Think of raving and what picture comes to mind? A sweaty warehouse filled with pulsing lights? A floor-shaking bass and dancing people in all black and sunglasses? But what about Yerba Mate?
It’s true, Germany’s techno scene not only is filled with secret parties and a casual attitude, but also their signature drink: Yerba Mate.
But how did this high-caffeine, low-sugar drink make its way from South America into Germany’s EDM scene and why is America only just embracing this super drink?
Yerba Mate’s origins can be traced back to indigenous peoples of the forests of Paraguay and Brazil and was known as an “herb for the gods” used for physical stamina.
This high-caffeine plant was used for religious ceremonies, healing, and worship while its stimulant properties became popular among the Argentinian cowboys. A gourd of Yerba Mate was passed around a campfire as a form of energy and connection that would later be picked up by the Spanish and other European countries.
It wasn’t until the 1920’s when a Yerba Mate brand called Materva moved their production from Cuba to the United States during the Cuban Revolution that Yerba Mate began to gain popularity around the world.
Then in 1924 in Northern Bavaria, a small beverage company began selling a Yerba Mate-based drink named “Sekt-Bronte,” which in the 1990s would be purchased by a German brewery called Loscher and rebranded to the now well-known Club-Mate.
Sekt-Bronte and other Yerba Mate brands would begin circulating slowly throughout Germany and Europe, with the purchase of Sekt-Bronte coinciding with the tech revolution.
Its popularity would then be heightened by the rise of technology, members of the Chaos Computer Club in Cologne, and hackers’ late-night energy needs.
But once the Berlin Wall fell, freedom alongside rebuilding became top of mind for many Germans. They began looking for alternatives to fuel their late-night partying and rebuilding.
The legend says a man in the German city of Prenzlauer Berg would roam a donkey cart through the streets selling alcohol as liquor licenses were hard to come by during the uneasy time. The donkey cart was upgraded to a truck and the owner became the main drink supplier for these parties.
Eventually, one clubgoer from Bavaria asked for Club-Mate, a drink originally from his hometown, and the rest is history.
Nineties venue, Club Forschung was supposedly the first to stock the drink and other party centers followed.
Ravers would mix the Yerba Mate into their alcohol and to this day it remains one of the most popular drinks in the German techno scene.
Yerba Mate brand YATE’s founder Eric Hoang said about the drink and techno, “People at a lot of the very well-known venues in Europe such as Berghain and Watergate in Berlin are already drinking yerba mate when they’re clubbing. So it’s a cultural niche that already exists in the world.”
“There’s a cool ritual when you order yerba mate and the bartender gives it to you, you drink a little bit off the top, you hand it back to the bartender, and then they pour a shot in it, shake it, and give it back to you.”
Once the techno haven of Germany became filled with the euphoria-inducing beverage, it didn’t take long for Yerba Mate to make its way into the States.
In 2008, a hacker collective started selling Club-Mate at an event called the Last Hope with Brooklyn’s Bossa Nova Civic Club claiming to be the first American electronic music venue to carry the drink.
Club Manager John Barclay told Vice that after tasting Yerba Mate in Berlin, he would drive two hours to pick up the drink due to its “metaphysical relationship with techno music.”
Yerba Mate even made its way to China where it became popular due to its positive effects in a place that doesn’t have many drug users but plenty of partiers and late-night computer users.
Now in 2024, many Yerba Mate brands are harnessing the connection between technology, music, and Yerba Mate to fuel the EDM experience.
Brands like YATE are bringing their product to clubs, venues, and bars to offer the uplifting effects of the theobromine and caffeine without the crash of sugary energy drinks or coffee.
Ravers are even choosing these buzzy virgin drinks over the typical vodka Redbull as a more sustainable way to stay energized.
So the next time you head to your favorite techno club or event, put on some sunglasses, pull out the all-black, and drink a Yerba Mate so you can truly embrace the genre the German way.
