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I was rummaging through some junk today and ran across an old, brown, glass, 12oz bottle. When I say old, I mean it. This must be 1920s or older. It has a nice beige, gold, and violet paper label that is in good condition. The drink is called Yermat. It was made by the Yerba Mate Corp. in Chicago.

Highlights from the labelling:
-- HAS THE SPARKLE OF CHAMPAGNE
-- A PURE HEALTHFUL BEVERAGE
-- BEST WHEN SERVED COLD
-- DELIGHTFULLY FOREIGN IN FLAVOR
-- MADE FROM YERBA MATE
-- SOUTH AMERICA'S FAMOUS STIMULATING BEVERAGE

I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this stuff or knew anything about it?

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

Wow! Do you have a photo? Yerba Mate is a traditional South American tea-like beverage. It is usually served in a gourd with a straw. I am starting to see it in small coffee shops here in Cleveland. Not too bad, and you will twitch after a few.

I'll see if I csn get a photo for you. My camera is buried in a box somewhere right now....

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

This is kinda funny. I was looking at the bottle and just realized that there are pictures of leaves on it. They look exactly like coca leaves. No wonder this stuff was "stimulating."

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

Yerba Mate is an herbal tisane, which is a tea-like beverage (as in it is a dry plant part to be steeped in hot water) but is not derived from the camellia sinensis plant (as only black, green, white, and oolong teas are). It is very popular in the Andes, and as said above, is often drank from a gourd. It is has high level of caffeine, or "mateine", depending on who you ask.
Pretty good stuff - I like it roasted w/ cream, as is available at Argo Tea.

My grandfather had a yermat franchise in the 30's. It was not successful, and we ended up with a basement full of yermat. I was about ten years old at the time -1934. Yermat was one of several ventures that my father financed for his father-in-law that failed, but it sure tasted great. I was reminded of the drink when I bought some yerba mate herbal tea from Republic of Tea, and then tried the internet. We lived in Chicago at the time. I now live in HIghland Park.