On 21 Oct 2003, pgluth1 posted the following to
rec.food.drink.tea:

Yerba máte seems to be becoming popular, but I am having trouble
untangling just what it is. From what I have read, it is a South
American herbal tea drunk communally - i.e., hot water is added
to the herb as it is passed around a group, gradually getting
weaker and smoother. However:

Some sites claim there is no caffeine in yerba mate, others
claim the naturally occuring "elements" are so similar in
chemical content that to consider it anything else than caffeine
is, to quote, "fooling yourself."

Moreover, some sites say the "caffeine-like" content is
significantly stronger than that of caffeine in black coffee.
(Though it is mitigated over time by the addition of the above
mentioned water.) Others say that it has less "caffeine-like"
content and is no different than drinking weak coffee or strong
tea. I have also seen the term "yerba extract" mentioned on
weight loss/body building sites and want to stay far away from
that sort of thing.

Lastly, I live in an isolated rural area without access to any
real tea stores. Anything I should look (or look out) for if I
want to try some of this mail order? Should I try to find it
"pure" or flavored with lemon? (I understand Tazo sells it with
lemon; Celestial Seasons sells it as part of its morning awake
tea) Is yerba mate the same as "green yerba mate" tea mentioned
at the stashtea.com site?

Thanks for any clarification of this subject - I only recently
stumbled on this group and apologize if the subject has been
talked to death.

There has been a lot of conversation on the topic, but that works
to your advantage. The following link takes you to Google's archive
and searches on the word "yerba". Be sure to read through the
threads and not just the individual articles. Some threads appear
to focus only on where to find it but also include discussions of
caffiene content.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?A20E16A46


Derek

--

Does it seem strange to anyone else that grass roots promotion of
"Take Back Your Time Day" encourages people to give up more of that
precious 'time' to which the day supposedly is dedicated?