I get this question a lot:

How do you taste notes in yerba mate like the way you do in your reviews? They all taste about the same to me.

Have you struggled with this same problem? And wished you could detect the subtle notes in mate too?

Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret…

Tasting notes in yerba mate is actually pretty simple. But it does require patience and some conscious effort.

Luckily today, I’m going to share with you five quick pointers on how to quickly develop your palate so you can start tasting notes like a professional yerba mate connoisseur.

Here’s number one…

How To Taste Notes In Yerba Mate

1. Drink mate every day for months

It’s a no-brainer, but there’s no skipping this step.

If you want to get good at tasting mate, you have to get your palate used to it. And this requires drinking a lot of mate.

Remember: mate is an acquired taste just like an expensive wine, coffee, or cigar. You can’t taste the subtle notes until you can taste first, if you know what I mean.

For example, coffee tastes disgustingly bitter until it doesn’t. Wine tastes like rubbing alcohol until it doesn’t. Cigars taste like hot ash until it doesn’t. And mate tastes like dirt until it doesn’t. The only way to get past this flavor block is to drink it for a long period of time until your palate becomes accustomed to it.

For me, I wasn’t able to pinpoint the nuances in mate until several months of daily drinking. And even then, I don’t think I was that great at it until another year or two.

Things accelerated, however, once I started doing this…

2. Intentionally try to taste notes

Whenever I drink mate, I put all my attention and focus on trying to taste it. I also use this flavor chart as inspiration and as a guide.

I discovered this chart back from when I started smoking cigars and pipe tobacco. And I used it for the same reason I use it now for mate – to help me taste different notes.

I like to scan the chart while sipping to see if any notes reflect what I’m tasting. And if I find something that sticks out, I’ll start focusing on it on my next few sips for confirmation. If it’s there, then it’s there! If not, then it’s probably not that accurate.

This is something you should try doing immediately, even if you can’t taste much yet. It serves as training for when your palate is more developed.

But before we can do this efficiently, you have to…

3. Taste/smell different spices, foods, herbs, etc.

If you’ve never had white pepper, how can you taste white pepper in mate? If you’ve never tried honey, how can you taste honey?

Right… you can’t.

This goes with anything.

If you want to taste notes in mate, you have to know what those things taste like in the first place.

Now for some things you’ve likely already tried such as dried fruit or toast from everyday foods, hickory and oak wood from barbecuing meats, and dirt and earth from simply being outdoors. But for other unique and seldom-used things like cloves, anise, brown sugar, or hazelnuts, you’ll have to go out your way and try them on your own if you want to potentially taste it in your mate.

Before we move on though, there’s something that needs to be made clear when it comes to tasting notes.

Whether you’re reading reviews of mate, coffee, cigars, or wine, you’ll inevitably come across someone that tastes something unusual. In the sense that it seems impossible to know how that thing tastes.

Common notes like this in mate are dirt, earth, grass, and hay. Obviously, we’ve never tasted these things before (or maybe you have) so how can we know what it tastes like? Well, we don’t. But we do know how it smells.

What we taste isn’t always how something tastes, but can also be how it smells.

We all know what grass smells like. This smell or essence of grass can easily be experienced in taste. This is similar to new drinkers that often claim yerba to taste like cigarettes. Most of these people have likely never smoked a cigarette. But because they know what it smells like, they can taste it.

This can be a little confusing when you’re a beginner, but you’ll quickly find this to be true once you start diving deep into mate.

4. Compare your experience with others

Whenever I review a brand, I always see if I can compare my experience by searching for other people’s reviews.

I’m not the only site that posts yerba mate reviews (although I’ve published the most *wink wink*). Matexperience.com is a great site to check out as well as CircleOfDrink.com, though their reviews are from years and years ago, but still helpful. And of course, all of our reviews can be found here at YerbaMateLab.com.

So say I’m trying something like Rosamonte for the first time. I’d give it a try first and see what notes I can taste on my own first. Then I’ll start reading what others have to say. If they taste the same as me, cool! I have confirmation. If they taste something else that I didn’t, I’ll try to see if I can taste it as well. If I do, they just helped enhance my palate. If not, that’s fine. Not everyone’s experience is going to be the exact same.

Can you see how helpful this can be?

It’s a fun and satisfying thing to do, especially when your experience is shared with others.

5. Take notes

Lastly, you have to take notes. Why? Because it helps hone in your experience.

You’re not going to remember what a brand tasted like once you try several brands afterward. You need notes to help bring those experiences back to mind. You also get to have something to share with fellow materos.

It’s for this reason why I write and post reviews. Not just for other people to read and chime in on, but for myself to reference.

It’s also why I created our own Yerba Mate Review Journal.

This journal allows you to record your experience of each brand on a single page. This way, you have a record of notes you can look back on.

How does this help with developing your palate?

Here’s an example…

If you drink Cruz De Malta then drink a brand like Jesper months later and you think they taste similar, you can look back at what exact note you tasted in Cruz that you think tastes the same in Jesper. And once you pinpoint that exact flavor (let’s say it’s wood), you just gained more proof and experience in knowing what wood tastes like in mate. Now, whenever you come across it again in another brand, you’ll know what it is right away.

I do this exact same thing with my reviews on this site. If the current yerba I’m drinking reminds me of another brand I tried, I’ll reread what notes I tasted and often there’s a similar one.

Out of these five pointers, this one especially has allowed me to fine-tune my palate the most.

Final Words

Tasting notes is one of the most satisfying aspects of yerba mate.

To some, it might seem snobbish. But to those interested, it’s a fun game. And not only that, but it also gives you a true appreciation for the harvesting, processing, and aging of this wonderful herb.

So if you want to make mate an even more enjoyable experience, try to taste different notes in your next session by keeping these five pointers in mind.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might want to check out our store for beautiful mate gourds you’ve never seen before!