It is made from the dried leaves of Yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis), an evergreen shrub in the holly family that grows in Central and South America. Maté tea can be favourably compared to green tea with the added benefits that it could reduce fatigue, promotes mental clarity, assists bowel movements and support immune system.
To enjoy the benefits of drinking maté, you don’t have to travel to the other half of the world to drink this herbal tea. Zhen Zhen Hao Herbal Tea, a company which specializing in making herbal teas, has just came out with their very own brand of maté tea, which originates from Argentina. Zhen Zhen Herbal Tea is famous for it’s flu and fever tea as well as cooling teas.
Maté tea leaves contain several vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A (as beta-carotene), B1, B2, C and E, as well as phosphorus, iron and calcium.It also has a significantly high amount of polyphenol antioxidants. In fact, some sources mention that maté tea also helps in increasing calorie burn during aerobic exercise thus helping people to lose weight.
Directions to serve:
Put in tea bag and steep it into a cup containing about 200ml of hot water for about 5 minutes. Add sugar, milk, honey or lemon for a better taste. I find that one of the best ways of preparing maté tea is to add a teaspoon of honey into it after it has cooled down slightly.
Since this tea has a little dark burnt taste, it would be best to enhance its taste by adding some sugar or honey.
Zhen Zhen’s Maté Tea goes through a double-drying process that reduces presence of moisture in the tea bags, thus allowing the tea leaves to be kept fresh for longer periods of time.
Price: SGD 7.50 (18 sachets x 2grams)
Available at selected FairPrice, Unity, OG dept stores and Mustafa. You can also purchase it online at
www.imart.com.sg.
