Fair and direct.
Certified organic.
From mixed cultivation.
Air-dried.
Plastic-free.
About Us.
Good mate comes from healthy forests.
Mate typically grows deep within the Atlantic Rainforest, where it develops its highest quality. Unfortunately, this habitat has been almost completely destroyed, mostly for the cultivation of animal feed or as pasture for livestock. Today, most mate trees grow in monocultures. While this cultivation increases yield in the short term, it reduces quality and biodiversity. We are making the value of naturally grown mate trees visible again and want to establish this premium quality. Because good mate raw materials come from healthy forests—you can feel and taste the difference. A healthy forest must be valued more than a monoculture; only then will it be protected in the long term.
We combine a love of nature with enthusiasm for mate culture.
Founder's story
Summer 2013. We sit together and work on concepts to make our world a better place for everyone. Upcycling industrial waste... a part-time academy... a healthy, regional fast-food chain... The ideas evolve, but one thing remains the same: we drink and share mate.
When we run out of yerba mate, we order more and delve deeper into the subject. Eventually, we want to buy only organic mate, ideally air-dried, fairly produced, and packaged without plastic. In 2013, this was unavailable in Germany. We want to change that and help shape the development of mate culture in Europe, ensuring that an awareness of good mate grows here. We are fascinated by the idea of using mate, a product of the forest, to protect and regenerate the Atlantic rainforest. In the winter of that same year, we travel to Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay for the first time. We share mate with mate farmers and learn a great deal about the mate industry and mate culture. After some ups and downs, three years later we find producers with whom we establish a partnership. We now have a strong network, source top-quality raw materials, and have many wonderful customers and partners who make our work possible and appreciate it.
Thank you all and many happy returns.
Johan & Jared
We use forests to make more forests grow.
Our mission & vision.
We offer organic, fair and direct trade mate, air-dried and plastic-free. But that's not all; there are still many processes to improve. We want to convince more producers to grow mate in forests and forgo monocultures and pesticides. Cultivating mate and other forest products must become a viable alternative to monoculture farming; only then can forests be sustainably protected. We are working to make the drying process more resource-efficient and to make this technology accessible to as many producers as possible. Mate accessories should also be produced as locally and resource-efficiently as possible. For many products, there are no longer any production facilities in Europe, and we will change that.
In a world saturated with digitalization, we must not lose our connection to nature; we must find ways to experience nature, to be and remain connected to our environment. For only those who feel the value of nature will protect it. It is not enough to see pictures of it; we must feel it.
Alongside all these technical issues, we won't neglect the practice of drinking mate. We need widespread access to caamate and hot water, including in public spaces. The practice of drinking mate shouldn't fail due to a lack of good raw materials and hot water. There are so many ideas we still need to implement and so many paths we still need to explore.
Let's work together to make our world a beautiful place for everyone.
