The new fashion in Health Drinks: Yerba Mate Tea
Ever seen a Luis Suarez or a Sergio Aguero or a Lionel Messi sipping in from an egg shelled cup and wonder what exactly is it?
Instagram: Lionel Messi
It's called the Yerba Mate Tea, a traditional South-American drink which is now getting increasingly popular among footballers. Even players in England like Delli Alli, Dany Rose of Tottenham Hotspur have been seen with the Yerba Mate Tea Cup.
So what exactly is the Yerba Mate Tea?
The Yerba Mate is made from dried leaves and twigs of an evergreen holly plant called the Ilex paraguariensis, a native plant found in the South-American region. The Yerba contains rich health nutrients and compounds like Xanthines ( act as stimulants), Caffeoyl derivatives (health-promoting antioxidants), Saponins (anti-inflammatory and cholesterol-lowering properties), Polyphenols (reduces risks of many heart-related diseases). Brazil along with Argentina and Paraguay is the largest producer of this South-American tea and thus it is more popular among the South-American players.
It is said that the Yerba contains the strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea and provide the joy of chocolate.
Another reason that the Yerba Mate Tea is popular is that of its traditional egg-shaped cup and the metal straw through which it is drunk. More often than not you can see Luis Suarez carrying the cup and a flask in his travels.
The cup is known as 'Gourd' and the metal straw is known as 'bombilla'. The green herbs are put into the beaker in the required amount to which hot water is added and is drunk raw. The straw contains small holes at the bottom. For every subsequent round, hot water is added to the available mixture and is drunk from it.
Even though it may sound improper to drink from the same straw but as per South-American traditions, drinking from the same flask and same straw symbolizes friendship and bonding.
With the increase in the number of South-American players in the Spanish and English League, an amount of non-South-American players were also seen to carry forward the influence.
Instagram: Antoine Griezmann
In an interview to 'The Mirror', Delli Alli had said that because of their manager's influence Mauricio Pochettino who is Argentine, he and Eric Dier spend most of their afternoons drinking Yerba and playing UNO.
Yerba Drinks are also found in India in retail stores and online stores(Don't forget the flask with it).