This week’s yerba is not really the first brand you’d expect to find in your favorite online shop, but it’s vibrant blue packaging was catchy enough to raise my curiosity. Are you curious as well? Then without further ado, I introduce to you today Federico Yerba Mate Orgánica – A 100% organic yerba mate from Paraguay.

Brand

In 1983 a visionary German man bought a piece of land in the middle of the Paraguayan rain forest. The land was located in a beautiful region, rife with rivers and rich vegetation and could, with little imagination, be transformed into a real ecological haven. This vision eventually matured into what is now the FD Group – a Paraguayan business made up of  Rio Itambey S.A. and  Valle Verde S.A. The group produces and processes not only yerba mate, but also a large variety of tropical fruits grown sustainability in their own farms or in the farms of nearby farms.

Blend

The first thing that caught my attention was the considerable amount of stems mixed in with a noticeable amount of powder. I did notice some amount of leaves, but they were very finely cut. The coloring and texture of this yerba didn’t really appeal to my visual senses, since I found it to be rather dull and opaque; partially due to the huge amounts of lighter-colored stems. Typical yellowish coloration.

Ok, so this yerba is no beauty queen, but it does claims to be 100% organic and easy on your stomach acidity. I must agree that this was a very easy yerba to drink and did not immediately cause much of agitation that I will sometimes get from some of the other brands, which I have reviewed in the past.

Taste

Despite it’s high stem count, this yerba still managed to deliver a nice uniform woody, smoky flavor, which held steady throughout my morning drinking cycles.   I did drink this several times with cold water in tereré style and the flavor was equally pleasing. I did not feel the usual “kick” that you’d expect when drinking this type of blend, but at the same time I did not find it to be too weak either.

I guess one could call this a very good “all-round” yerba, which will fit the bill in most situations. Also a good yerba for novice drinkers, but perhaps a bit too weak for seasoned materos.

Aroma

Typical mate aroma with very little to go on.