I have been drinking the tea on the left for probably decades.
The first time I tried it, we got a sample at some hippie jam band festival. “This tastes like dirt,” I announced.
But then one of my yoga teachers talked it up and I tried it again and it stuck. I don’t drink it in any traditional style. I use the tea bags at work and for the travel mug. At home I use the loose leaf.
Sometime around the pandemic it became harder to get. My market dropped the tea bags and I couldn’t find them at any other market. Also it became more and more expensive. Then I couldn’t find the loose leaf at the market, either. I started ordering a 6 month supply online.
Last week, when I went to make a new order, I couldn’t even put the loose leaf in my cart. So, I opened my search engine and searched for “teas like [the one I like].”
And a whole world opened up. I found a forum and took notes and went back online to make my order. For the price of my old little yellow bag, I ordered a new kind of loose leaf and a new kind of tea bag.
I opened my delivery box to that GIANT bag of loose leaf. “I hope I like it,” I said. My market has another brand of yerba mate but I don’t like it.
Good news: I had it this morning and it was terrific. Also good news: this will last me forever. It’s so big I don’t even have a good place to put it. It’s in the laundry room at the moment. I will try the tea bags tomorrow.
