Discovery and Origins

When America was discovered, white men found in the Indian people its simplicity and its hospitality, that offered to the newcomers a infusion called "Ca´a" a kind of tea that was served in little rustic vessels and drank with thin tacuara straws. The drink was elaborated from the trees leaves that, according to what the legend tells us , the very God "tupa" have given as a gift to the Guaranies: the called "Yerba mate" (herb).

When the Jesuits arrived to America to evangelize the new territories, at first they fight against the plant , they considered them as a demonic herb because of its stimulant effect and because its origin was linked to a fake God. Later on, it was known that "Ca'a" meant herb by excellency or real herb.

The church, didn't take long in order to surrender about this drink virtues that was renewing the strength, making the tiredness go away, fed the body and cure diseases.

The Jesuits, where the firsts in developing the cultivating techniques of this plant, starting with this flourishing economic activity about the herb (yerba mate).

Process and consumer habits

In 1822, in a trip to South America, the French naturalist Auguste de Saint Hillaire, called in its botanical classification to the mate as Ilex Paraguayensis, originated in the oriental region of Paraguay , between the mountain rage of Amambay and Mbaracayú, nowadays Concepción Department, Alto Paraná and Itapúa.

The tradition and years of experience in the yerba mate (Ilez Paraguayensis) crop in these zones it has been inherit generation through generation.

Its process, homemade or mechanized with a high qualified hand work, determined the great quality and prestige that has reached nowadays the Paraguayan yerba mate (Ilez Paraguayensis).

A great commercial development and the recognition of its stimulant properties, digestive, and of vitamin C source (ascorbic acid), among others, helped in a noticeable way in order to expand quickly the consumption habit in a great part of America, conquering a important roll in different cultures such as the Paraguayan, Chilean, Argentina, Uruguay, and of the South of Brazil, converting the habit of "matear" (drinking this herb), into a intense ritual of friendship and welcome to all the societies levels.