Tall Tara

This is Day 2 of a 21-Day Salute ™, an attempt to kick start my blog writing and to express my gratitude for living where I do. I first saw these series of posts on The Communicatrix (who I want to be when I grow up) and when I asked, she encouraged me to copy her. Here are 21 days of my favorite products made in Boulder…

It all started when I was a barista at a coffee shop on the hill. Being around that much coffee was both a dream and a nightmare. While I loved drinking coffee, there was only so much I could handle. I needed an alternative that wouldn’t cause me to be jittery but would keep me going during the course of a busy shift. Enter Yerba Maté. It provided me the energy I needed without all the nasty side effects of coffee…no crashes, no nervousness, no stomach pain…just a smooth and harmonious cuppa goodness.

“Maté is the gentle hum of an awakened mind and a vibrant body. It’s the sensual soar of your essential being. Yerba Maté is energy that’s balanced, not frantic.”    –Pixie Maté site

Yerba maté comes to us from South America where tradition calls to drink it from a gourd. Pixie Maté, located in South Boulder, has made it a little easier to enjoy this delicious beverage without the use of a hard-shelled fruit. Whether it’s single serving tea bags, mate concentrate or ready-to-drink bottles, Pixie Maté gives you many different ways to get your maté on.

I currently have a box of their tea in my cupboard, frequently purchase the bottled Green Tea Yerba Maté flavor and have been known to order a Maté Latte at coffee shops around town…what can I say? I love the way that maté makes me feel–energized without the high-strung anxiety that comes with coffee. Not to mention the crazy amount of antioxidants contained in yerba maté, almost 12 times what you find in normal green tea. No wonder I feel so good after drinking it.

Pixie Maté gets their maté straight from the source–certified organic growers from Argentina. And while the maté may not be local (& it shouldn’t be), Pixie Maté does an excellent job of giving back…both to Boulder and to the people of Argentina. In addition to supporting a Reforestation Effort in Missiones, Argentina, Pixie Maté partners with a host of other eco-conscious companies around town and helps to power some of the crazy athletes you see training for hundred-mile races.

Besides enjoying the taste of Pixie Maté, I also appreciate the product’s design. There is a decidedly optimistic feeling to the starry mid-50’s aesthetic of the Pixie Maté brand. The company’s slogan is “Drink Deep, Take Flight”, messages on the glass bottle encourage you to “please reincarnate” and reassure you that “you’re safe here”.  A little cheesy but not too far off from how good you feel after drinking this stuff. Of course that could be the marketer in me talking.

However, the coffee snob in me has had enough yerba maté to know how much I like it*. And Pixie Maté has obviously made a fan out of me.

What about you? I can’t be the only one who loves the maté, right?

(For even more, check out the Pixie Mate blog and be sure to support your local Pixie!)

*Did I mention that I may have had some yerba mate earlier this evening? Or that The Pixies are one of my favorite bands? And in case the title of this blog wasn’t enough, did I mention that I’m so tall that no one would ever think I was pixie? Also, do you know how long it took to put those little accent marks over each letter e in  the word mate?

[All images courtesy of Pixie Mate]