Maté-vana is a my compromise between coffee and tea. I tried it more than a year ago as a stand-alone tea and liked the chocolate and earthy undertones. I recently re-purchased it and decided to try it the traditional way with the Cuia Gourd and Bombilla straw, and it’s taken the drink to a new level. The floral/grassy notes of the yerba are enjoyable and complement the initial wave of chocolate as you sip. It has the caffeine equivalent of coffee, but more of a nutrient boost.
Best experienced with the gourd and metal straw if you’re feeling adventurous. The only thing to remember about the gourd is to take the time to “cure” it first by pouring boiling water into the vessel with a generous amount of the maté and scraping the inner peeling of the wall to eliminate the excess “skin.” If not cured in advance, you’ll experience a bitter taste immediately. Once cured, the gourd absorbs the maté flavor and no longer interferes. Others have even discussed adding fresh citrus peelings or a preferred brand of rum to the gourd during the curing process to have those flavors infused into future servings of the tea.
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Still fairly new to the life-long process of learning and appreciating tea. Got into loose leaf a number of years ago after health concerns cut soda and sugared drinks from my repertoire. I’ve been blogging about and exploring tea more in-depth for the past several years and I just plain enjoy it. I keep an eye out for French tea trends as well, so if you parlez, bienvenue!
My ratings tend to fall into these categories:
I don’t bother discussing teas that I wouldn’t recommend to other folks on some level. Not worth drinking, not worth wasting time, so you won’t see many yellow light scores from me. I will, however, post if a tea is marketed as something it’s not. There are a couple of examples in my tea log.
50-70’s : Fair. Either a quality or grade issue or perhaps not suited to my personal preference. Wouldn’t turn it down if it were a gift, but wouldn’t purchase it for myself.
80’s: Good teas. Enjoyable and well-crafted, but maybe some slight room for improvement or maybe a notch below another of the same type that I’ve tried. Would buy again if the price were reasonable.
90’s: Excellent teas. My personal favorites that I’ve fallen in love with and have been surprised by.
I don’t know that I’ve ever rated a 100, which is why the 80’s and 90’s are more representative of the teas I like and would recommend. A 96 is just about perfect.
