So a pretty huge part of my job is keeping up to date on new product launches/releases of all different kinds of food/beverage segments – not just tea. Every now and then we’ll spend a day doing what was call ‘on the groundwork trending’ where I basically just go look at the products in different grocery stores for a whole day…
It’s interesting and helpful for a whole bunch of reasons, but every time I can’t help but shake that kind of back of the mind feeling that I’m essentially being paid to go grocery shopping.
Anyway, the point is that I was doing that today and I ended up buying a whole bunch of new things to try – including this and many other tea related RTDs. Not that this is a new product from Guayuki – it’s actually been around for years. However, yerba mate is sort of seeing a revitalization within North America right now for its wellness benefits and as such a ton of yerba mate products are being released and ones that have existed for a while in specialty markets are becoming more of a mainstay in your average big box grocery store. This was the first time I’d seen this particular flavour, apart from online, offered here in Canada…
It’s actually really good, too! I could see it maybe being too sweet for someone used to drinking a more traditional kind of yerba mate. However, if you’re an RTD consumer and your normal drink of choice is something like Brisk it’s much less sweet than that! I get the subtle smoky undertones and grassier/autumnal leaf notes of the yerba mate itself in the undertones but most of the flavout is a pretty juicy blueberry/elderberry blend with a little bit of a floral undertone.
Historically I have not had a lot of success with canned yerba mate drinks but this is one I would absolutely buy again for myself!
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Guayaki headquarters is the next town over, so their products are everywhere and have been for a long time. It’s strange to me that yerba mate doesn’t get much exposure elsewhere in North America, though in Florida this past January, I did spot a row of chilled Enlighten Mint at one grocer.
Guayaki headquarters is the next town over, so their products are everywhere and have been for a long time. It’s strange to me that yerba mate doesn’t get much exposure elsewhere in North America, though in Florida this past January, I did spot a row of chilled Enlighten Mint at one grocer.