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Rosamonte Tradicional
Yerba Mate Review
Published on
4 minutes to read
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One of the most popular yerba mates in Argentina, Rosamonte Tradicional definitely deserves a permanent place on the shelf of every mate drinker. Don’t start with this mate though if you are new to this drink, let your palate evolve first. For experienced materos who for some reason haven’t tried it yet, Rosamonte Tradicional is a must-try yerba mate, and getting it should be your top priority. A great showcase of Argentine yerba mate at its finest.
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First look
Nose
The smell of Rosamonte Tradicional is moderately sharp and dusty with strong inherent notes of dry wood and hay. It also smells a bit sour and despite the fact that it is made with their trademark barbacuá method (fast drying over an open fire) I only pick up slightly smoky notes in the nose of this yerba mate.
Cut
Rosamonte Tradicional has very distinctive cut amongst Argentine yerba mate. It is very coarse — the leaves are ground into huge chunks and stems are very thick and short, it seems that they are coming not from the stems of the plant, but from its branches. The amount of stems is very generous as well as the amount of powder — Rosamonte Tradicional is quite dusty for Argentine yerba mate.
Aged for 12 months, this yerba mate develops a very interesting color — it has almost has no green hue at all, making it very non-saturated beige-gray.
Preparation
There is not much to say about preparation of Rosamonte Tradicional — as a con palo yerba mate it should present no challenges for any mate drinker, new or experienced.
I would recommend to try it with a
spring bombilla.
There is no practical advantage to that — I just found it more authentic and fun experience.
A lot of people in Argentina like to use similar bombillas and there are not a lot of yerba mate brands with such extremely coarse cut, like Rosamonte Tradicional, that you can use those bombillas with.
As far as the temperature is concerned, the general advice would be to use a not too hot and not too cold water with Rosamonte Tradicional, around
70°C/160°F. As you’ll learn later, this mate has very well-balanced and deep flavor that in my opinion is delivered better at this temperature.
The first time I tried Rosamonte Tradicional long time ago I was shocked at how smoky it was — I was simply unprepared for such bold and strong flavors. Now that my palate has evolved I can truly appreciate subtle flavors that Rosamonte Tradicional offers with each sip.
The truth is that smokiness in this mate is not overpowering at all. Once you get used to mate as a drink in general, you’ll find that Rosamonte Tradicional is very well-balanced mate that somewhat reminiscent of Piporé Con Palo. It is slightly sweet with light pleasant bitterness and a touch of appropriate sourness — Rosamonte Tradicional has a very deep classical Argentine mate flavor.
Woody and doughy with characteristics of a black tea, this medium to full-bodied mate doesn’t surprise but nails essentials so damn good.
Finish
Rosamonte Tradicional doesn’t want to let you go that fast. With its long and heavy aftertaste I am even more convinced with fullness of the body of this mate. Similar to dark chocolate, I wanted to take long pauses between sips of Rosamonte Tradicional to enjoy very pronounced finish that prevents you from just mindlessly chugging this mate.
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Durability
Rosamonte Tradicional has very nice, soft and sweetlavado state which again reminds me of Piporé Con Palo. The flavors are there for a pretty decent amount of refills — around 20, which makes it a solid moderate durability mate, though you can sip it for a long time if you are like me and enjoy drinking mate in lavado.
The last thing you want while drinking mate is to constantly re-heat your water or add more ice to it.
No matter if it's hot mate or cold tereré,
use a
vacuum bottle
or a very popular in South America
mate thermos
with spout.
Effect
I haven’t noticed any particular effects while drinking Rosamonte Tradicional. Some people say it energizes them, some people say it calms them. I enjoyed this mate at any time of day so I encourage you to explore Rosamonte Tradicional and see for yourself what effects it will have on you.
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What are your thoughts on Rosamonte Tradicional? Comment below!
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Yerba mate
Pronounced [YER-bah MAH-teh] (or [SHER-bah MAH-teh] in Rioplatense Spanish). Also known as Ilex paraguariensis, a holly plant natively grown in South America, particularly in Northern Argentina, Paraguay and Southern Brazil (the term erva mate is used there more often). Yerba mate is used to make a beverage known as mate in Spanish, or chimarrão in Portugese. Oftenly, the term yerba mate is used to describe not only a plant, but also a final product of grinding, drying and aging the plant.
With stems in Spanish. Type of yerba mate cut which is characterized by presence of stems, or palos in Spanish. Usually more light and sweet than sin palo cut. Very popular in Argentina and Paraguay.
Pronounced [MAH-teh]. Traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink, very popular in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Southern Brazil (the term chimarrão is used there more often). It is prepared by steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in the gourd. Sometimes the gourd itself is referred to as mate.
Special drinking straw with a filtration system in the lower end of it. Usually made from metal or hollow-stemmed cane. Used for drinking mate traditionally with a gourd.
Characteristic, used to define the tactile feel of mate in the mouth, similar to other gourmet products, like wine or coffee. It includes the mouthfeel of the drink, its thickness and weight. Cut of yerba mate, drying methods and aging all contribute to the body of mate. Usually, body can be described as light, medium and full — the more thick and dense mate feels in the mouth, the more full body it has.
Spanish adjective which means washed. Used as a term to point out that all the flavors “washed away” from mate and it becomes tasteless. The more refills yerba mate can take before becoming lavado, the longer durability it has.