“Recently I was introduced to a South American drink known as Yerba Mate. I was assured that it was not against the WoW and that it was an herbal tea (I personally drink herbal teas quite frequently). I have researched it as thoroughly as I possibly can and do not believe it to be against the Word of Wisdom. But a close friend of mine recently returned from a mission in South America and was says he was told it was against the Word of Wisdom by his mission president.” (Roy)
Based on the modern interpretation of the Word of Wisdom and my limited understanding of Yerba Mate, I do not believe it is against the word of Wisdom. It is not coffee, alcohol or made from the Camellia sinensis bush.
This mission president may have made the assumption that since Yerba Mate contains caffeine, it is against the Word of Wisdom. This is an incorrect deduction.
Drink away, mate.
Wait…. I thought the WoW just said to avoid hot drinks (i.e. tea).. where is this Camellia sinensis stuff coming from? Have leaders clarified? I know my sister in law insists that herbal tea is ok to drink, but I thought tea was tea? Have church authorities actually stated somewhere in conference or something that herbal tea is ok?
Camellia sinensis is coming from the fact that it is the name of the tea plant. Botanists define “tea”, not the church leaders. Tea is any drink made from the tea plant. As long as herbal tea does not have ingredients from the tea plant, it’s not actually tea.
Church leaders don’t need to say herbal tea is okay because the fact that they have say “hot drinks” is coffee and tea, by default, they’re saying herbal tea (which is not tea) is okay. By the fact that herbal tea is not included in the definition of “hot drinks”, it is not prohibited. This is no different from the fact that water, milk, juice, and other such drinks (which are also not from the tea plant) are also not prohibited.
Not too long ago I read a comment from a return LDS missionary and he said he found out Yerba mate is allowed and safe and not aganist the word of wisdom.
I served a mission in Argentina. Yerba Mate is not against the Word of Wisdom. We were allowed to drink it in the tea bag form but were discouraged from drinking it from the mate (gourd) and bombilla (metal straw) as it is passed around socially and everyone drinks from the same straw,so for hygienic reasons it was off limits. As well as they do this ritual for hours so it doesn’t lead to being a very effective missionary. On our personal day if we wished we could use the gourd and straw at home.
This really shouldn’t be rocket science, study and prayer will clear most of this up. That being said, I firmly believe that there are varying levels of understanding of the Word of Wisdom and that D&C 89 is the absolute baseline “given as a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.” D&C 89:3 That being said, I can’t tell you how many times someone has told me a bishop or stake president said green tea is ok, anyone understanding plants at all know the only difference between Green and Black tea is the oxidative state when processed. The tea industry classifies ALL teas from the Camellia sinensis plant as tea, we’re talking Black, Green, White, Yellow, Oolong, pu-rea and even kukicha which only uses the stem I believe. The Saints during pioneer times clearly understood the difference of all these teas if you go and read from the period, they all where called hot drink. But Hey, bishops can be wrong, give them a break, Satan has worked hard to grey all these things in our time. I have many times references an article on LDS.org explaining this, however, I seem to not be able to find it at the moment. However, there are many do’s in the Word of Wisdom as well, so if any of you think that you should completely avoid Herbal tea you are most probably breaking the Word of Wisdom as well, seeing that of all the things it says we should consume, there is only one class of food that we are commanded to eat without any qualification, and that’s wholesome herbs D&C 89:10! So we really should be doing all we can to center our diet around wholesome herbs, not avoiding them. All other things that we can eat, there is a qualification to eating it. Most company’s that make pre-made tea bags, will classify herbal tea completely separate from all teas made from Camellia sinensis, but they also separate it from Yerba Mate as well! Otherwise they add the title Chai to it, which usually means adding herbal tea with a stimulant based tea. So can you honestly say you are following the Word of Wisdom and drink Mate? YES. But do it knowing that you are following the the baseline qualification of the weakest of saints. Mate has 5 known stimulants in it, knowing that, you do also have the option of refraining from it in hopes to receive a greater promise, and that’s worth it to me to avoid it and other stimulants as well. Do general authorities drink beverages with stimulants, yes. Is it against the Word of Wisdom, no. Could they gain a greater promise by refraining from it, yes. Are we all on our own journey in learning how our Father wants us to treat our bodies, yes. Do general authorities make mistakes, yes they are not perfected yet. Be patient with people, but feel free to call them a Weak Saint under your breath, lol, just kidding. Love everyone, be forgiving, wait for teachable opportunities, there was a time I drank Green tea and had no idea what it was other than a “health drink”. I’ve had Kava, as well as Yerba Mate. I have refrained from all of the above for some time, and have learned much since. Hope this helps.
