Coffee, Tea or Yerba Maté?

A South American wonder drink is winning over caffeine fiends

Viggo Mortensen doesn't give an interview without one; it's the beverage of choice for millions in South America; and enlightened coffee slingers from downtown Toronto to Calgary increasingly talk it up with gusto.

It's not the latest low-fat frothy concoction hatched in a Seattle boardroom -- quite the opposite. Yerba maté, the energizing, nutrient-packed nectar being lauded as a wonder beverage and the healthy alternative to coffee, has been steeping in the semi-tropical lowlands of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay for centuries.

Relegated to the back shelves of health emporiums and international food shops, where it has been appearing since the late nineties, the earthy brew similar to a potent green tea is now flowing onto shopping lists and into coffee breaks of an increasingly health-obsessed North American populace.

Dharam Bhardwaj, owner of Soma Café in Calgary, started serving yerba maté in January, and says the number of people ordering it daily is on the rise.

"More than half who try it come back," he says, adding that most new customers seek out the tea after hearing about its near-mythical nutritional values and effects.

"Yerba maté gives me a lasting buzz, without the depression of coffee," he says, echoing the praise of most of the tea's disciples. "Your awareness becomes more acute and your hunger is suppressed."

Indeed, the tea's packaging seduces with promises of elusive benefits: clarity of the mind, relaxation of the nervous system and stable energy throughout the day.

But can this "super" beverage, with its swelling praises and subsequent hype, really have no side effects? None has been reported, and some of the scientific community's claims are staggering.

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