
How a German Soda Became Hackers' Fuel of Choice (2014) - neokya
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-of-choice
======
dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725078](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725078)

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buster
Being from Berlin i've seen this come up, but it really doesn't taste that
good and i think it is more of an insider/coolness/hipster thing. Pretty much
like the typical berlin hipster used to drink Bionade[0].

By the way, mate tea itself tastes quite good and that's what people should
drink. Club-Mate on the other hand tastes terrible and not so much like mate
tea at all, imo.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionade)

~~~
pluma
It's not about coolness/hipster, really. Though the recent surge in popularity
certainly could be explained that way.

I agree that the taste takes some getting used to. There's a reason the
unofficial slogan is "Man gewöhnt sich d'ran" ("One gets used to it"). For me
it's mostly the high caffeine content alongside a comparatively low sugar
content (lower than any other energy drinks or other caffeinated soft drinks
I've come across -- except for the "sugar free" ones).

I tried sugar-free energy drinks for a while but I find the taste too jarring
to get used to. I still drink sugar-free Red Bull on occasion (and actually
prefer it to regular Red Bull) but I couldn't stand relying on it as my
primary source of caffeine.

Basically, Club Mate is my coffee. Red Bull is my espresso. I don't drink
coffee (I can't stand the small) but I think that comparison probably works
best.

EDIT: Just noticed the article says the slogan "Man gewöhnt sich d'ran" is on
the bottle. That seems wrong. I've never seen the slogan used officially. I
always thought it was coined by its users, not the company itself.

~~~
spudlyo
From what little I know about German beverages, it seems like many of them
have cool slogans. I used to drink Afri-cola back in the day, and I think the
slogan was 'Kein Vergnuegen ohne Gefahr' or roughly 'No pleasure without
danger'.

~~~
pluma
Afri-Cola intentionally positioned itself as exotic and exciting with very
risqué advertising campaigns that probably wouldn't fly today (and only make
sense if you are aware how prevalent drug use was at the time).

I haven't come across that particular slogan, though.

For reference, here's a few German beverages and official slogans:

Afri-Cola: "Liebt einander und werdet durstig" / "Love each other and get
thirsty" (1999)

Bionade: "Das offizielle Getränk einer besseren Welt" / "The official beverage
of a better world" (2007)

Astra (beer): "Was dagegen?" / "Do you mind?" (1998)

Fritz-Kola: "Vielviel Koffein" / "Muchmuch caffeine" [sic!] (2006)

Bluna: "Sind wir nicht alle ein bisschen Bluna?" / "Aren't we all a bit
Bluna?" (1995)

~~~
darklajid
Now please go ahead and translate some of these: [http://www.frueh.de/frueh-
erleben/werbung/all/](http://www.frueh.de/frueh-erleben/werbung/all/) ;-)

