Main Squeeze
Originally published: December 16, 2014
Today the advent calendar gifted me my first yerba maté tea of TeaMas. Yerba maté tea is a South American tea that is incredibly rich in caffeine and traditionally drunk from a calabash gourd through a metal straw. Culturally, this tea is meant to be shared with friends and is a common social practice throughout Brazil, Chile and eastern Boliva.
There is also a legend behind this type of tea: when the Goddess of the Moon and Cloud came down to visit earth she was attacked by a jaguar. Luckily an old man saved her, so she gifted him with a new type of plant with which he could prepare "a drink of friendship."
Today I am drinking the maté blend Main Squeeze very differently from the traditional preparation. Only because I own
neither a calabash gourd nor a metal straw to strain out the tea leaves.
If you are the type of person who needs a lot of caffeine to wake up in the morning, this is a type of tea you will love. DAVIDs labels all their maté teas as stimulants moving them one step above any regular caffeinated teas. I've only tried one other maté blend before today and I loved drinking it in the early evenings to help me avoid falling asleep at 8:30 p.m. which happens on a fairly regular basis.
Main Squeeze is a new favourite breakfast tea because of its citrus kick and amazing fruity flavour which tastes nice with or without sugar (but sugar really brings it up a notch so that is what I would suggest.) Another bonus: it doesn't contain any artificial flavouring (yay!
rant avoided.) It's ingredients include: green yerba maté, candied papaya, pineapple, safflower and natural flavouring.
I assume the natural flavouring is what gives the tea the overall citrus kick, but it pairs very nicely with the sweet papaya and pineapple, leaving an almost tropical fruit punch vibe when sugar is added. Juice is a luxury in my household, usually only purchased when on sale, so I think this is a nice substitute for the mornings when I crave juice but know I'm still to impoverished to buy it.
Main Squeeze is sweet, rich, fruity and bold, an all around winner in my book. If your stomach is sensitive to caffeine like mine, try a maté tea instead. I will happily vouch for the magical wake-me-up abilities they possess.
