Does Yerba Mate taste nasty and can it give you cancer?

[rakovsky]

Yerba mate is a South American herbal tea made by soaking ground-up Yerba leaves in hot water. It is almost as strong in caffeine as coffee and is popular in South American countries, and is sold sometimes in American tea houses. I had it at tea houses, including drinking it French Press-style, and it was OK, but I mainly got it for the caffeine effect.

(This is a public-use "Wikia" image

Click here for a photo of French press Yerba Mate:
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/032211-143020-tea-yerba-mate-3.jpg

I bought a big bag to make it myself, by soaking a tablespoonful in a normal 8 oz cup. It's tasted bitter enough to be a little nasty. Maybe I am doing something wrong? I added honey and a bit of lemon and that helped, but it was still not nice-tasting.

Then I was searching the internet to look for ways to make it better, and I found articles saying it has been shown to lead to esophogal cancer. What do you think of this?

One Yerba Mate making company (mine is from a different producer) says:

Most of the world’s commercially available Yerba Mate is processed using a heavily smoked drying method that uses burning wood (barbacoa) to dry the Mate leaves between 8 to 24 hours. This smoke-dried method is known to produce a Yerba Mate which contains Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), chemicals known to be carcinogens at high concentrations. PAHs are common in many foods and beverages such as water, coffee, and tea and cannot be completely avoided in the diet, but the levels of PAHs that are consumed can be minimized.

At Guayaki, we have been committed to reducing the PAH levels in our Yerba Mate for many years. Our organic San Mateo Yerba Mate for instance is air-dried. Air drying is a processing technology that allows us to greatly reduce the PAH levels in our Yerba Mate. We are proud to announce that we have been testing the PAH levels in our Yerba Mate for more than a decade and the results demonstrate a significant reduction in the PAH content. Since 2008, a reputable US Government analytical lab with the most current and accurate methodology has been testing the PAH levels in our Yerba Mate every year. The results indicate that our San Mateo air-dried Yerba Mate has a significantly lower PAH level compared to other commercially available Yerba Mate’s tested.
...

We would also like to recommend that you consume your Yerba Mate at a comfortable temperature. Consuming any beverage including tea, soup, and water at very high temperatures can be detrimental to your health and cause damage to the esophageal lining.

Here is a scientific paper:

Cancer and yerba mate consumption: a review of possible associations

Almost all epidemiological studies shared similar methodology: hospital-based, case-control studies where participants were personally interviewed on the main risk factors, using similar questionnaires. Several studies found an association between the temperature of the mate infusion and oral, esophageal, and/or laryngeal cancer risks; while a few focused on carcinogenic contaminants introduced during the industrial processing of the leaves. The cancer most frequently mentioned in association with hot mate with bombilla (drunk through a metal straw) was the esophagus. Size, exposure assessment, methods of analysis, and quality were different among the studies reviewed. The results varied greatly. The higher risk estimate (odds ratio = 34.6) was found for women who drank 1 L or more daily; for men it was only 4.8. Risk increased with duration, daily quantity, and temperature at drinking.
...
CONCLUSIONS: The role of hot mate in increasing the risk of cancer of esophagus, larynx, and oral cavity seems to be supported by several epidemiological studies. The temperature could act by damaging the mucosa or accelerating metabolic reactions, including those with carcinogenic substances in tobacco and alcohol. However, there is no sound population-based casecontrol study on mate consumption as a risk factor for cancer. This, coupled with the range of results on mate risk, make assessing the etiological fraction difficult. More research needs to be done before a definitive statement can be made regarding cancer risk associated with any of the various forms of mate consumption.

http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892009000600010

 

[marplots]

Let's see... it tastes bad and might give me cancer. If I'm doing the experiment, I answer the first question and stop. Which, come to think of it, is why I never found out if you can get cancer from eating asbestos.

 

[fagin]

Are you drinking it out of a gourd?

That could be crucial.

Or not.

 

[Trebuchet]

Are you drinking it out of a gourd?

That could be crucial.

Or not.

I've got one of those gourds, souvenir of a business trip to Buenos Aires. I actually tasted mate in a workshop at the customer airline, when the mechanics were taking an unauthorized break. The company prohibited drinking it during work hours because of the time it took. Bit of a ritual, I guess.