Why are you calling people a “weak saint” because they eat foods with stimulants in them? Do you realize its nearly impossible to avoid stimulants in the diet? You would have to avoid all sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, garlic, onion, all peppers and anything spicy, maca, ginseng, artichoke, bacopa, ashwaganda, oat straw, lion’s mane, rhodiola, coconut oil, L-theanine, huperzine-A and the list goes on and on. There are natural stimulants in many, many foods because it energizes our bodes and focuses our minds. It is nearly impossible to avoid them. I think that more study and prayer should have cleared that up for you.
Jimmy, thanks for your comments. I think you are right. I need to find a way to make kombucha so that I feel comfortable about it following the Word of Wisdom. I have never drank caffeinated soft drinks because I feel I will receive more blessing. I just finished a Nutrition course where the bad effects of ingesting caffeine were repeated over and over and these were non mormons teaching the course. I’ve been sleeping better since drinking Kombucha though and want the enzymes and probiotics it contains. I will need to find a different way of getting that until I can make my own without tea that comes from black or green tea.
Make water kefir. It’s easy and delicious. You can make a second ferment with grape juice, ginger, lemon juice or a hundred other things. Cultures for Health has great resources and good starter products.
Thanks. I’ve made raw milk kefir, but haven’t heard of water kefir before. Any recipe you want to share?
I have a child who is sensitive to milk protein, so that’s why I did water kefir. Then I tried some milk kefir and no one liked the taste. It took a lot of trial and error. The trickiest part is getting the temperature right because we keep our house cool in the winter. I got all of my supplies from Cultures for Health, so I will link to their website. I’m sure that you could get similar products from other places, but this is just what I used …
I discovered that even though I have a Berkey water filter, it does better with distilled water, with some minerals added back in. (Probably because I don’t filter out the fluoride.) So I buy distilled water at the grocery store.
Don’t use metal (spoons, strainer, etc.)
Get the water kefir grains and rehydrate. https://www.culturesforhealth.com/diy-water-kefir-starter-kit.html They will come with instructions as to how to rehydrate. After they are rehydrated, this is what I did:
1. Heat up some of the distilled water in a quart sized mason jar and add a few drops of Concentrace.
2. Dissolve 1/4 c. rapadura sugar (or cane sugar) in the water.
3. Add water most of the way to the top and wait for it to cool down to room temperature.
4. Pour your previous water kefir out of the mason jar into a strainer over a glass jar (I used a pyrex measuring cup because it has a spout.)
5. Plop the grains out of the strainer into your new water and cover it with a coffee filter and ring. Let it sit for a couple of days before repeating steps above.
6. At this point, you can drink the previous batch, but it won’t be fizzy. We most often used grape or muscadine juice (the good kind with sludge at the bottom). Sour cherry concentrate was also good. Also some crystalized ginger with lemon slices was yummy. With the grape juice, pour a 1/4 cup into a grolsch bottle. (http://www.culturesforhealth.com/amber-flip-top-bottles-500ml-case-of-12.html)
7. Close the bottles and leave them tightly closed for a couple of days.
8. Open and enjoy. It tastes a bit like grape soda, but definitely not as sweet. Refrigerate after this.
This kit comes with ginger and Grolsch bottles: http://www.culturesforhealth.com/ginger-water-kefir-kit.html
Good luck!
Thank you so much!
Or you could just buy KeVita’s Sparkling Probiotic Water Kefir. Walmart carries a few flavors for $2.67 a bottle.
Dr Robert Cassar makes his with Yerba Mate. So that’s what I’m doing!
God made us each with the ability to discern information according to our own knowledge and understanding. We should each make our own decision. Here is an interesting take on Hot and Cold foods and drinks from a Middle Eastern Perspective:
http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/lifestyles/food_property_food_tcm.html