The Family Gehm has been producing mate since 3 generations in the region of Sede Nova in South Brasil. They are proud artisanal mate producers who have taken the first steps towards legalising their production together with us.
Meta Mate Prada, produced by the family Gehm is a surprisingly soft Barbaqua Mate. Having mastered the techniques of harvesting leaves in a manner that does not damage the tree, like other artisanal producers, they harvest from native plants paying attention to the moon phases.
When requested by the local agricultural department to modify their production techniques to adhere to industrial standards, the father head what was requested and stated that if he did he was told he would be left with a legal mate that none of his customers would like to drink.
Drying and Sapeco techniques are something that mate producers pride themselves in and give each mate its own characteristic. The Family Gehm’s production and infrastructure is slightly larger than other artisanal producers, the sapeco is done manually with the help of a metal drum that is revolved around the fire and the Gehm’s Barbaqua can hold a few hundred kilos of Mate. The Gehm’s secret in attaining the soft taste to their mate lies in lighting up the fire and heating up the barbaqua before setting the mate on the drying racks.
Sapeco with a drum
The smoke from the fire travels through the tunnel to dry the mate in the wooden structure pictured in the background
The hot barbaqua where the mate is dried
Pressured by the agricultural department, the Gehm family had to modernize some of their equipment
The industry today dictates that mate should be pounded by metal blades instead of the traditional wodden mills.