 

[arthwollipot]

I've got a mate who drinks mate. I tried it once. It wasn't to my taste. I prefer tea.

 

[aleCcowaN]

Yerba mate is a South American herbal tea made by soaking ground-up Yerba leaves in hot water. It is almost as strong in caffeine as coffee

No, that's wrong. For normal brewing methods the caffeine ratio coffe/tea/mate is 7/3/1

If you drink an awful lot of mate maybe you won't be able to sleep ... because you'll be going to pee all night.

Also, the yerba is fermented before being dried and ground.

I bought a big bag to make it myself, by soaking a tablespoonful in a normal 8 oz cup. It's tasted bitter enough to be a little nasty. Maybe I am doing something wrong? I added honey and a bit of lemon and that helped, but it was still not nice-tasting.

My experience with mate in foreign countries is that they sell old yerba which has lost its fragrance. Imagine you leave a ground coffee jar open a couple of months and then you try to make some nice macchiato, wouldn't it be just bitter?

An important issue is not using very hot water and never, never, ever use water that has boiled, not even if you let it cool a bit. The flavour in the infusion depends on the gasses dissolved in that water, and it loses them with high temperature. Water at about 70°C, some 160°F, gets the best yield plus flavour.

About the taste, it's an acquired one, like beer, coffee or tobacco. An English presenter was offered an amargo (unsweetened mate) and he said it tasted like a liquid rug.

You may try it with plenty of sugar (and avoid both honey and lemon) and milk (dried, condensed or normal). Don't try to brew it with milk. You have to add it later.

Then I was searching the internet to look for ways to make it better, and I found articles saying it has been shown to lead to esophogal cancer. What do you think of this?

Oesophageal cancer, tongue cancer and buccal cancer are associated with drinking hot mate. The reason is the heat and not the mate itself, which is indeed very healthy, better than green tea.

The bottom line is: mate hasn't a great flavour by itself yet nobody has cared to breed tastier varieties. In fact, mate for its flavour only is sold in Japan in cans, as a kind of soda. Mate is consumed because of a combination of its moderated caffeine content and the custom of brewing it slowly in a small vessel generally made of small pumpkin skins (that's the mate itself) and drunk using a bombilla (literally, "little pump") which is a drinking straw with a strainer in its extreme. That way it's very popular in many places, and the most popular infusion in Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, the three states in Southern Brazil, Lebanon and Syria (which is the world's first importer of mate), as it's an occasion for socializing or a personal pause.

Cebar mate (brewing it slowly and drinking from its vessel) is an act like fooling around with a basketball and calmly trying some shoots to the basket during a brisk sunset: a moment of quiet enjoyment.

With mate it is kinda a go all the way for it ... or leave it alone (nobody will take offence if you leave it alone). It's like an oriental martial art: you can't just keep the moves and the hits because they're fun.

 

[aleCcowaN]

I've got a mate who drinks mate.

Do you mean the "pumpkinous" vessel?

 

[arthwollipot]

Do you mean the "pumpkinous" vessel?

Since I have no idea what you're referring to, I'm going to say no.

 

[rakovsky]

Let's see... it tastes bad and might give me cancer. If I'm doing the experiment, I answer the first question and stop. Which, come to think of it, is why I never found out if you can get cancer from eating asbestos.

Where do I give you UP Reputation points?

 

[rakovsky]

Are you drinking it out of a gourd?

No

I use a metal tea ball or otherwise soak it in hot non-boiling water and then strain it. I had it at a cafe from a French Press and it was similar in taste.

 

[rakovsky]

No, that's wrong. For normal brewing methods the caffeine ratio coffe/tea/mate is 7/3/1

Yerba Mate Vs. Coffee

Yerba mate has less than 80 milligrams of caffeine in each cup compared to 100 to 200 milligrams in a cup of coffee.

...
There isn't much of a risk of esophageal cancer from drinking tea or coffee, although the risk may increase if you drink these beverages very hot, according to a review article published in the "International Journal of Cancer" in August 2009, which notes that a limited number of studies consistently found a higher risk for this type of cancer from drinking mate, with the risk increasing when larger amounts of mate were consumed. Even drinking just one mate per day increases your risk with some studies showing approximately three times greater risk compared to not drinking it at all. Furthermore, drinking coffee may actually lower your risk for oral cancer, according to a study published in the "American Journal of Epidemiology" in 2013.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/367447-yerba-mate-vs-coffee/

About the taste, it's an acquired one, like beer, coffee or tobacco.
...

