MateVana

Started my day with a little bit of Matevana! I had just run out of Teavana’s “My Morning Mate” and was left with no other mate blends in my cupboard. Having woken up about 3 hours earlier than planned … I definitely needed a bit of a boost. This just doesn’t satisfy me as much as some of their newer mate blends do. It seems like the flavor is a bit … watered down, even though I had JUST ordered and opened the package. It was still pretty tasty with the addition of some raw honey, but I didn’t find it as satisfying as I used to. Got the job done but wasn’t as flavorful as I recall it being. Maybe I got a bad batch, or maybe I’m just used to different mate blends now.

I had high hopes for this tea and it wasn’t that they weren’t fulfilled… it’s just that it’s much different than I expected. I think this tea has a nice, complex flavor to it… I only wish I could taste the chocolate a bit more. When I think I’m getting some chocolate, it’s more like a drowned flavor mixed with bark. The woodsy taste is part of its character, but I think it could do with a little more sweetness. The tea also leaves a bit of a drying effect in my mouth and is almost acidic on the way down. Again, it’s not bad.. but I don’t think I’ll buy this again.

I hit the 3pm slump, and had a quick brew of this to perk me right up. It’s been in the back of my tea cabinet for ages, but I was looking for a maté, and I knew this was there.

(Note to self; get more matés. Suggestions?)

It’s just as good as I remember it; smooth, chocolatey, and not too “tea-like” once I added some cream. More like coffee without the jitters. Mmm.

I love this because it tastes like Celestial Seasonings’ morning thunder. Some cups of matevana are better than others for me, I think I need to find the perfect brewing temperature/length. Lightly sweetened with milk is the way to go…it’s chocolatey, nutty, and roasted mate-y (well obviously). It doesn’t give me much of an energy boost.

The reviews are all over the map on this one, and I fall into the “where’s the chocolate?” camp. I love mate but this tastes like smokey bark. Actually dislike it unless it gets a splash of almond milk, that helps a lot. I’m almost tempted to add sugar but I never do that when rating a tea. Maybe I got a bad batch. As a coffee substitute it moderately succeeds, based mostly on its depth/body. I really like Guayaki’s Javamate, in either Vanilla or Mocha Maca flavors, as a coffee substitute. Both of them leave Matevana in the dust flavor-wise, plus Guayaki’s a good company, socially, and the products contain another rainforest superfood, ramon nut.

Still feeling under the weather after being sick now for three weeks. Doc has me off work and I’m feeling a bit drained, so I thought I’d have a cup of mate which always seems to perk me up nicely!

This cuppa is no exception. After drinking it I feel more alert and energized than I have in days. The chocolate and mate compliment each other nicely, and it creates a nice strong brew. A little bit nutty and sweet on its own, many more of the flavours come out with sweetening. It has a great smooth mouth feel, and is quite malty.

I can’t thank ToiToi enough for this sample! :) It’s my first introduction to Teavana, and it didn’t disappoint. There are no Teavana’s in my area, so depending on how some other samples turn out, I just may have to put in an order… sigh I think I have a problem! LOL

Let me say that I am impressed with Teavana’s ability to mask the typically quite-grassy flavor of mate. They have a Samurai Chai Mate that is hands down the best mate I’ve ever tasted, and easily up there as one of my favorite drinks.

Knowing that, we did some more research on the different mates that Teavana had, and decided to take some of this home.

This brews into a very mellow tea, but the flavors didn’t come together very well to me. The hint of chocolate, the rooibos, the earthy mate… it just wasn’t very appealing. It wasn’t necessarily offensive, it was just far from pleasurable. I’m still a little bit shocked about it… because it all sounds like it should work so well.

I couldn’t convince myself that it was anything I’d ever choose to drink again, so I gave the tea to my boss at work. She loved it.

I was surprised that, for the number of cocoa components it contains, I didn’t pick up any chocolate in either flavor or fragrance.
I had High Hopes that I would be able to find a tea with a strong chocolate note (this really did not do it for me) I think I have been spoiled after tasting Chocolate and Creme by TreeFrog (note to self place order)

I really like this one. It has a real smooth texture. I sometimes add honey, but it’s really good by itself. It has a great smell and taste. Chocolatey and nutty. 3 tsp per 16 oz. and I steep three times.

This morning, I woke up and immediately entered a state of despair, realizing that I had run out of honey, rock sugar, stevia, and white sugar. Absolutely nothing to sweeten my tea. As it was so cold it felt like there were small minions of Satan nibbling at my face that morning, I didn’t want to make a run to the store just to enjoy this tea, so I took it without anything in it. It was pleasant enough. There’s a really nice, warm nuttiness to the tea. Not as much chocolate as the tea itself would suggest, but that was okay, too. I enjoyed this tea a lot. It gave me a nice morning kick, and I fretted no longer.

