Bro consuming enough caffeine to paralyze an elephant. Any yerba-mate drinkers on hexbear? I'm looking for a source of caffeine cheaper than coffee. Last two months I've seen the largest food price increase since the pandemic and coffee is just about off the menu at this point. I kept going cheaper but I realized that as you go down the cost structure the coffee has less caffeine (img below) and I'm at diminishing return level now. Yerba-mate is a sub tropical woody long growing plant so even If I could grow it I probably wouldn't be able to get enough caffeine out of one plant but if I can get seeds I might give it a try. Amazon has a 4.4 lb bag for $19. Thats much cheaper than coffee but I can't get good info on how mate compares lb for lb wrt caffeine.
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
slavesworkers during the last dictatorship among a long list of other feudal shenanigansIn any case, I recommend start with drinking mate cocido, basically tea but using a small amount of yerba instead of tea