Organic Yerba Guayaki
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 07.18.05
Those of you who have followed a little our South American posts might remember our first organic yerba one, Titrayju. Now we bring you Guayaki, a business model developed by California Polytechnic University's student and graduate, Alex Pryor and David Karr, that introduced yerba mate to North Americans while helping indigenous South American families through fair trade and saving rain forests in the Amazon.
As we said in our previous post, yerba is a herb used to prepare a traditional infusion called 'mate', drunk mostly in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Yerba production requires several processes, and in most of those countries is an oligopoly of few enterprises which concentrate most of all that's made and sold. As small farmers that grow this herb don't own the machinery to get through the process, they have to sell their harvest to big producers for low prices.
In the Guayaki model, the yerba is grown in a rain forest reserve in the Amazon by 34 families that work in fair conditions and the products are sold in the USA.
At their on line store you can find yerba packed loose and in tea bags in various flavors, mates and metal straws to make the infusion, a yerba concentrated beverage, and a yerba based energy drink. The Guayaki site is also a great source of information about this healthy infusion that works as a good substitute for coffee and has had some publicity as a weight lose product (mostly because it satisfies oral anxiety). ::Guayaki.
Yerba Mate is a great drink. I drink it all the time instead of coffee or green tea. It's a very healthy drink too. The taste, though, is somewhat aquired.
The chai flavor is the best, imho.
I've been drinking this brand for the last several months. It is a bit pricey, but I prefer the slow mellow up-buzz from yerba as opposed to the instant pump-up from standard caffeine.
sorry-- the guyaki kids are super nice (met them at the Greensfestival in SF) BUT the truth is that their product comes a far second to Guayapi, another Mate (not from California, based in France)
why? well, it's one thing to sustainably harvest from a rainforest, thats great, gives jobs to indigenous people and all that... Guayapi works with one of my personal heroes, Dr. Ranil (also of GreenCarat fame) who invented "Analog Forestry" which is a way to re-grow rainforests (no, it isn't impossible, you just have to be smart about it). Ranil had already been re-growing rainforests in Sri Lanka, Philipines and Costa Rica, but Guayapi took him to the Brazilian Rainforests.. they are re-growing decimated lands and bringing back rainforests.... oh, and creating armies of "forest gardeners" who not only tend to the baby forests, but also get to harvest stuff from there forever....
the doctor....
links: analog forestry
guayapi mate who fund this
sorry-- the guyaki kids are super nice (met them at the Greensfestival in SF) BUT the truth is that their product comes a far second to Guayapi, another Mate (not from California, based in France)
why? well, it's one thing to sustainably harvest from a rainforest, thats great, gives jobs to indigenous people and all that... Guayapi works with one of my personal heroes, Dr. Ranil (also of GreenCarat fame) who invented "Analog Forestry" which is a way to re-grow rainforests (no, it isn't impossible, you just have to be smart about it). Ranil had already been re-growing rainforests in Sri Lanka, Philipines and Costa Rica, but Guayapi took him to the Brazilian Rainforests.. they are re-growing decimated lands and bringing back rainforests.... oh, and creating armies of "forest gardeners" who not only tend to the baby forests, but also get to harvest stuff from there forever....
links: analog forestry
guayapi mate who fund this
forgot to add the Guayapi link-- the're the peeps who fund the analog forest projects
forgot to add the Guayapi link-- the're the peeps who fund the analog forest projects
Mate is is hippie ritalin.
Thank y'all for the comments. About the antecedent to Guayapi, well, I'll take a look. I never said it was the first enterprise to do this, actually we've already posted another brand from Argentina.
As for ritalin, well, I don't know, but mate is totally legal and has NO permanent or harmful effects on humans. Man, my mother has been drinking it since she was born and she doesn't get high with it! I really don't think it's in any way addictive, maybe a little stimulating the first times you drink it, but eventually that softens. Seriously, no where near any drug.
Guayaki a far second, huh? I have a much harder time determining "sustainable superiority." A business model that preserves an intact rainforest that is listed by Conservation International as one of the top 5 biodiversity hotspots and empowers the local community towards sustainable living is pretty sweet. Especially considering that you can support this model everyday by buying Guayaki Yerba Mete at your local coop or cafe. Look for for the yellow bag people and help make those Guayaki kid's dream of human scale, market-based conservation a reality.
mc in seattle
PS. Guayaki is super smooth compared to any other Mate I've tasted. Maybe the shade grown difference?