
How a German Soda Became Hackers' Fuel of Choice - rizumu
http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-of-choice
======
GFischer
Mate is the national drink here in Uruguay, has been for a century or two :)
(and for 500 years in Paraguay).

And it was a fad in California some years past. ("According to a major
retailer of mate in San Luis Obispo, California, by 2004, mate had grown to
about 5% of the overall natural tea market in North America")

But I'm surprised at the speed it's propagating in Europe.

Many say it's much better suited for prolonged concentration than coffee,
almost every single university student here drinks it, so I'm not surprised
that German hackers are taking advantage of its benefits too.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_\(beverage\))

There's a Congress on Yerba Mate and its health effects and benefits going on
right now (from the 8th to today)

[http://www.infoyerbamate.com/index.php?option=com_content&vi...](http://www.infoyerbamate.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=119:congreso-
sudamericano&catid=80:novedades&Itemid=496)

~~~
weland
It's a wonderful drink. I've been hooked up on it for many years now and it's
the perfect hacking companion.

I still get my morning resurrection from coffee, but abandon it afterwards.
Mate doesn't give me the jitters, doesn't burn my stomach and it's very low-
maintenance compared to tea, which needs to be left just _this_ much time
before it becomes a bitter, undrinkable blargh.

~~~
noir_lord
> before it becomes a bitter, undrinkable blargh.

Try a small amount of honey, I drink a fair amount of tea (I'm English, it has
to be done) and I'm one of those freaks who like it pretty stewed but if I go
too far I find a drop of honey takes a lot of the edge of the bitterness.

~~~
weland
I'm a tea junkie myself, although unlike the pretentious tea junkies I don't
pretend to be insulted at the sight of a teabag. I'm ok with the _normal_
bitterness of the tea; what troubles me is that it does occasionally happen
that I drop the bag or the leaves in, start debugging, and twenty minutes of
how the fuck does this even compile later it suddenly dawns on me that FUCK
I'VE BEEN STEEPING THIS FOR 20 MINUTES THIS IS GOING TO MELT MY TONGUE.

Mate doesn't suffer from this inconvenience. I just pour the water and forget
about it, refilling it when there's no more of that sweet liquid and tossing
in more leaves when that liquid is no longer sweet.

Edit: that being said, your tip about adding a drop of honey is spot on! I
also like my tea a bit overstewed and adding a splash of honey does take the
edge of a little if I push it too far.

------
_ak
Club Mate is the only caffeinated soda that isn't overly sweet, doesn't give
me a bad stomach and doesn't make me jittery. The first time I had it was at a
CCC event in 2002, and back then, it was really obscure. In the last 5 or so
years though, it has became a staple in Berlin, and you can get it at
practically every corner shop.

~~~
brassybadger
Indeed, I'd say it's more popular in Berlin than Coke.

------
greggman
A lot of comments here seem to be equating various tea forms of mate with Club
Mate. Club Mate is a soda as in it belongs on the self somewhere next to Coke
and Red Bull. It's got more caffeine than Coke but only about 1/2 the sugar. I
really liked it.

Tea made from mate is the same only in the sense that orange juice is similar
to orange soda. As in they are arguably not really similar.

That's not to say anything negative about mate based teas. I drink those too.
Just that, if you go get Yerba Mate or any other mate tea you're not drinking
anything remotely similar to Club Mate.

~~~
GFischer
I equated it mostly because I was commenting about its effects - if Club Mate
has a similar effect than regular Mate "tea", it's a better alternative to
coffee, and at least one comment here makes it seem so (cessor: "With mate the
caffeine rush is much better"):

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725211](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7725211)

I'll have to taste Club Mate and see what it tastes like (I might like it more
than regular Mate! I find it too bitter)

------
bshimmin
"The golden soda has become essential nourishment for anyone in Berlin
involved in hacktivism, club culture, dance music, tech—just about everyone in
the city under the age of 40."

What a ridiculous sentence.

~~~
gordaco
The article looked to me like very obvious PR.

This article[1] from pg has been linked like a million times, but it's as
relevant as it was the first time.

> _Trend articles like this are almost always the work of PR firms. Once you
> know how to read them, it 's straightforward to figure out who the client
> is._

EDIT: oftenwrong linked the article before me; I hadn't read their message
when I send mine. I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw it.

