Recently a cafe in town has started serving yerba mate. I know it’s an herbal stimulant but drank a cup of it anyway at 10pm. I could not sleep a wink that night. Yesterday, I had some at 7pm, and it still kept me awake into the wee hours. This is a far more stimulating beverage than coffee, which I can drink at dinnertime and be able to sleep.
Mate is not caffeinated, correct? Why does it work so much better than caffeine in keeping me awake? Could I become immune to its effects as I have with caffeine? Is it good for you?
Mate is sometimes marketed as being caffeine-free. Some claim that it contains other, closely related stimulants, but not caffeine specifically. Quick google search indicates that the current research points toward “probably has caffeine.”
As to why it would keep up someone who doesn’t normally have trouble sleeping after coffee, who knows. The way mate is prepared (at least in South America) involves a much higher plant-to-water ratio than one usually sees with tea or coffee in the US. The obvious possibility is that you’re just getting a much bigger dose of caffeine (or whatever related stimulant) from a couple cups of mate than from a couple cups of coffee.
The one time I had yerba maté served ‘native style’, they used a lot of herbs, a small cup, a big splash of hot water, and a strainer-spoon to drink through. I can tell you that it had a kick. I can tell you that the kick did not feel like a caffeine kick. But what it was, I don’t know.
The Merk Index says that Mate, leaves of Ilex paraguensis contains “caffeine, other purines, tannin or tanoid substances, such as chlorogenic acid and derivatives”.
Other purines are probably compounds like theophyline and theobromine.