Yerba Mate in Desserts
These simple recipes are inspired by a recent trip to Argentina, where I was first introduced to the lifestyle of drinking yerba mate. Yerba mate is astringent, grassy, bitter, and caffeinated, and I was surprised to find that Argentinians don’t have any traditional yerba mate desserts. There are also almost no recipes online for yerba mate desserts.
I originally developed these recipes out of necessity—to use up as much yerba mate as possible. I came home from Argentina with a suitcase full of yerba mate, though not nearly as much as the Argentinian soccer team, who brought 1,100 pounds of it to the World Cup, but my family didn’t enjoy yerba mate like I thought they would. Watching my brother drink yerba mate was like watching a teenager sip black coffee for the first time. These recipes are some wild ideas that I experimented with, for the purposes of satisfying my own curiosity and convincing my family that yerba mate is delicious. And it works! The addition of nature’s best flavor enhancers (sugar and butter) not only make yerba mate palatable to anyone by diminishing its bitter taste, but also highlights its addictingly earthy, smoky qualities. If you’re a fan of coffee, pandan, or matcha (especially hojicha) infused desserts, you’ll fall in love with these yerba mate sweets too.
Yerba Mate is most consumed as a loose-leaf form, but you can also buy it as a tea bag (referred to as mate cocido), which has a milder taste. I was recommended to try the Argentinian brands Mañanita, Taragui, Playadito, and La Merced. All the loose leaf yerba mate I used in my recipes are from the Mañanita brand, and all the yerba mate cocido is from the Taragui brand. Also to note, I have never had Guayaki Yerba mate, the sugary caffeinated energy drink that comes with flavors like Bluephoria, Orange Exuberance, and Berry Lemonade in a radioactive yellow can. But I imagine that it tastes nothing like real yerba mate.
Finally, a special thank you to the Argentinian exchange students for sharing their yerba mate with me and imparting me the wisdom on how to season my mate gourd, make a mound with the bombilla, and drink mate properly.
I hope these recipes inspire you! I have many more ideas for yerba mate desserts, and if you make any of these recipes, I would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach me at wendy.y.zhang@yale.edu.