- Hi, I'm Parris.
Welcome to another Food
and Drink Wednesday!
This year I've developed
quite a fondness for a drink
called yerba mate which is
popular in South America.
I drink it daily now, but
over at the supermarket
I found something new, something related.
It's actually a drink that's
very popular in Ecuador
in the Amazon.
The name's a little difficult
to pronounce, gouisa,
but the brand I found
over at the supermarket
is very similar to mate.
Wonder if that's a coincidence.
Today I'm going to try out MATI.
♫ Epic review guys
I found this on the shelf
next to the mellow, mood,
and relaxing drinks.
But like yerba mate it
has other xanthenes in it
in addition to regular caffeine
that at least in my case
when I drink yerba mate
I don't get the caffeine jitters
and my heart doesn't do
the the unpleasant dance
that my heart does if I
drink a lot of caffeine
from coffee or tea.
Each can is about 30% fruit juice.
There are a number of different flavors.
The sweetness comes from that
so there's no added sugar.
Each can is less than 50 calories
and goes for about $2.50.
Find out more about these at
the link down below this video.
Gouisa is actually a cousin of yerba mate.
They're both from the holly plant,
from the leaves of the holly plan
and they're both grown in the rain forest
and they've both been
consumed in South America
for a long time on the
order of maybe 2,000 years
but we're only in the past
few finding about them
up here in the US.
The ingredients of this
tropical flavor can,
in addition there is citrus and cherry
as well as there were a
couple more on the shelf.
Number one ingredient is carbonated water.
These are all carbonated drinks.
Brewed guaisa, the leaves,
apple juice concentrate,
pineapple juice concentrate,
lime juice concentrate,
natural flavors, passion
fruit juice concentrate.
So the sweetness comes from
the juices that they've added.
There's no sugar or any artificial
sweeteners added to this.
That means one can has 45 calories.
The typical can of yerba
mate I've been drinking
is about 90 to 100 calories.
The amount of caffeine is what you'd find
in about 1-1/2 cups of coffee,
which is a little bit scary
to someone like me who has
some caffeine sensitivity.
The amount of antioxidants is
equal to what you would find
in three cups of green tea
and it has the potassium
of half a banana, very interestingly.
Born and brewed in North Carolina.
Good on you North Carolina
for gettin' ahead of the game.
Now I like carbonated drinks,
I like sweet drinks,
I especially like teas
so this has a lot of
elements that I really like.
Normally I'll stick with herbal
teas or decaffeinated teas
because by the second cup
if I'm drinking fully caffeinated tea
my heart let's me know
it doesn't like that.
But surprisingly to me,
with the yerba mate I
haven't had those issues
and I think it's something
to do with the combination
of the xanthenes in addition to caffeine
that somehow buffers it
or makes it have a different effect on me
where I don't get the jittery effect
and I don't have the
heart palpitation effect.
Now will that be the same with the gouisa?
I'm going to find out.
I will drink, I'll pour
some out of each of these.
I'm curious if they're different colored
and how different the flavor is.
I'll drink some of each one
and give it about 20 minutes
and report back and let
you know how I'm feeling.
(pops can top)
It's a tanish-brown color.
I don't know what soda
I would compare it to,
maybe cream soda.
It's also cloudy, which I guess is normal
because it is tea after all.
Smells like some kind
of passion fruit to me
and I've heard this is not
as bitter as yerba mate.
That's why it doesn't
need to be quite as sweet.
Let me check on that.
(makes quizzical noises)
I don't know if my reaction
to yerba mate was the same
the first time I tried it
and as I drank it more often
I've gotten used to it
and I really like it now
or if this really is
quite a bit different.
I say that because at first try
this is not something that strikes me as
oh I'm gonna go back
and get me some of that.
But that is the tropical flavor.
Maybe one of these will
suit me a little bit better.
Let me give them a try.
Here is citrus.
What I can't tell
is if the taste that's
striking me as strange
is the juice flavor or
whether it's the tea itself.
I think we got a drink that
looks pretty much the same.
Yeah, different flavor
but no different color.
The citrus is made with the
carbonated water and the gouisa
but then after that it's
apple, orange, and lime.
Smells more citrus-y.
I like this one better, definitely.
It's like a carbonated orange juice.
Must be the flavoring I
didn't care for in that one.
Now the cherry is apple, cherry,
and lime for the flavoring.
I think I like that.
Interesting smell.
Yeah, that's got that
tart cherry taste to it.
Very visceral.
It just brings out the
cherry flavor so much.
My favorite though is
the orange flavored one.
Yeah, now I could drink this
just because I enjoy it as a drink
and then get the additional benefits.
The cherry,
probably wouldn't choose that one
from the variety on the
shelf and the tropical,
yeah that one's kind of a struggle for me.
I just don't happen to like
those flavors very much.
I've poured about half a can
into each of these glasses
so I don't wanna finish
a can and a half's worth.
I'll have a little bit more of each.
Better save that one for last.
Boy that reminds me of something else
with cherry flavor in it.
Not a candy kind of
thing, some other food,
cherry pie or cherry tart.
That syrupy kind of
cherry that gets added in.
When you're eating cherry pie
and it's that syrupy stuff
that the cherries are in.
That's what that reminds me of.
But it's good, but a little
goes kind of a long way.
10 minutes in and I'm
feeling the energy effects
but I'm not feeling any negative effects,
at least not yet.
Well, I think if
something was gonna happen
it would've happened by now
which means I seem to have
the same very mild reaction
to the caffeine in this tea
as I did to the yerba mate.
Good to know
because now there is another
drink that I can have.
I did get the focus and the energy
but I didn't have the
kind of sour upset stomach
I'll sometimes get with a strong caffeine
and nothing else unpleasant.
So for me gouisa
is something else I can
now have in the fridge.
I'm gonna look for the
tea bag form of this
or at least the ground dried leaves
and see if I can make the tea myself,
add in my own flavors, and
make it just like I like.
If you're looking for a
new energy booster drink
that isn't full of sugar,
this seems to be a nice one to try.
Find out more about it at the
link down below this video.
And for more gouisa reviews
when I find those products in the future.
You can keep checking back
or you can click that Subscribe button
and the bell next to it down below,
you'll get notified when my videos go up.
See you on the next review.
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