Hi everyone!
I was wondering if it is possible to find a place in Taipei to buy “yerba mate” (argentine drink…sort of tea).
If not, I was thinking about carrying my own in my luggage, would there be any problem?
Thanks a lot!!
Got some in Jason’s Supermarket about 3 months back.
Can’t say for sure if they still have it.
Going for a dance?
Mate and Tango just go together…
[quote=“chus”]Hi everyone!
I was wondering if it is possible to find a place in Taipei to buy “yerba mate” (argentine drink…sort of tea).[/quote]Oooh… good suggestion! Found a great version in Iguazu combining mate w/a local fruit juice & served cold. Been meaning to check out Jasons & similar markets anyway - will see if I can find any in the next few days… [quote]If not, I was thinking about carrying my own in my luggage, would there be any problem?[/quote] You might have some issues bringing “plants” through customs, although dry ones don’t usually matter & people bring tea OUT of Asia all the time. But besides that, transporting a bag of green stuff from South America could raise some eyebrows if they bother checking your bags or something… :beatnik:
I will also say almost without a doubt that you won’t find the gourds/bombillas here … the tapioca balls won’t squeeze through properly 
My Taiwanese student brought me back about a year’s supply when she went to visit her relatives in Paraguay.
Organic stores carry it as an alternative. I’ve even gotten some at the local supermarket -very cheap.
My landlady grows her own. 
Thanks for the responses!
So I´ve decided to take one package and then buy in Taipei.
LOL
I´m bringing my own, thanks!
[quote=“tango42”]Going for a dance?
Mate and Tango just go together…[/quote]
Nice…but I leave tango to the pros, I suck at it.
erowid.org/plants/yerba_mate … try1.shtml
[quote]Erowid receives semi-regular notes from well intentioned visitors telling us that yerba maté does not contain caffeine, but instead contains a chemical called “mateine”. After looking into the issue several times in the past, we have decided to write a brief description of why we believe that caffeine is the major psychoactive chemical in yerba maté and mateine is simply another name for caffeine.
It appears that several articles available online are completely bogus, having been either faked by a vendor to improve sales or a yerba mate fan in order to explain why they liked yerba maté tea and not other types of caffeinated tea. Almost all of the online discussions or mentions of mateine lead back to a single source, Daniel Mowry. Mowry provides no credible scientific references for his claims about mateine, mentioning only a couple of institutes who have reportedly done work with yerba mate. The only expert he cites, Dr. Jose Martin, when contacted by the author of an article about yerba mate, “said there is no unique chemical structure for mateine and that yerba mate contains caffeine, just like coffee”.2
One of the errors in the literature upon which the “mateine” claims are based is the claim that mateine is a stereoisomer of caffeine. This stands out because, there are no stereoisomers of caffeine. In order to have a stereoisomer, a chemical nearly always (see below) must have a stereocenter. The caffeine molecule lacks a stereocenter, does not have one of the unusual special cases, and thus there are no stereoisomers. This error, repeated widely, has had no foundation in the scientific literature.
There is no stereoisomer of caffeine. It’s that simple.
One thing to note is that people report slightly different effects from drinking yerba maté than from drinking green tea, although the exact differences have not been well documented. A common misunderstanding exists that this necessarily means that yerba maté does not contain caffeine as a major psychoactive alkaloid. Caffeine is a xanthine. Yerba maté contains two other xanthines (caffeine-like compounds) theobromine and theophylline that have their own effects. It is very possible for different experiential effects to be the result of different levels of these three compounds or of other variables, including differences in dosage, differences in accompanying minerals or related alkaloids, expectations, taste, smell, etc. Mint tea or gum, for instance, can be stimulating or refreshing partially based on smelling the volatile fragrance oil. It is not known exactly in what ways yerba maté is experientially different from Chinese teas or what accounts for those differences.[/quote]
[quote=“Icon”]Organic stores carry it as an alternative. I’ve even gotten some at the local supermarket -very cheap.
My landlady grows her own. [/quote]
OK, I’ve ran out of yerba and need to buy more…I’ve been in Jason’s and they haven’t got 
Where is this local supermarket or organic store that sells mate??
谢谢你
The really cheap one, Zhuen Lien Fu Ri Zhong Xin.
Organic chains like Cottonfields, etc.
EDIT:
全聯實業股份有限公司
pxmart.com.tw/
Just found this awesome online spice shop that will ship to Taiwan:
botanical.com/products/bulkherb/y.html
[quote=“Dragonbones”]Just found this awesome online spice shop that will ship to Taiwan:
botanical.com/products/bulkherb/y.html[/quote]
Great!!! Thanks!!! 我很高兴
Simplified! He’s using simplified!!! 
Don’t worry, I’ll translate for you. It says he’s very tall, then there’s a splat mark where he swatted a fly.