Rio Grande do Sul looking guy

There is a big difference between Brasilian-style yerba and Argie/Paraguayan-style yerba, I reccomend you to try both and choose.

It's the same plant species but the brasilian is almost pulverized and has no "maturation", few days between harvest and supermarket. Meanwhile paraguayan/argie yerba is stored for at least 3 months in big bales after being dried, and the amount of yerba-dust in the final product should be reduced to a minimum. Said dust is supposedly the reason why some people get more acid-reflux. Anyways, each yerba style has quality tiers, "premium" argie yerba has like a year of maturation.

Btw don't buy from Estancia Las Marias cuz they assasinated slaves workers during the last dictatorship among a long list of other feudal shenanigans

In any case, I recommend start with drinking mate cocido, basically tea but using a small amount of yerba instead of tea

I think that large scale yerba-mate production your be an interesting project, but buying a hand grinder, a French press, and some cheap coffee beans might be a whole lot easier. If you don't have time to make fresh coffee in the morning you can prepare cold brew the night before.

Damn when my mom told me Brazilians drank on a big mate I didn't think it'd be THAT big, lol

E: I didn't even look at the post lmao, I don't think you're gonna get thoe amounts in that chart from yerba, at least not fast like with coffee. You'd normally put a small portion of yerba and you may drink 1 liter (unless you make mate cocido), but you're gonna get less caffeine than stated by weight, if stated at all. I drink Canarias (goated 😏) and if I drink a bit fast I get kinda worked up, though I don't consume anything else caffeinated so I may not have tolerance. They don't state the amount of caffeine.

Prepare to piss a lot lmao

Cheapest caffeine source will be pills

I drink mate and enjoy it. You have to get the special straw. The organic stuff on Amazon is pretty good, just not the yellow one, I forget what it's called starts with a Y I think. That has a ton of stems and stuff in it, poor qc

Edit: guayaki is the one you don't want

Have you considered roasting your own coffee? It can be done in just a pan stirring with a spoon. happymugcoffee.com has a few coffees around $4/lb. and even cheaper when you buy in bulk

What the hell is with that coffee chart? The sizes are all different and some include espresso shots?

And wtf? 2 Tablespoons for 12 ounces? That's a pot's worth!

You can buy caffeine acetate, weigh it (with a very precise scale) and put it into whatever food you want

Have you considered just drinking double espressos on the occasion you have to buy coffee? It’s much cheaper where I am then getting lattes or whatever. At home I just drink tea, tea is hella cheap