D-I-Yerba Mate Soda workshop

From HOPE Wiki

As we all know, Mate sodas like Club-Mate are wonderful fuel for late night hacking sessions. But availability in the U.S. is limited. So how can we fill the void? Come learn how to produce your own Yerba Mate soda at home!

Description

Yerba Mate based sodas, like Club Mate, are excellent sources of energy, incredibly tasty, and make a great mixer for those of us who imbibe in alcoholic beverages. In the U.S. they are pretty hard to come by, and where they exist there are usually only a brand or two on the market. Contrast this with Germany where there are over a dozen Mate sodas on the market in Berlin alone. This workshop will teach participants how to brew their own Mate soda at home from natural ingredients. We will go briefly into some background of Yerba Mate and Club Mate, talk about some of the places (like HOPE) that Mate sodas have become important to the culture, and explore how we can expand the field of tasty-bubbly-stimulants to suit our particular tastes. Along the way we will cover some options for home carbonation and even how to put Mate on tap at a hackerspace near you!

About the Presenter

Hi, I'm Joe. You may also know me as theJuggler. My background is in applying technology to art in the entertainment industry. I tend to describe myself as an electrical-fungineer working in theater and live events. I am a member and regular volunteer at Chicago hackerspace Pumping Station: One, where I have served in various capacities. At PS:1 my passion project is Drinking Station: One, a volunteer run bar where I first started brewing and serving a Club-Mate inspired soda in February of 2019. I am a serial collector of skills, odd jobs, tools, and stories; and adore sharing all of these widely. Currently, I am in the process of starting a craft soda brewery in Chicago to bottle and sell osMate, using the same open source recipe I am going to teach you how to make in this workshop.

Registration

You need to REGISTER in advance to take this workshop::
Click here to go to the registration page on hope.net!

Required Software Materials

To participate in the hands on portion of the workshop, attendees will need:

Ingredients

  • Yerba Mate
    • There are a lot of options here. If you live in a city, you may have an Argentinian, Brazilian, or other South American grocer that will have this in stock.
  • Water
  • Dark Brown Sugar
  • Carbonated Water / Soda Water / Seltzer *Note: This item may be superseded by a tool, see "Carbonation Options" below
  • Ice Note: Optional but helps speed up the process

Tools

  • A way to boil water
  • A tea filter basket or bag
  • Heat proof vessel for mixing in
  • Carbonating device Note: See "Carbonation Options" below

Additional Ingredients to Make Tschunk

  • Turbinado Sugar
  • Fresh Limes, Quartered
  • Dark Rum
  • Muddler or Spoon

Carbonation Options

There are multiple options to carbonate things at home, and many of them can be used for the purposes of this workshop.

Option One: Soda Stream or Similar

One of the easiest options are countertop carbonation units like the Soda Stream. The pros of a device like this are ease of use and the ability to have a good strong carbonation.

The cons are the cost of proprietary CO2 refills for the device

Option Two: Home Carbonation Setup

This is the most affordable in the long run and versatile option. Get a CO2 Cylinder, a regulator, some hose, and a ball lock adapter and you can carbonate whole kegs of soda. You can even get an adapter to let you carbonate one and two liter bottles directly! The primary con to this method is the startup costs can be high, especially if you can't find a used cylinder or regulator. This option can also become part of a home bar / kegerator or brewing setup. You too can have mate soda on tap!

Option Three: Mix with Club Soda

This is the cheapest option, we can just mix the concentrated soda mixture 1 to 1 with club soda/seltzer. This option is fast and easy but has one large drawback: the soda ends up under-carbonated.

Video

A video of the workshop is available on the 2600 YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8dfBoftH7o

Links

Which Mate is Best? Ranking (German)
osMate Soda Website
Joe's Website

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