Yerba Power Podcast

Intro to Brazilian Yerba Mate (How is it different?)

March 12, 2024 • Devin • Episode 46

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#46-- Fans have asked me to talk about the difference in yerba mate from other countries that produce it. Since I'm no subject matter expert on Brazil, I asked one to join us for this episode.  Daniele Flores of Mate Solutions and the Mateko App, grew up in southern Brazil where Chimarrão is popular.  With Daniele's expertise, we'll reveal the difference between chimarrão and typical Argentina yerba mate as how the prepartion method is different. You'll gain an appreciation for how regional differences have brewed distinct flavors and rituals across the continent. 

Show Notes:

  • How Brazilian yerba is different
  • Where Brazilian yerba is grown and consumed
  • State of Parana to Rio Grande do Sul
  • Chimarrão - finer ground and different preparation method
  • freshness of chimarrao
  • tips on keeping it fresh
  • Ilopolis
  • Mateko Store

Coming up next:  I'll introduce you to a personal friend of mine living in Brazil that drinks chimarrão and is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu! 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Yerba power podcast, where we share the power of Yerba Matei with the world. Today, I'm joined by Danielle, who is the founder of Mateco app. It's an app for your a matei community as well, as she has another, some other Yerba Matei businesses which, if you guys can see in the video, send me a nice package of a bunch of different cool Yerbas or Erbas or Shimahaw I'm saying it right, which is why I've asked you to be on the podcast today and you so graciously accepted. Danielle, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2:

Excellent, great Thank you. Thank you, people. I love to be talking to people that love Matei. This is definitely my life.

Speaker 1:

And so I mentioned this to you recently. But I've got a lot, of, a lot of followers that have asked me, you know, kind of, about the differences between, you know, argentine Yerba versus Uruguayan Yerba, or Uruguayan Yerba or Brazilian Yerba, and unfortunately, I'm only really, you know, well versed in Argentine Yerba, being that my wife is from Argentina, but I've, you know, experienced it. But, honestly, I am no subject matter expert in this and that's why I asked you to to help us out here, being that you're born and raised in Brazil and and I've wrote a great book the only book in English that I'm aware of that is out there about your matei, which I have a copy, I kind of digital one. I can put a link in the show notes as well, and so I guess let's just start there. Why or how is Brazilian Yerba different? Is it different? What, what are the things that are make it different?

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, we can start and just like briefly going way, way back to the beginning of all this, also because, as we talk about it, we're talking to a lot of people drinking matei around the world, not necessarily people that have familiarity with the culture and how they started or know about the background. So, being the Yerba matei it's a plant that grows in South America and this specific region on the south, where I'm from, included, which is the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and then goes also to Santa Catarina in Paraná, the three states in south of Brazil that you actually are familiarity with the Yerba matei grown, and then Portugal, and then Paraguay, of course, and Uruguay that consumes but doesn't produce In Argentina, of course, we are the ones that most promote matei around the world. So we start by saying thank you to the Argentinians that promote the matei around the world, because it is an experience that, thanks to you, know their loyalty, their culture, their appreciation for this. The matei is out there today. And about the preparation and going back. What's the difference? When the Yerba matei was consumed the way way back, it was not about the countries or the borders, it was about indigenous people that start consuming so and they got different methods depending on different areas that they work. So when the part of the Argentina started using Yerba matei on a certain way, the south of Brazil started using Yerba matei in a different way. It's all the same plant.

Speaker 2:

The south of Brazil plants that start drinking what we call the shimahão is the fine grinded of the Yerba. So you get a very powdery version of this Yerba matei plant and with that way you can make this shimahão, which has a method of preparation that leaves the Yerba matei on the side of the gourd, separate from the water, and a certain way to place the bombilla where everything doesn't mix all together and as you go serving the Yerba, start touching the water and then you go as the ritual. So people find sometimes a little bit of you know the how to prepare issues. Well, that is a little bit of more preparation than just dropping, you know, a couple of spoons of Yerba in a cup and getting the the, the bombilla, in there. However, it's just a method of preparation and requires basically, the difference here is the Yerba mate to be fine, grind it almost like a powder version, right, which is most consuming south of Brazil and a bombilla to be in a certain way prepared for it. There are some styles that are better for it, but you can just have like a filter at the end of the bombilla that will make it easier to flow the water without plugging from the Yerba being so fine.

