Los Altan builds tea firm from rainforest herb
By Muy Yam, Special to the Town Crier
 South Americans traditionally drink a tea made of yerba mate out of a hollowed-out gourd, through a straw. |
In South America, there has long been a custom shared among friends and family at social gatherings. A hollowed out gourd full of a tea-like beverage is passed around from person to person to drink from through a straw. It is believed that all those who drink from it share a bond, as well as a mutual form of acceptance. “This is known as the circle of friendship,” said Ricardo Avalos.
Avalos, born and raised in Paraguay, hopes to continue this tradition in the Bay Area and the rest of America. He is the CEO of Canopy Foods, LLC, a Los Altos-based company that manufactures Jerovia, its own brand of yerba mate, the herbal beverage consumed regularly in South America.
An indigenous herb of the Amazon rainforest, yerba mate (pronounced YAIR-bah MAH-tay) has long been hailed as a life-sustaining beverage. Natives of South America have been drinking tea from the member of the holly family for years for its numerous vitamins, amino acids and polyphenols. Its ability to be a natural stimulant for the mind and a relaxant for the muscles without toxicity makes it a wonderful alternative to coffee and other caffeinated beverages.
Avalos began the company in 2002 as a school project while completing his MBA at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan. While in the Midwest, Avalos embraced the community’s business sense and its dedication to agriculture. He came to the United States after working for global company Unilever in Argentina and Brazil. Unilever owns Lipton tea, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Dove and many other brands.
“That’s what got me interested in the consumer product industry,” he said.
What makes Jerovia unique from other brands of yerba mate is that it is shade grown in a 26,000-acre reserve in Canindeyú, a northern state of Paraguay, and is certified organic, according to Avalos.
“Not many companies can guarantee that,” Avalos said. “When a person tastes a natural product without anything added, they feel healthy.” Committed to his role in maintaining social responsibility, Avalos said he also embraces fair trade practices and offers farmers three times the average market price for their production of yerba mate.
Planting, maintaining and harvesting of Jerovia yerba mate is done by employees of Canopy Foods and is part of a reforestation project in the Atlantic Biosphere of the South American rainforest. The company has 45 people directly involved with processing the product, and employs about 300 natives from the area in all.
Yerba mate plants grow from seedlings. More a bush than a tree, the plant is nurtured by the shade, and when matured, the leaves are handpicked. “When you first grow yerba mate, it will take four years to get full leaves, and we harvest during the summer and winter,” Avalos said. “In summer we pick from the bottom, winter we take from top.”
After the leaves are picked, they are stored in shade for about three weeks. A machine separates out the bitter-tasting stems. Fallen branches from the rainforest are used to build a fire for heatflashing, the process used to to preserve the nutritional properties of the leaves and retain their flavor. While being heated by the fire, the leaves are pulled through a long tube, creating a vacuum-like effect. Once the leaves are dry and come through the tube, they are crushed or put through a grinder. “And now you have the product that is to be consumed,” Avalos said. “Ready for tea bags or loose.”
While the traditional way to serve yerba mate is in a gourd and drunk through a straw, known as a bombilla, Avalos said that the taste may be a little bitter for some Americans. Some people prefer the tea-bag form. “They can also add a little sugar to it,” he said. “It just depends on the person.”
Avalos chose Los Altos as the home of Jerovia after a few years of exploring the market and doing research. For him, the Bay Area seemed a natural fit for his product. “The Bay Area is a place where so many organic companies get started,” he said. “California embraces organic foods.”
Besides sharing the health benefits of yerba mate for mind and body with the Bay Area, Avalos hopes that the social aspect of drinking yerba mate will catch on as well. “Right now in South America, 5 million people are drinking yerba mate,” he said. “I want it to be like that in the U.S. I want to teach them to start their own bonds, their own circle of friendship.”
Jerovia yerba mate is available at Estrellita Restaurant, 971 San Antonio Road, and online at www.jerovia.com.
