly is a fun mental image to picture young Depression era men
passing a traditional gourd around filled with yerba mate while working on New Deal projects.
The 1933 article out of Indianapolis claimed at that moment the only yerba mate drinkers
in the area were the Paraguayans and Leo Rowe, who served the beverage from his Spanish
patio. But that didn’t stop Bordenave from wanting to convert US-Americans into yerba mate
drinkers to the benefit of their exports. Drinking yerba mate has been a symbol of hospitality and
coming together-ness. Let’s hope it forever remains a bridge between all individuals.
At Yerba Montana we continue to share these values of international cooperation and
shared development. That’s why we strive to know our producers and sell organic yerba mate.