Speaker 2:

So I mean we'll be happy to go back to the methods, but also noticing the basic difference of the Yerba mate here that we're talking from Brazil is the freshness. The Yerba mate consumed in Brazil started being fresh, being produced right away after it's taken out from the forest, from the plant, and they immediately produce and consume the Yerba when in the Argentinian side of this culture, they prefer the Yerba mate to be aged. So it's also a preference, and I would say now things are mixing in a way that we have excellent aged Yerba mate in Brazil as well, with some brains, but yeah, with the forest, the Brazilian Yerba mate comes very green and the greenish tone that we see is because it's fresh and was not aged before it was packed and consumed. If that answer, I mean, what are we talking about here?

Speaker 1:

So yeah, it sounds like, if I'm hearing you correctly and not putting my own words, but that basically the difference is it's very finely ground, which typical Argentine is thicker, cut and with the sticks or the stems in it, which there are no sticks or stems in the Brazilian, correct, and then also it's not aged, which typical Argentine Yerbas are minimum of like six months and all the way up to like two years of aged, and somewhere in between 12 months, two years, and so I guess that's the, I mean that's the long and short of it, so that yeah, and I do notice that nowadays the production is very extensive of Yerba mate being consumed around the world.

Speaker 2:

So the brands are now extending to this need and demand. So you see a lot of Brazilian brands that have a loose leaf cut. So that means in most cases the texture will be similar to the Argentinian cuts that you use to it that you're talking about. However, it's a fresh leaf on that cut, so that's not going to make Rishima home, but that you're going to use in the same method that you use in your world to make the Argentinian mate. So you know, like I say, now the brands are extending the line, make all different cuts to attend all the market, as we know.

Speaker 2:

You know the Hawaiian style mate has a pretty extensive preference internationally speaking. So that's another style, you know, of Yaba and another style of preparation. So there are many different ways to be drinking nowadays. People experiment different ways, some people are loyal to one way, but again, you know, not necessarily all the Brazilian brands are making shima howl, that's what I want to point and not necessarily all the Brazilian brands are fresh. You can find the aged mate and you know, and probably you will find, or you know, different sorts of styles within the Argentinean brands as well.

Speaker 1:

So just out of curiosity, like sometimes with some of the Argentine brands, they'll kind of promote that it's aged even longer 24 months and then sometimes that tends people tend to even want to look for that meaning is like a kind of boutique or higher production of that it's aged even longer. So 12 months to 24 months, so one year to two years. However, on the flip side with Brazilian, you want the fresher, the better. So what? What is the window? You know that you should kind of be aware of how fresh the shima how is, and like, like. What's the typical, I guess, numbers there?

Speaker 2:

Oh, fresh. And again, because we, as my original company, math solutions, which was original project math for the people you know, audience that know us way back always worked with the brands and the small farmers and organic or non necessarily certified organic, but people that preserve and work for, you know, we were always in contact with the freshest. And this can be in the same, you know, same day, same week, that is the harvest, you know, and then the next day they already do the first round with the conchata that we call it, you know, getting leaves out and getting ready for it and depending what the method of will be in, like in a matter of days and then in a matter of weeks, I bring the album out there when I come from Brazil. That was back to not not even a month ago, you know.

Speaker 2:

So, fresh, when we say fresh, really fresh, in reality fresh, we prefer to work when is the fine cut, with the vacuum packs, if possible. When we're talking about a bigger volume, like like a two pounds pack and some Yerba Mattis that already come, and it's smaller, like pound or less than a pound, it's not that important because they are fresh, they're going to keep fresh, they come in a nice packaging and they're going to stay fresh for a while. But yeah, if it is well packaged you can lessen your shelf before opening a year, two years, if it's vacuum packed and if not, we say fresh is six months to a year, depending, really again, the packaging and you know, and how did it get here? And when I say here we're speaking about an international market in.

Speaker 1:

Brazil.

Speaker 2:

They replace the Yerba Mattis and the farmers market and every three months they you know that. That's how long they last there, the way they pack, but not vacuum. Just seeing on the right.

Speaker 1:

So basically, the I guess the fresher the better, but nothing more than three months essentially, if it's not vacuum packed.

Speaker 2:

No, actually it's longer than that. I would say six months because also, if you keep in the refrigerator, like I'm buying again here, I could put in the refrigerator for six months to a year. It's going to stay fresh.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so pretty similar to coffee, that those that drink coffee you know. If you have an, a Viking pack, seal and off to the fresher the better.