This was when my stroke of genius kicked in.

Now, the tea is nice without anything in it, but I thought it could be a bit sweeter. i baked pumpkin snicker-doodle cookies a while ago, and I had saved up some of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar mixture that coated the outside of the cookies in a small container just in case i had to whip up another batch. So I spooned a bit into my cup of nutty goodness, and it turned out lovely. However, now it was missing another thing… a snicker-doodle cookie.

So now I am a little saddened that I did not bake more cookies.

Positives: nutty, warm, clean, characteristic mate kick, instant distress relief
Negatives: not enough chocolate, could stand to be a bit sweeter, not having any cookies

It’s interesting how the chocolate and nuts can’t be tasted individually but instead make a flavor that’s very reminiscent of coffee. I always take this one with sweetener (just like I do with coffee) and I wish I had some milk or cream to make it a bit thicker.

I can’t think of any way to describe this besides “that coffee tea”, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing — I love the taste of coffee but not the way it makes my stomach feel or the over-the-top kick of caffeine it tends to give me. A good pick if you, too, want the taste of coffee but the effects of maté.

This has become my weekday morning brew. I make it in my Teavana perfect teamaker with about 3 heaping tsps and fill the teamaker. First steep is 6 minutes, second is 15. I can get a third out of it but since the instructions I’ve read for resteeping say to increase steep time by 150% each brew, it would require 38 minutes of steeping which just isn’t practical during the week. I do stretch it if the third steep falls on a weekend although then I’m usually exploring other caffienated teas.

I add a little brown sugar splenda blend (have to get the amount just right) to bring out the nutty flavor and sometimes I’ll toss in a splash of almond milk.

Yummy tea, energy, no jitters, and no crash. Works for me.

Drank this last night. I wasn’t sure what I thought while drinking the first cup, but I resteeped, and the second cup was delicious. Got a total of 4 steepings, and probably could have gotten a 5th – 2nd & 3rd were definitely my favorites. I couldn’t imagine drinking this all day every day like I do green teas, but it is a very nice morning drink.

TeaEqualsBliss hit this on the head for me when she said “Chocolatey-cigar type” that’s exactly what it reminds me of and it does have a slight milky/creamy taste to it. Not my cup of tea, but the quality seems to be good so if this taste strikes your fancy then this would probably be good to try out.

Maté-vana is a my compromise between coffee and tea. I tried it more than a year ago as a stand-alone tea and liked the chocolate and earthy undertones. I recently re-purchased it and decided to try it the traditional way with the Cuia Gourd and Bombilla straw, and it’s taken the drink to a new level. The floral/grassy notes of the yerba are enjoyable and complement the initial wave of chocolate as you sip. It has the caffeine equivalent of coffee, but more of a nutrient boost.
Best experienced with the gourd and metal straw if you’re feeling adventurous. The only thing to remember about the gourd is to take the time to “cure” it first by pouring boiling water into the vessel with a generous amount of the maté and scraping the inner peeling of the wall to eliminate the excess “skin.” If not cured in advance, you’ll experience a bitter taste immediately. Once cured, the gourd absorbs the maté flavor and no longer interferes. Others have even discussed adding fresh citrus peelings or a preferred brand of rum to the gourd during the curing process to have those flavors infused into future servings of the tea.

Blended with a rooibos chai also from Teavana and a bit of milk. Still new to making chai so the tea to milk ratio isn’t perfect yet. This cup was okay but I prefer masala chai.

One of my all time favorites. I go through 8 oz. in no time flat.

a lighter my morning mate

I picked this up in Teavana’s Heavenly Sale for fantastically cheap. The minute I opened the package I just went “Yep, this is a Teavana tea alright.” It probably had something to do with the overwhelming smell of Cocoa Puffs and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to the blend. Snarking aside, it’s not bad at all. The sweetness isn’t nearly as overpowering once brewed, so it’s quite drinkable. The cocoa does overpower the delicate flowers, of course. I’m not sure why they’re even in a cocoa-mate blend except to make the dry leaf more colorful. Halfway through the cup I added a splash of cream, which complemented the mate and cocoa nicely.

Overall, not bad for a morning cuppa if not a little heavy-handed and clumsy. Recommended to chocolate tea lovers and sweet-tooths (sweet-teeth?) who want to give up coffee.

This tea grew on me. At first, I wished to return though I decided to finish all the of 50g because of the health benefits of mate tea. After some days, I began craving this tea and really enjoyed it in the end. Mate tea has the same amount of caffeine as coffee so be careful. I drank three cups one day and I could not sleep that night. So mate tea is excellent in mornings to wake one up.