If you start your day with “first coffee” to get going, your skin also likes to get a wake up call. Drinking and applying yerba mate does both: It gives you your daily dose of caffeine and reduces the effects of UV damage as well as inflammation. Amazing or not?
Especially when it starts to get hot, the weather can be a big contributor to skin changes. Your skin has to work harder to maintain its hydration. All this extra work can trigger inflammation. And now add all the time you spent outdoors, at the pool or seaside, and your skin will tell you it’s not happy.
And that’s where yerba mate can calm your skin down – even though it’s waking you and your skin up – as a stimulant. That’s because it acts as an anti-inflammatory when used on your skin, and it can reduce wrinkles and improve circulation in your skin – good news when you want to improve your body aesthetics, eliminating things such as cellulite and puffy eyes.
A little bit of background
Often dubbed as “the green tea of South America”, yerba mate has been used and consumed for centuries. The herbal infusion is traditionally consumed from a gourd-like cup shared between friends. The cup is passed between the companions who drink the brew from separate straws.
These days the cup is made of wood, ceramic, or stainless steel in the form of a gourd. The straw is made out of metal and has a sift out the twigs and leaves. The straw is called bombilla.
The act of drinking yerba mate with friends is considered to strengthen bonds and is an ancient symbol of friendship and generosity. The gourds are passed down through generations, not unlike a grandfather clock. That’s also where the name yerba mate comes from. Yerba comes from the Spanish word hierba and mate means drinking from a calabash mate gourd.
The infusion is made of the leaves of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) plant. Yerba mate plant belongs to the holly family. It’s related to another caffeine containing holly-tree: guayusa.
The tree leaves are harvested and dried overnight to a full day. The dried leaves then undergo a maturing or ageing process, you know, like wine or whisky.
Drinking mate is practiced in South America, namely Paraguay, Argentina, Southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. The plant is native to these regions. People in these regions used it not only to strengthen bonds between friends but also to aid in inflammation and rheumatism.
You fill the gourde up to 3/4 with the dried yerba mate leaves. You then fill it entirely up with hot but not boiling water. Best is between 70 and 80 degrees Celcius. Drinking mate is not like how people drink a cup of coffee. It’s meant to be sipped over the course of several hours and when you find it has cooled down, you can top it up with hot water periodically.
You can also prepare it with cold water, then the infusion is called terere. This makes a cool and refreshing drink in hot weather.
Content
Yerba mate is abundant in vitamins, minerals, and other antioxidants. It contains 196 active chemical compounds.
Just like tea made of the plant Camellia sinensis, yerba mate and for that matter its cousin guayusa, caffeine. Along with caffeine, it contains other xanthines, including theobromine and theophylline. Xanthines are a group of alkaloids known for their stimulating effects. You may also see mateine, which is the caffeine coming from mate.
Of the 196 bioactive substances, 144 are also found in green tea (including) the xanthines. These nutrients include but are not limited to
- vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, B5
- minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, zinc
- fatty acids
- chlorophyll
- flavonoids
- saponins
Although it sounds great, yerba mate only contains very small amounts of these nutrients. Hence, it’s not probably to make a large contribution to your overall diet. Still, it’s an antioxidant powerhouse and contains many different beneficial phytochemicals.
Yerba mate and guayusa
Both yerba mate and guayusa are caffeinated holly trees. Both act as stimulants thanks to the caffeine content. But there’s a difference:
While Guayusa has l-theanine, it doesn’t contain theophylline. Yerba mate on the other hand has theophylline but not l-theanine. This means yerba mate is mainly a stimulant. It gives you all the energy you need and can even last an entire day, without the jitters and other side effects known from consuming coffee to boot. That said, everyone reacts differently.
As for how they taste, yerba mate has a strong and bold aroma. It tastes bitter and smoky. Guayusa is milder.
You can enjoy both but yerba mate gives you more of a boost. When you drink yerba mate, it invigorates you and your skin.
Yerba mate makes your skin look younger
Yerba mate is great when you drink it but also has an excellent of your external appearance. When you use mate it enhances the blood flow to the areas applied. This is great if you want to address puffiness, cellulite, and localised fat.
The bumps in your skin are fat deposits under your skin and can give your skin bulges and dimples. Thanks to the enhanced blood flow, waste products are flushed away leading to less dimples and bulges.
Its many phytochemicals help protect your skin from UV damage and pollution while brightening and soothing it.
Vitamin A
This vitamin is a multitasker: from encoring healthy skin cell production to fighting zits and making your skin firmer and bouncier. And, it acts as an antioxidant. It’s an essential nutrient enabling your body to function normally.
Vitamin Bs
Vitamin B is a group of water-soluble vitamins. They’re involved in nearly every process within your body. For example, they convert food into energy – or are essential in cell metabolism. In other words, they’re needed for cell growth and overall functioning. In a nutshell, they help your skin to renew itself constantly.
Vitamin B1 acts as an antioxidant. You’ll want different kinds of antioxidants in your routine and your diet since they aid in protecting your body from signs of ageing, such as wrinkles, dark spots, and sagging.
Vitamin B2 is also known as riboflavin. It’s needed in cell turnover and is key in collagen maintenance. This means it protects the structural integrity of your skin.
Vitamin B3 is something like a super ingredient in skin care as it helps fade discolouration as well as fights inflammation.
Vitamin B5 preserves moisture in your skin and so enhances its elasticity.
Vitamin C
Also acts as an antioxidant. Then it boosts collagen production and so reduces the appearance of wrinkles. It improves your skin texture and appearance overall, reducing dark spots.
Flavonoids
Flavonoids (yerba mate contains quercetin among others) also carry out multiple jobs. They fight infection, protect against UV damage, are antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory.
Fatty acids
Fatty acids replenish the lipids in your skin and aid in regulating sebum production.
Saponins
This group of substances is known to be anti-inflammatory (it means they’re skin-soothing and antioxidant. They also can be used for cleansing.
In closing
You’ll not be surprised to find that people drink yerba mate for all kinds of reasons. For some, they consume it because they find it aids in weight loss or control.
If you find you can’t get accustomed to its strong taste, it also works on your external appearance and you can use yerba mate infused products. The biggest contributors are vitamins A, Bs, and C as well as the antioxidants (flavonoids and saponins). They play a considerable role in slowing the appearance of signs of ageing. They can improve the firmness and elasticity of your skin and fight zits.