Speaker 2:

When you're bulking you want to get about a price, just keep it, I'll do it, I'll do all the time. You know I put in the refrigerator last longer, and again depends where you leave and all that. And so back to just your saying. You know in the Argentina, you know how the greats go and how much age it is and how. You know also, not only the freshness in Brazil is what would tell us about the Yarbama and how good it is, but you know the whole process. So, and that's where we come back to be talking and sourcing only you know places that we know where it's coming from People that are preserving the forest, believes our quality leaves. The whole process has to go to a quality line. You know, and the people, the whole chain involved is part of this and that's a lot of quality here. You know when the people involved in this process.

Speaker 2:

So, to come back at the end and present a brand, here at least, what we always did was to check.

Speaker 2:

You know the from the source, how this started, and so everything that we have is yes, it's a product, yes, it's a pack of Yapa Mati for you to put in your board and to drink it at the end of the day, but that is a lot into that. That is a lot of love, a lot of passion. You know there are a lot of projects around this. People, you know, working for the farmers, for the forest to stay and to the Yapa Mati to be preserved. And you know, and these are the people that we like to be in community with and this material life, and these are the people that you see, you know, in our network and that's why we created, you know, the Matiakko to have everyone introduced to one another and to see how, you know, many wonderful things are being done on the other side, you know, in these brands and these people creating, you know, this with this plant and giving the value that it deserves, you know, and help and retroll. And tradition and culture, you know, has so many different aspects of it.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for clarifying and helping us understand myself included, because definitely it was something that I've been meaning to talk about for a while is talking about, you know, yorba in Brazil, because I don't know that anyone does.

Speaker 1:

I personally even my own podcast where I educate people about Yorba Matei, and it's like I'm I don't know who to even turn to myself to learn about it. So it's kind of interesting that. No, that's, that's very insightful and thanks for sending me all these great shumhao and Yorbas and you know so I will definitely get some reviews for these for you guys listening, as well as for you, danielle, to you know, put some of the this stuff out there for you guys to see what it's like. You know at least my opinion, I guess, of it. You know, if you want to check it out yourself, matei Solutions you guys sell it all there. I assume you know I'll get the website and stuff. Put it in there for you guys. Anything else that you want to let the audience know about or anything else places that they can find more information about Matei Solutions or you.

Speaker 2:

No, I just again want to say you know how happy I am to see the Matei spreading around the world. I need to do the podcast. I know that we have a very international audience here. So our marketplace right now it is three USA mostly we focus the shipping and in USA, however, with Matei Co, which is this hub for the money around the world, we intended to have different places, you know, to promote the different stores and different brands around the world as far as where shopping goes, but most what I like here is really the social connection that we have, you know, and to know that that is this community.

Speaker 2:

So when my solutions is attending this market, you know, as far as the e-commerce and supplying your source and branding, you know the Matei Co is really where our personal side is and what I really would like invite everyone to join. You know it's going to be a safe place. You know for us to make friends is going to be a place to know where to buy matter on the world is going to be a place, you know, to know the producers, to get to know the story of this brand, and we are at the beginning, but you know we work in really, you know, projects take much longer than we always think of it, but we're really happy about it and Matei Co is a Matei universe for everyone and here, you know, I speak to all materials out there and again, and thanks to you, you know, to giving the voice to Yerba Matei and this community, and that's pretty much it. I'll be happy to be here, you know, any time to be a part of this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thank you, daniel, for what you do for the Yerba Matei community and the courage to start a business and import it in US and everything. Because that's hey. Thanks to you, you know, we're able to try this kind of stuff. So I'm saying that on behalf of all of us. Thank you all for listening to this episode of the Yerba Power podcast. Hope you enjoyed that and learned something about Shimahau or Brazilian Yerba I know I did and also be sure to check out my solutions or the Matei Co app. If you get a chance to download that or I'll put that links down here and below in the show notes. Make sure you subscribe or follow this podcast, which it's now called follow. It's a little plus button on Apple podcasts and it's like a green just click follow on Spotify. So that way you don't miss on the next episode, because I have a special guest of someone living in Brazil that is a friend of mine that is going to talk more about Brazilian Yerba and I look forward to releasing that to you all till next time.