[1]
[http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

~~~
joshu
Standard disclaimer - this article was originally written about me, and was
completely wrong.

(Although this probably is a press hit)

------
omnibrain
If there only was a sugar free variant. Having quit sugary sodas also meant
having to overcome my Club Mate addiction. :(

~~~
GFischer
The original, South American variant, is a tea-like infusion, which is
supposed to be bitter and sugar-free :) (though there's a "mate dulce" sweet
variant)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_\(beverage\))

I know it's sold in Austria, but I don't know whether you can find it in
Germany.

Edit: apparently it's sold at speciality shops in Germany too, like Delicatino

www.delicatino.de/es/nosotros?b98bf9d568d475199bf586135367cc54=qjqxosww

or

[http://www.yerba-mate.de/](http://www.yerba-mate.de/)

[http://www.gustoargentino.com/](http://www.gustoargentino.com/)

[http://www.bockandgardener.com/](http://www.bockandgardener.com/)

Even the typical Uruguayan variant is available at stores like Mittemeer and
Aquí España:

[http://tropicalizandoberlin.com/?tag=yerba-mate-en-
berlin-2](http://tropicalizandoberlin.com/?tag=yerba-mate-en-berlin-2)

~~~
omnibrain
Thanks for the reply, but I would be more interested in a soda with artificial
sweetener. It would be great if they made a Club Mate variant without sugar

------
mch0lic
It's all lovely and shit, but once you hook up on Club Mate and leave Germany
you feel quite damned. I feel the same about Savanna Dry (South African Sider)
but in recent years they expanded the market quite dramatically hope germans
will do the same :)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Yes, it's damn difficult to get it outside of Germany, but well... if you're
really hooked up on it, you'll always find a way :).

~~~
mch0lic
It gets way harder if you travel a lot. To get some delivered within EU should
be fairly easy there are plenty of individuals doing cargo delivery business
with insanely low prices but if you in asia or africa you out of options...

------
dewey
I love Mate.

If you speak german there's a great Chaosradio episode [0] about the different
"Hackerbrausen" / "Hackersoda" where they are talking about the history of
Club Mate and other drinks in that genre.

[0] [http://cre.fm/cre175-hackerbrausen](http://cre.fm/cre175-hackerbrausen)

~~~
qznc
"Brause" can also be translated to "lemonade" or "soda" in german. The article
claims "shower", which is another meaning, but in the context the wrong one.

------
lispm
At the 30c3 there were Club Mate and Flora Power.

Flora Power is actually a bit better - not that sweet.

[https://twitter.com/zeitiger/status/416496391209644032/photo...](https://twitter.com/zeitiger/status/416496391209644032/photo/1)

~~~
ultrasandwich
Flora Power was surprisingly great, and indeed a little less sugary. Tried it
at 30c3 for the first time too.

~~~
Crazywater
1337Mate used to taste like Flora Power, only with more caffeine, but now it
tastes like marshmallows :(

------
olssy
You can order it in North America from the 2600 store:
[http://store.2600.com/clubmate.html](http://store.2600.com/clubmate.html)

Funny there was no mention in the article that they are the eastern
distributor what with them being a hacker organization with deep ties to the
CCC.

~~~
stox
If you live in the NYC are, come to the H.O.P.E. convention, there will be
plenty for sale.

~~~
stox
Also, that these fine locations in the NYC area:
[https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zxNGGEaFaiHs....](https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zxNGGEaFaiHs.kth4fFW69QaM)

------
lispm
We also have a matekarte, which shows Mate availability world-wide:

[https://www.matekarte.de](https://www.matekarte.de)

Various Mate brands:

[https://www.matekarte.de/brands](https://www.matekarte.de/brands)

------
leoc
The taste reminds me of fig newtons and Worcestershire sauce.

~~~
sbarre
you're not selling it. ;-)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Well, about half of the people I introduced to Club Mate said the exact same
thing - that it tastes like water from cigarette butts.

Haters gonna hate. I still love it. ;).

~~~
desireco42
It does taste like that :) that is Mate taste, learn to love it.

------
cessor
I'd like to stress what the article says about the difference to other
caffeinated drinks. I drink coffee a lot, since it is more easily available,
but I prefer club mate if I can get some. For work it is much better than
coffee. I tend to get very shaky and restless from coffee, my leg will start
bouncing after a lot of programming (i.e. concentrated work periods in front
of a computer). With mate the caffeine rush is much better, I stay more
focussed and can concentrate more easily. I am not as restless. Yet it is
possible to overdose. One bottle can last for hours, I bet the guy in the
article could look through time after 10 bottles a day. If you can get it, try
it!

------
kanwisher
I've never seen anyone drink that outside of berlin ...

