Early Retirement Extreme Forums

TopHatFox wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:14 pm

I drink Yerba Mate whenever I absolutely need something to keep my mind alert (my parents love and drink this stuff daily, a seemingly commonly held behavior in Argentina and many other Mate loving South American Countries):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage)

Just like coffee, all you need to make it is boiled water and the crop, but Yerba Mate'is sipped with a "Bombilla", a usually stainless steel straw which separates the Mate' infused water from the herb. It's a pretty handy straw, and I don't see why it couldn't be used to separate coffee infused water from coffee grounds, which might be useful in many of the brewing methods described in this forum thread.

theanimal wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:27 pm

Zalo- You may have already done the research, but I thought I'd let you know that there are a few studies that link prolonged consumption of mate with cancer (specifically cancer of the mouth, esophagus and lungs among others). I know a lot of people love it, but just something to note.

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/17/5/1262.full
http://www.livestrong.com/article/45994 ... ea-cancer/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19695149

I am a habitual coffee drinker. 2 cups in the morning, 1 in the afternoon. I love coffee, but it causes me to spike and crash, and can give me heartburn when I overdo it or have it in combination with spicy food.

I am 2 weeks into a love affair with Yerba Mate. Only one cup of coffee in the morning when I wake up and a cold 458 mL can of Yerba Mate from the cafeteria ($2.25 ) before 9am. No coffee for the rest of the day and I find myself more alert and not crashing. I even had a large heavy spicy Indian lunch one day, and managed neither to crash nor have heartburn. I know you can’t get something for nothing. Reading the links above it looks like most of the associated health risks are from overdoing it and from drinking hot mate. I know there is the opinion that I should just not consume so much caffeine. But hey, Voltaire supposedly drank coffee all day everyday.

Thoughts from @THF, our other Latin American members, or other Mate drinkers? If this is not unhealthy I will look to make it more economically at home. THIS STUFF IS GIVING ME LIFE.

yeah, mate is like jet fuel

Mister Imperceptible wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:18 pm

Thoughts from @THF, our other Latin American members, or other Mate drinkers? If this is not unhealthy I will look to make it more economically at home. THIS STUFF IS GIVING ME LIFE.

It seems like anything you wish to be healthy isn't. One study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18483349 shows that the carcinogenic effect might be related to PAH's in the Maté itself.

Here is another study too: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19733686; however, the problem with Maté might just be from caffeine itself.

It is your personal prerogative to determine your carcinogenic intake. Personally, I will take a little as possible.

@OP

I used to drink caffeine in large amounts throughout the day to combat the sleepiness I was experiencing. Then I started sleeping 7 to 8 hours every day and I no longer need to do that because my sleepiness went away. Sleepiness is your body telling you to sleep more. If you feel sleepy throughout the day, you are not sleeping enough. The effects of insufficient sleep is well studied and you're shaving years and health off your life by undersleeping. Good luck on the sleepiness.

Mister Imperceptible wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:18 pm

I love coffee, but it causes me to spike and crash,

Some people say that "bulletproof coffee" can prevent this. It is coffee with coconut oil and butter added. I tried it once and it seemed to work but I don't drink caffeinated coffee anyway.

@Gilberto de Piento, I think (at least) Americans forgot about putting heavy cream into coffee?

I could never quite get my Yerba Mate tea to taste that great, despite experimenting a fair bit with temps and brew time. I have a large bag sitting in the cupboard going unused.

To combat the heartburn, you could try to cold brew your coffee, as it makes for a much mellower taste.
Also, avoid both very dark and very light roast.

I get much less heartburn when I use a press to brew coffee. Not sure if it's the press or the coarser grounds. I also do bullet coffee but with heavy cream and MCT, and I whip it to make it a little frothy. I don't have a problem with crashing.

@jp that’s because extraction by infusion leaves a lot mellower taste compared to percolation.
Also, chain businesses typically use a very dark roast, because 1) it masks defects in the beans and 2) they sell a lot of milk based preparations and dark roast “cuts” through the milk better
Starbucks is a typical example.