Tea Battle – Pixie Organic Dark Roast Mate versus Canarias Yerba Mate

This is tea review number 3 from the CRFA show.

Yerba mate tea from the yerba mate plant contains a wealth of health benefits.  According to the Yerba Mate Association of the Americas, some of the health benefits of this amazing cited were:

• Yerba mate is a central nervous system stimulant that provides a unique sustaining energy due to its complex combination of xanthine alkaloids including caffeine, theophylline (also found in green tea) and theobromine (the “euphoriant” also found in chocolate), as well as pantothenic acid – which prevents over-stimulation of the central nervous system.
• Yerba mate is also a rich source of magnesium, which has been proven to ease anxiety without over-stimulating.
• Yerba mate quickens the mind and increases alertness and acuity.
• The yerba mate plant contains a number of powerful phytochemicals called saponins.  These important phytochemicals, along with the many antioxidants found in yerba mate, stimulate the immune system and help the body fight disease.
• Yerba mate can reduce the severity of some allergies and hay fever.

pixie mate on left

Yerba mate tastes amazing.  I’ll be reviewing Pixie Mate’s Organic Dark Roast Mate and Canarias Yerba Mate from Brazil.  I wanted to see how an instant yerba mate would compare to the real thing.  Canarias Yerba Mate is one of the most popular brands of yerba mate in the world and one of the first yerba mate’s I tried.  I apologize in advance though as I do not have the traditional bombilla and gourd for drinking yerba mate.

Pixie mate first.  The ingredients listed are: organic yerba mate, organic Black Tea, organic roasted chicory root, organic roasted ramon nut.  The smell of the tea reminds of a stronger version of the Chinese gunpowder tea.  This tea is very clean and light; the taste reminds me of Chinese gunpowder too, but with a nuttier hazelnut finish.  Side note: Chicory root is a very popular natural substitute for coffee.  If you’re looking to kick the coffee habit you can transition using a chicory root based coffee such as Teeccino or Inka.  You can generally find this substitute in any supermarket or health food store. The brew is medium bodied, and I think it would make a fantastic iced tea with some honey and ice cubes in the summer.  Overall as a dark roast mate, it doesn’t work.  It’s too weak and doesn’t taste like yerba mate much, but as a regular tea I would get this again because I like the nutty flavour.  I would love to have this iced cold after hot yoga.  Yum!

canarias yerba mate close up shot

The Canarias Yerba Mate only has leaves, and does not contains twigs.  A yerba mate with twigs would have more bitter characteristics than a blend without.  The body is heavier than the pixie mate.  The smell of yerba mate is very earthy, bold and complex; it’s almost like smelling boiled dirt.  If you love nature and the smell of the outdoors, then you will appreciate this drink.  The color of the brew reminds me of muddy water that’s been conjured up after you accidentally step into a still puddle.  Everyone in South America consumes this drink.  It’s even common for people to pass it around family style while sharing the brew from one gourd.  The Canarias yerba mate is sweet and woody when you first drink it and finishes with bitter notes.  if you haven’t tried this, I high encourage you and a group of friends to get together and brew this.  I just used a small teapot with a built in infuser to brew it.  1 kg cost me $4 Cdn at a local supermarket.

Phew.  Too much yerba mate though will make you feel very very lightheaded.  My friend J. describes the feeling to akin to being high.  I think I need to go lie down.

I just wanted to add the Bali’s Best Tea Candy that I got from the CRFA show was really really good.  I tried the classic iced tea, the green tea latte and the citrus green tea.  The classic iced tea was my favourite.  It’s a great little candy to pop when you need something to pick you up.

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All In This Tea Documentary Review and The E-Myth Revisited

Weekend catch up!

I haven’t been blogged for 4 days because I was so caught up in reading and “work”. Happy belated valentines everybody! I finished the documentary All in This Tea about David Lee Hoffman and his occasionally arduous journey into China to buy tea. It was a pretty good movie, very informative. David Lee Hoffman, who is often credited as a tea pioneer, shows us how difficult it was for him to buy great tasting tea. Often tea is bought in large quantities without much regard for the quality as long as it’s black, green, oolong etc. David actually goes into the heart of China to meet with tea farmers, look for high quality organic teas, and purchase it in bulk directly from them. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants to know more about the politics of tea in China. You can view the trailer below and purchase the movie directly from the director here.

There are so many good business/personal development books that sometimes it’s hard to narrow down your choices. This book was recommended by Timothy Ferris at the end of the Four Hour Work Week so I decided to read it. The E-Myth Revisited by Mich Gerber is an amazing book. A little background, as with many of these successful self help books, there are usually also seminars that accompany them to help people delve more deeply into their businesses in a more dynamic and interactive setting. E-myth Worldwide started in 1977 by Mich Gerber is located in California and has helped over 25 000 small businesses to date. Although the Mich has a tendency to rant and repeat himself in the book, there is a lot of great and useful information in this book for anyone starting a small business. If you’re stuck, if you’re starting out, if you’re frustrated or even if you want to increase the potential of your small business, this book is definitely for you. Useful tips in this book include breaking down employee positions with specific job descriptions in organizational charts and working with your employees as a team to help each other achieve personal goals. I’m currently almost halfway through done the E-Myth Mastery book. It’s a more comprehensive version of the E-Myth Revisited. I’ll keep you all posted on that! More to come tomorrow.

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The Meaning of Tea (2008) Documentary Review

Tea is what you make of it

I got this DVD yesterday in the mail. The film went around the world from India, Japan, Asia, Morocco, England, France, and even Tea, South Dakota to film people talking about tea. The film was a little dry. I think the director Scott Chamberlin Hoyt didn’t want to say too much in the film and let the audience draw their own conclusions about the film with the imagery. However, I think in this process they missed a lot of important footage. I wish it would have went more into depth behind the history of the people they interviewed and who they were. It seems they were just interviewing random interesting people who worked with tea whenever they could and when they couldn’t, people off the streets. My favourite parts I think that actually made this DVD worth purchasing was the behind the scenes bits and pieces. The best one I think being the segment called Tea People where different people got to tell their story and how their lives have and are affected by tea. There was a french artist Pierre Sernet dressed up in traditional Japanese garments that was performing a tea ceremony in the MIDDLE OF TIMES SQUARE. That was awesome! He does this all around the world in different environments ranging from museums to the beach to the airport. In one scene there is a group of motorcyclists dressed in black leather with the American flag flapping behind them watching Pierre doing the tea ceremony on the sidewalk. You can clearly see their thought bubbles going “what the hell?”. Tea itself is dead. It is the people, the history and the traditions that make it so rich and interesting. They missed capturing much of this by cutting out vital pieces of film and leaving the best footage to be discovered in the “extras”. Overall I rate this DVD 3/5 cups of tea.

You can watch the trailer below.

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