Oesophageal cancer, tongue cancer and buccal cancer are associated with drinking hot mate.

I was hoping it was just an old wives tale. Due to health reasons, I rarely smoke tobacco, and even then only to get buzzed or deal with life stress.

The reason is the heat and not the mate itself, which is indeed very healthy, better than green tea.

This is from the Yerba company I cited in the OP:

Yerba Mate which contains Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), chemicals known to be carcinogens at high concentrations.

With mate it is kinda a go all the way for it ... or leave it alone (nobody will take offence if you leave it alone). It's like an oriental martial art: you can't just keep the moves and the hits because they're fun.

I like martial arts and coffee and beer. I would smoke tobacco if it wasn't unhealthy.
I wanted to see if I was preparing the Mate so that it tasted better or worse. I got a bag from an Arabic grocery story, so that goes to what you said about Syria and Lebanon. It reminded me of the kind of Mate I had before in a store. I get a coffee power effect from three to five teaspoons of Yerba Mate.

 

[rakovsky]

Do you mean the "pumpkinous" vessel?

He means that he has a friend (playmate/shipmate/etc.) who drinks Yerba Mate.

He is not talking about any gourd or jar. I read that it tastes pretty similar whether you drink it out of a gourd vessel jar or not.

 

[rakovsky]

I am thinking about just throwing the stuff out, since I don't want anyone to get cancer.
I drink alot of caffeine stuff, but I don't want 3X the rate for cancer.

 

[arthwollipot]

No

I use a metal tea ball or otherwise soak it in hot non-boiling water and then strain it. I had it at a cafe from a French Press and it was similar in taste.

Here's your problem. Don't treat it like tea. It isn't tea. Specifically, don't strain it. Drink it through a bombilla, which has a filter on the end.

 

[arthwollipot]

 

[MikeG]

.......Oesophageal cancer, tongue cancer and buccal cancer are associated with drinking hot mate. The reason is the heat and not the mate itself......

Well, I'm tempted to say "rubbish", but I'll content myself with this: if the temperature of a drink is what causes cancer, why doesn't everyone who drinks tea and coffee (presumably at higher temperatures than the mate, as you described) also get the same cancers? I think you're going to need to link to some evidence of this claim.

 

[Modified]

if the temperature of a drink is what causes cancer, why doesn't everyone who drinks tea and coffee (presumably at higher temperatures than the mate, as you described) also get the same cancers?

They probably do: http://www.livescience.com/55130-how-hot-beverages-increase-cancer-risk.html .

 

[aleCcowaN]

Since I have no idea what you're referring to, I'm going to say no.

I haven't understood what you said. That's why I'm cool with that accent they use in English (maté), which doesn't exist in Spanish nor conveys its correct pronunciation.

 

[aleCcowaN]

I am thinking about just throwing the stuff out, since I don't want anyone to get cancer.
I drink alot of caffeine stuff, but I don't want 3X the rate for cancer.

You certainly should do that! Just look all the time we have wasted, you researching information, writing here; we, replying.

Besides, if you are to change font colour to red in this

Yerba Mate which contains Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), chemicals known to be carcinogens at high concentrations.

instead of trying to learn what "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" are, and which one has more content, coffee, tea or mate...

I can say that definitely mate is not for you, and I'd take offence if you continued to drink it.

 

[rakovsky]

Here's your problem. Don't treat it like tea. It isn't tea. Specifically, don't strain it. Drink it through a bombilla, which has a filter on the end.

I don't that's the problem for two reasons.
1. I heard it tastes practically the same using either method, and some people prefer French Press anyway, which I already tried.

2. Chemically, it's practically the same whether you use a bomillo or tea strain.
You put the herb in the hot water, then you soak it for a while, eg. 5-10 minutes. Then you drink it strained, either because the metal tea ball sieve strains it or else because the filter at the end of the straw does it.

Same thing with using a bombilla or a cup. A bombilla is a gourd is an organic jar. You might as well have a glass bombilla for practical purposes. And if you use a glass one, you might as well use a tea cup. I can make it in a tea cup and drink it through a bombilla straw and it will all be the same.