More serious: I don't remember anyone but Afri really trying to be 'special'.
Not that hard. I'm ignoring all the weirdo energy drinks in cans for now..

~~~
pluma
In case you're serious or anybody else was wondering:

2015:

* "Vater rolle": "father roll" (same pun as in English: "father role" would be "Vaterrolle" (no space))

* "Such das Kölsch": "Find the Kölsch"

* "Dosiert feiern": "Dosed partying" ("Dose" also means "can")

2014:

* "Da haben wir die Bescherung": "There we have the mess" ("Bescherung" literally means the handing out of presents on Christmas)

* "Vom Weltmeister empfohlen": "Recommended by the (football) world champion"

* "Früh Sport mit Poldi": "Früh Sport with Poldi" (Poldi refers to football player Lukas Podolksi, "Früh Sport" could also be read as "Frühsport", which means "morning workout")

* "Ist ja schließlich nicht Muttertag": "After all it's not Mother's Day." (a lot of father's day customs involve getting drunk)

* "Karneval nicht irgendwas aufreißen": "Not tearing up just anything on Karneval" ("Karneval" refers to Rhineland carnival, "tear something/someone up" also has the same notations of "picking someone up" \-- i.e. finding a date or getting lucky)

* "So hätte jeder gehandelt": "Everyone would have done it this way"

2013:

* "Fließend Kölsch": "Fluent/Running Kölsch" ("fließend" here is a pun as it can either refer to the beer pouring from a tap or fluency in the Cologne dialect also called Kölsch)

* "Das gelbe vom Ei": "The yellow of the egg" (common phrase meaning "the best part of something")

* "... Mutters Tag": "... mother's day" ("Mother's Day" is called Muttertag in German, so this is meant to be read literally)

* "Vaters Tag ...": "Father's day ..." (same deal as above)

* "Leider geil!": "Unfortunately horny/awesome!" (meaning something to the effect of "I'm afraid to say this is totally awesome", hook-line of a popular German rap song that was getting a lot of radio play time at the time)

* "Wechselwähler": "Swing voter"

* "Heilige Drei Könige": "Holy Three Kings" (referring to the Three Wise Men / Kings of the East in the Christmas story; Cologne Cathedral has a shrine that allegedly carries the remnants of the Three Wise Men)

2012:

* "Alles andere ist Fasching": "Everything else is carnival" ("Fasching" is a term for German carnival used in various German-speaking regions _other_ than the Rhineland; in the Rhineland it is called "Karneval")

* "Kleinste Theke der Welt": "Smallest bar in the world" (Düsseldorf has a downtown area that is often called "Längste Theke der Welt", i.e. "largest bar in the world"; Düsseldorf and Cologne have a long-standing (today mostly humorous) rivalry)

* "Es löwt weiter": "It's carrying on" (the correct phrase would have been "Es läuft weiter", "löwt" sounds similar enough but is a reference to Jogi Löw, the trainer of the German national football team)

* "Wir sind mit dem Radler da": "We are here with the Radler" ("Radler" is a popular shandy consisting of lemonade and beer; it's likely derived from "Fahrrad", meaning "bicycle": a "Radler" is someone who "radelt", i.e. someone who uses a bike)

* "Gefällt mir": "Like" (literally "I like this"; this is what the Facebook "Like" button reads in Germany)

* "Heilig am Abend": "Holy in the evening" (a play on "Heilig Abend": "holy night", the night before Christmas)

I'm not going to do the rest, though ;)

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unwind
Can we please have a [2014] on this?

I've tried it once: I'm a hacker (at least in my own mind), so of course I had
to try it when I spotted it in local grocery store here in Stockholm, Sweden.
It didn't appeal to me and I'm not one for acquired tastes, I won't buy it
again.

~~~
pluma
I love it, but I can see why it doesn't appeal to some (most?) people.

It's definitely an acquired taste and I don't think it would be as popular if
it weren't for the high caffeine content and its popularity with the Chaos
Computer Club in Germany.

At this point in Germany it is actually mostly associated with university
students rather than hackers in particular. It's certainly no longer as
"underground" as it was a few years ago, even if it's still more popular with
hackers than with any other subculture.

Maybe I should point out that I don't like coffee and don't smoke. Even though
I like Club Mate myself I generally don't expect people who've never drank it
before to find it even remotely pleasant.

------
drivingmenuts
“The first time you drink it,” Ohlig says, “it kind of tastes like horse urine
filtered through hay.”

