Responsible Titrayju Mate from Argentina
by TreeHugger on 03.20.05
I owe this finding to my sister: a true mate freak. Titrayju is a yerba made by (Argentinean province) Misiones' farmers, and sold directly to the public, avoiding big corporations to take their earnings away. For those of you not aware, yerba is used to make a beverage called mate, very popular here in Argentina, and also in neighboring countries Uruguay, Paraguay and even Brazil. Yerba production in Argentina is almost an oligopoly of four enterprises which concentrate 80% of all that's made and sold in the country. Small farmers don't own the machinery to get through the process and have to sell their harvest to big producers. Titrayju, which means Tierra, Trabajo y Justicia (Land, Work and Justice) is made by a cooperative of native farmers called Rio Paraná. :: Email them here. [by Paula Alvarado, from Buenos Aires]
I'm a native Californian, but I was introduced to Mate' by a sort of tea-addict. I've got my bombillas and go through a 1kg bag every six months or so. I see it sold in tea bags at some places, which seems really wrong to me, but I don't know.
Note to anyone who tries it ... never in the evening ;-). Whatever sort of caffene it has comes on more smoothly than coffee or tea, but burns much brighter!
I'll look for that brand at the local Argentine restaurant/market (Pasta Connection, Costa Mesa, California)
Oh yeah, it tastes sort of like cutting the lawn smells, but in a good way ;-)
Glad to find mate drinkers abroad!. The yerba in tea bags is called "Mate Cocido" (something like cooked mate) and is very popular here in schools, given to children as breakfast or afternoon snack (in poor schools is very popular, as it is very cheap to make). Mate cocido is also prepared with regular yerba, leaving it with hot water and then straining it out.
Perhaps you could pass the cooperative e-mail to that Argentinean market, in case they want to import this product.
Best regards!
Traditional gaucho drinking method is as follows. Drinkers each have a hollow spoon-like device, often engraved silver, with multiple tiny holes at the end. THe look is of a miniature golf club (a metal driver if you will).
In a very small teacup, you put the spoon-device, burying its end in loose Yerba Mat. Some top it off with powdered sugar, and pour hot water over it all, drawing the dense dark liquid up into your mouth with the straw. Blew the top off my head first time because I drank way too much.