I already talked quite a bit about yerba mate in another comm (the same text was shared there), so I’ll focus on the HN comments.

I’m a daily mate drinker (from Argentina). It’s like a milder coffee. Great beverage, I recommend it.

It’s not mild, you just developed tolerance.

It’s complicated. Accordingly to this link (in Portuguese; I can translate at request), 100ml mate have 29~89mg of caffeine, while 100ml coffee have 25~100mg. So both are highly variable, but roughly in the same range.

My personal impression is that mate is a bit stronger, but there’s a catch - here in Paraná it’s less roasted than in Argentina, and roasting reduces the caffeine content.

Until a while ago, I didn’t realize that the Linux Mint Mate desktop was named after the tea, not as in “hello mate”.

Yup. And even the symbol is a mate gourd as seen from the top:

Someone might correct me, but I believe it is only in Brazil south that “chimarrão” (how they call this drink) is drank like this, hot and shared.

HN being HN and assuming/making shit up. *rolls eyes*
This is the typical social tradition around mate dammit. It doesn’t care about the bloody government borders.

Some people add sugar or honey to it as well.

BLASPHEMY!!!111eleven

I’m being silly. While traditionally no sugar is added, you’re supposed to enjoy your mate. If that means adding sugar or honey, go for it.

I also suspect that the Guaraní originally mixed in stevia leaves with their yerba mate, making sweetened mate extremely traditional.