Organic Yerba Mate Tea. Yerba Mate and latin food, La Pachamama, Auckland, New Zealand

Kia ora from La Pachamama!

Welcome to La Pachamama! Bienvenidos a La Pachamama! New Zealand's favourite website to find the best yerba mate tea, gourds, bombillas, tea bags and latinamerican foods! We speak English and Spanish so please do not hesitate to contact us in either language. You can also browse our site translated by Google in 9 languages (see flags below). We send our products anywhere in New Zealand.

Great News! La Pachamama is now bringing some delicious Latinamerican food products including dulce de leche, dulce de batata and dulce de membrillo. More are scheduled to arrive soon...

¡Hola de La Pachamama! Bienvenidos a nuestro sitio web, hemos estado operando desde el 2005 trayendo yerba mate, mates y bombillas para toda Nueva Zelanda. Hablamos ingles y español así que puedes contactarnos en ambos idiomas…no hay excusas! Si quieres puedes subscribirte a nuestro boletín en español. Enviamos nuestros productos a toda Nueva Zelanda!

Like us on Facebook to hear about our latest offers, or check out our current specials or our range of organic products. We distribute all around New Zealand including Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Taupo, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, Dunedin, and Golden Bay. See our distributors' area for more details or to become a distributor.

We stock different varieties of the great Rosamonte (the full range), organic brand Kraus (traditional, silvestre, pionero and gaucho) as well as other brands, including Taragui, Nobleza Gaucha, Ecoteas, Union Suave, La Merced, Canarias, Serena and the Brazilian Barao, plus a broad range of mate gourds and bombillas. Our product family is growing, so keep your feedback coming so that we can bring you your favourite yerba mate brands and latin american foods.

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"Drinking yerba mate is a communal ritual that strengthens bonds of friendship and solidarity"

About Yerba Mate

Yerba mate (pronounced: sher ba mä te) is a popular drink similar to tea, from South America. It is brewed from the dried leaves and stems of the plant Ilex paraguayensis. The Guarani indians drank it as a tea and for medicinal purposes. Later, the Jesuit monks passed the tradition on and made it known to the rest of the world.

First time mate drinkers in New Zealand often describe a taste similar to green tea. However to the connosieur yerba mate is an experience best shared with friends.

Like other teas, the leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powder (known as "yerba"). Unlike other teas, yerba mate is traditionally sipped from a hollow gourd (known as a “mate"), through a special straw called a bombilla (bom-bee-zha). "Bombilla” literally means "little pump" or "straw" in Spanish.

"In traditional preparation, one person (el cebador) fills the gourd (mate) with yerba, puts the straw in, and finally adds the water. They then pass the gourd to a person, who sip the contents until finished. Each time the mate is passed back to "el cebador", they either refill the mate with water or if necesary, replace the yerba in the mate."

Yerba Mate Traditional Preparation

Although yerba mate can be brewed in a tea pot in the same way as teas from Asia, yerba mate can also be prepared the traditional way to experience a flavour and extract the maximum benefit from its strong medicinal and therapuetic properties. Detailed instructions:

Mate cebado

1) Fill a gourd 2/3 full with yerba. Tilt the gourd until the yerba is along a side of the gourd near the top.

2) Insert filter end of the straw on an angle into the deepest part of the yerba.

3) Pour hot water (never boiled) onto the base of the yerba, then sip from the straw.

4) Drink down the entire infusion until it is finished and will pour more water in.

5) Repeat the procedure until the yerba has lost its taste.

Note:

Avoid adding so much water that it reaches the top of the yerba mate.

The water should be hot but never boiled. Keep your hot water in a thermos.

The first sip is very strong and sometimes described as dusty