2009-04-13 - Honest Mate

I was browsing the beverages in Whole Foods today and came across Honest Tea’s Agave Mate (pronounced MAH-tay).  Being familiar with the other uses for agave (hello!  making tequila), I was immediately curious.

In the case of this tea, though, agave is not the base, its used as a sweetener.  The main ingredient is the yerba mate.  Unlike agave, I have no clue what yerba was used for!

After trying this beverage, though, I can say that agave and yerba mate come together to make some very good “tea”.  It has a pleasant herbal flavor that’s somewhere between earthy and mildly spicy.  The promise on the label – “just a tad sweet” – is absolutely correct.  The tea has just the right balance of sweetness and spice.

While I paired the tea with Whole Food’s turkey sausage pizza, I could see this beverage going great with just about anything.  Priced at $1.25 a bottle, its comparable to most of the other single server beverages in the WF cooler.  I’ll be back for another sample of this and the other Honest Tea mates!

www.honesttea.com

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