Saturday, August 20, 2005
Organic Yerba Mate?
Is yerba mate tea organic?
We carry La Merced Organic... and, to answer your question: for the most part, yes.
Xanxere (no longer exporting)has claimed to us personally their yerba is 100% organic--but Brazil has no organic certification process for yerba yet. Argentina doesn't have the same certification process as in the United States--nor the same growing interest in claiming "organic." Yerba mate doesn't need pesticides nor herbicides in it's production--because little attacks the plant. (?)
Skeptics that we are--we visited various of the plantations in Corrientes and Misiones, Argentina whose yerba we sell. We never saw signs of pesticide control--as we do here in the United States on most modern farms today.
Numerous North American companies which repackage yerba from South America take this fact to mean their yerba is organic--and they state so to the consumers!!
Our yerba, La Merced, is certified organic... but we are skeptical of others who state theirs is. If it is certified by an objective third party group who has examined the crop in the field, then it may indeed be "organic". We have communicated to our other suppliers the need for this certification and will gladly sell organic if possible. Of course none of this matter seems to concern big-time yerba mate drinker from birth: "Grandmother Violeta" who is now pushing 100 and in great health!
Comments?
We carry La Merced Organic... and, to answer your question: for the most part, yes.
Xanxere (no longer exporting)has claimed to us personally their yerba is 100% organic--but Brazil has no organic certification process for yerba yet. Argentina doesn't have the same certification process as in the United States--nor the same growing interest in claiming "organic." Yerba mate doesn't need pesticides nor herbicides in it's production--because little attacks the plant. (?)
Skeptics that we are--we visited various of the plantations in Corrientes and Misiones, Argentina whose yerba we sell. We never saw signs of pesticide control--as we do here in the United States on most modern farms today.
Numerous North American companies which repackage yerba from South America take this fact to mean their yerba is organic--and they state so to the consumers!!
Our yerba, La Merced, is certified organic... but we are skeptical of others who state theirs is. If it is certified by an objective third party group who has examined the crop in the field, then it may indeed be "organic". We have communicated to our other suppliers the need for this certification and will gladly sell organic if possible. Of course none of this matter seems to concern big-time yerba mate drinker from birth: "Grandmother Violeta" who is now pushing 100 and in great health!
Comments?