That was a real selling point for me. :D

~~~
pluma
When asked what it tastes like I generally say "like drinking Bionade[0] from
an ashtray". I can't justify why I like it, really.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionade)

------
evincarofautumn
To those interested in sugar-free energy drinks, I must say that I
emphatically recommend Hi-Ball[1] “sparkling energy water”. Artificial
sweeteners all make me gag, so Hi-Ball is everything I’ve ever wanted in an
energy drink: caffeine, B vitamins, bubbles, and light flavour. Das it!

[1]: [http://hiballer.com/](http://hiballer.com/)

------
panamafrank
Mate isn't just a hacker thing it's more from the clubbing scene and doesn't
derive from yerba mate whatsoever. mate and all the other copy cats are just
part of a wider german taste for dry soft drinks.

When clubbing the low sugar content 20Cal/100ml means it doesn't give you
cotton mouth when you're on speed or MDMA.

It's so engrained into berlin clubbing culture you perform this ritual when
you order a "vodka mate" or a "whisky mate" from a bar: they hand you the
500ml bottle (the 330ml is lame) then you take a big swig and hand it back,
the bartender then free pours the spirit in topping it up, charging you
depending how much you swigged and if you've tipped before.

Fun fact! club mate is made in south germany so it's technically schwabisch
and Schwabians are eternally made scapegoats for berlins gentrification... and
so makes it all the more ironic when it's exclaimed "it's so berlin!"

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fit2rule
Here at Metalab Vienna, Club-Mate is a regularly stocked item. The place
closes down if there aren't a stack of crates piled high by the front door,
waiting to be chilled and consumed by all and sundry.

I've never been able to enjoy it. It does wake you up, though.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Same in Hackerspace Kraków. We stockpile crates of this stuff whenever our
food budget allows. About half of the space hates it, but the other half can
go through two crates in a single week.

------
ryan-c
If anyone in the bay area wants some Club Mate, I've got at least a dozen
cases left from a pallet I had imported last year and would be happy to sell
some. Contact email in my profile.

~~~
pimlottc
The Fizzery on Mission St stocks it last time I checked.

------
stox
For those in the States interesting in finding Club Mate: [http://club-
mateusa.com/](http://club-mateusa.com/)

------
panamafrank
Real hackers drink 1337Mate ...
[http://www.1337mate.com/](http://www.1337mate.com/)

~~~
neokya
Interesting. On the site note, how do you pronounce the name?

~~~
panamafrank
1337 maaatay ;)

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tosseraccount
I've had yerba mate, I prefer coffee. Yerba mate grows and is widely available
in Argentina.

In some South American countries, "coca mate" or coca tea (tea from the plant
from which cocaine is made) is available.

I'm thinking that would be a much more interesting, hip productivity drink.

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chiph
100mg of Caffeine? I tried a couple of cans of Jolt Cola back in the day, and
with it's (then) 71mg of Caffeine I thought my brain was going to pop out of
my skull. No idea how the drinkers of Club-Mate don't have health problems
from this.

~~~
fennecfoxen
I don't want to be too down on peoples' beverage or anything. I enjoy a decent
cup of coffee myself now and then. But... yeah, I'm also a little distressed
at the culture of heavy drug use to get through the working day.

"In crunch time I've had like 10 bottles in a day", says the Wikimedia
engineer. Ugh. What other unhealthy habits should we start to be more
productive at our jobs? Most of us probably have plenty of free sugary snacks
in the office already, so perhaps we can start smoking or become alcoholics to
relieve stress on the job?

~~~
DanBC
Especially since it's 5% sugar -- drinking 1.5 l or 2 l a day is bad enough,
but 10 bottles (5 l) a day is going to be harmful.

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ExpiredLink
> _Staying awake for lengthy stretches is key in both hacker and rave
> cultures_

Work smart, not hard - you you ain't no hacker.

~~~
thisjepisje
Party smart, not hard? :P

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Amorymeltzer
Not Bawls? Not valid.

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WorldWideWayne
I just get a 5 pound bag of actual yerba mate and drink that with some hot
water -

[http://www.amazon.com/EcoTeas-Organic-Yerba-
Loose-5-Pound/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/EcoTeas-Organic-Yerba-
Loose-5-Pound/dp/B0012BSLWU)

------
ChrisArchitect
february 2014 really? come on

~~~
dang
It's totally fine to post older articles to HN. Those are some of the best
things that appear here!

If, however, an article has had significant attention in about the last year,
we bury it as a duplicate. That applies here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725078](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725078).

~~~
ChrisArchitect
I understand that, but not 'totally fine' in many cases...without the 2014 in
the title, so misleading...

the url being different on the other largely upvoted entry doesn't' help I
guess..but geez, I dunno, I just always hope that submitters at least hesitate
to post something from a year ago

