Alexis · Fondateur d'YVY Maté
You want to get into mate, but faced with the shelf (or the online shop) it's a bit of a jungle: green, aged, with stems, without stems, Argentine cut, Uruguayan cut… And one fear keeps coming back: "what if it's too bitter?"
Good news: not all mates are alike, and some are very smooth — perfect for a first time. In this guide, we simply explain what shapes a mate's taste, what "smooth" and "bold" mean, the famous stem-and-powder question — and above all, which yerbas to choose for a good start.
Why no two mates ever taste the same
Mate always comes from the same plant (Ilex paraguariensis). Yet from one reference to the next, the taste can range from the grassy freshness of a green tea to a frank, bold bitterness. Four factors explain these differences. If you want to dig deeper, we detail them in our article 4 factors that influence mate's taste.
Terroir and harvest maturity
As with wine or coffee, terroir matters: soil, altitude, climate and the producer's know-how shape the leaf. Maturity at harvest also plays a key role. Young leaves, harvested too early, are richer in tannins — the compounds behind astringency and bitterness. Riper leaves promise a rounder, more balanced infusion.
That's one reason our mate is grown in agroforestry and harvested every one or two years, where conventional farming often harvests every six months. A more spaced-out harvest gives the leaf time to ripen: less harshness, more finesse and, above all, more natural sugars.
The cut: leaves, stems and powder
This is the factor beginners underestimate the most, even though it's often the most decisive for bitterness. A yerba is made of leaves, pieces of stems (palo) and powder, in proportions that vary with the cut.
- Powder is bitterness's main driver. Very fine, it extracts fast and hard: the more a yerba contains, the more intense, bold and bitter the infusion. Conversely, a low-powder mate is smoother and cleaner.
- The stem (con palo), for its part, is low in tannins. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't add bitterness: it rather softens the whole and brings body and a traditional side, typical of the Argentine cut.
- Pure leaf (stemless, or despalada) allows a "franker", smoother flavor. Leaf size also affects the taste: a smaller leaf brews faster, and thus brings more bitterness.
In other words, a mate's intensity doesn't really depend on whether stems are present, but above all on the amount of powder and the cut style. To go further, see our guide: All about yerba mate cuts.
Drying: with or without smoke
After harvest, the leaves are dried. Two schools: smoke-free drying (with hot air), which preserves the leaf's natural aromas, and smoke drying (barbacuá style), which steeps the yerba in a powerful smoky taste.
That smoky taste tends to flatten and mask the aromas — a shame when you have fine leaves to express. That's why our entire range is smoke-free dried. (We explain why in detail in Barbacuá mate: a dangerous traditional drying method?.)
Organic or conventional: a cleaner taste
The farming method also influences the mate.
A yerba from organic farming, free of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, tends to offer a cleaner, rounder profile, truer to the leaf. Intensive farming and pesticide inputs give, on the contrary, a harsher, less clean taste — not to mention the pesticide residues unfortunately found in some brands (see our investigation into pesticides in mate).
Smooth or bold: the axis to understand before buying
If you remember one thing only: place each mate on a "smooth to bold" axis.
- A smooth mate: no powder, unsmoked, grassy or aged profile. Ideal for starting out and training your palate if you fear bitterness. The flavored ranges are also popular for beginners.
- A bold mate: more powder and/or a traditional cut (Argentine or Uruguayan), frank bitterness, long finish. Perfect once your palate is used to it and you want to discover a franker flavor.
Starting with a smooth mate, then working up in intensity, is the best way to train your palate without putting yourself off from the first sip. And if the first cup still tastes bitter, our 6 ways to soften mate's taste will help!
The 2 perfect mates for starting out
In our range, two yerbas stand out for a first experience. Both are organic, unsmoked and powder-free: smooth, clean, with no aggressive bitterness.
Green Mate: grassy smoothness
Our great classic. Organic Green Mate is a young, fresh yerba with grassy notes reminiscent of green tea or matcha.
Lively, light, easy to drink: it's the ideal opener if you're coming from tea or looking above all for freshness. Smooth and subtle, everyone agrees on it!
The big plus: its powder-free cut also lets you brew it in a tea infuser, a French press, or traditionally in a gourd!
Aged Mate: roundness and nutty notes
Organic Aged Mate, for its part, is aged 18 months.
This maturation completely breaks the grassy flavor typical of green mate: the bitterness becomes measured and the mate develops nutty notes, close to walnut.
A rounder, more complex flavor that stays accessible — perfect if you like slightly indulgent, warm flavors.
It's the ideal choice for discovering a mate's typical taste with measured bitterness. It's also the best choice if you're not a fan of grassy, herbal flavors.
Even smoother? The flavored mates
If even then you dread the bitterness, our flavored mates (with real freeze-dried fruit) are the gentlest gateway: the emblematic Organic Mint Mate, the Organic Lemon-Ginger Mate or the Organic Tropical Mate. The mate is softened by the natural fruit's flavor, without losing any of its benefits.
