This is the only kind of mate that I’ve ever had, given to me as a gift. It brews to a dark amber with a woody smell. I want to say bamboo, but I know that’s not quite it. The taste is, well, that same woodyness that I can’t identify. It also has a very slight sour taste, kinda like the way black coffee gets sour as it cools. Which isn’t to say it makes you pucker; it’s a very small amount of sourness that is mostly covered by a sweet chocolate flavor.
While I really enjoy this tea, the leaves are so small that they’re a pain to clean out of my teapot, and re-infusing them is never worth it, since the taste becomes watery on only the second steep. So, good on occasion, but not something that I drink very often.