~~~
beagle3
One of the best east coast hackerspaces,
[http://www.nycresistor.com/](http://www.nycresistor.com/) has practically
made it the official drink of the place.

~~~
theIV
Thanks for the link! I've been wondering where I could take some beginner
classes for arduino and the like, but now I know.

------
spupy
Didn't know it's that popular, especially among "hackers". At work the Coca
Cola crate gets empty faster than the Club Mate crate.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Visit any Hackerspace anywhere in the world, and you'll likely find a crate of
two of Club Mate there. It's a de-facto official drink of Hackerspaces
worldwide. At ours (Kraków, Poland) we go through a crate or two a week.

~~~
metachris
Same here in Austria. At metalab.at (hackerspace in Vienna) we need about 10
crates per week, and god forbid we run dry...

------
TeMPOraL
Learned about when visiting LeineLab in Hanover, stuck with me forever since.
At Hackerspace Kraków we go through a crate or two in a week, and this drink
kept us through many sessions of night hacking.

Edit:

Re Club Mate being semi-official drink in Hackerspaces worldwide, see
[http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/The_Club_Mate_Pattern](http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/The_Club_Mate_Pattern)
:).

------
Zigurd
I love German candor in product descriptions. Right on the label it says
"tanning agents." Mmmmm. Tannery. That hits the spot.

------
bananas
What happened to Vita Cola? Only drinkable thing from Germany :)

I have East German parents and they lived on that stuff until the wall came
down.

~~~
collyw
>Only drinkable thing from Germany

They do have one or two beers that are quite drinkable.

~~~
bananas
I found you have to drink a lot of it before it becomes drinkable which is a
bit of a catch 22...

------
johnlbevan2
There are also Yerba Mate beers out there:
[http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/mateveza-black-
lager](http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/mateveza-black-lager)

------
marsay
What's with the url? [http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-
test.appspot.com](http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com)

~~~
icco
Not sure, did a little digging, and it should be
[http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-
ha...](http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-
of-choice)

------
ultrasandwich
Hear hear. I love the variety of mate sodas in Berlin too. Club Mate is like
the OG, but 1337Mate is promising so far!

~~~
k__
Everything besides Club Mate is Berlin Hipstery :P

;)

------
schultkl
Trader Joe's, the American grocery chain, sells Yerba Mate tea, now, as
well...it's everywhere.

------
Orangeair
Is there any cheap place to buy this in the U.S.? I've wanted to try it for
awhile, but I can't justify spending three dollars a bottle at the 2600 store
when I can get regular energy drinks for half the price.

~~~
wiml
You can get loose-leaf mate for cheaper than that per drink, but probably more
than $3 per purchase.

------
dominotw
I recently switched to matcha from coffee buying into similar claims of 'long
lasting jitter free zen concentration'. Have been happy so far. Has anyone
tried both matcha and matte? How do they compare?

------
rmetzler
I used to drink a lot of club mate. I loved it, but I had to stop drinking it
because there is much more sugar in it than you would think and I developed
dental health issues.

------
coldcode
If it's so good why shouldn't someone Kickstarter a company to make something
similar in the US? Seems like a real opportunity. Just advertise on HN and
profit.

~~~
ultrasandwich
Man I have given this serious thought before. Anyone else? Get in touch if you
want to kick some ideas around. I don't know the first thing about
distribution, but I'm interested in brewing craft sodas, and I could make a
kickass website for it.

~~~
manav
Where are you based? Email me manav@me.com.

------
taksintik
"Horse piss filtered through hay"...say no more. In.

------
oftenwrong
Seems like a "submarine"

[http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Maybe. But it is also interesting. I upvoted this because the "every
Hackerspace in the world drinks Club Mate" phenomenon is real, and I'm happy I
could learn more about the stuff I drink all the time ;).

------
fredgrott
there is an online store for the US if you promise not resell it:

[http://club-mate.us/](http://club-mate.us/)

------
Vektorweg
Or tea. Probably the hackers second choice.

~~~
lispm
If I look at the company I work for, it's quite diverse.

Munich: human-made espresso and beer. I haven't seen much tea.

Düsseldorf: machine-made espresso, Club-Mate and a variety of tea.

Don't know what they drink in Frankfurt.

The tea drinkers in Düsseldorf are not yet very sophisticated. What most of
them failed to understand: absolutely excellent Japanese green tea is
available - due to s strong Japanese community.

Many of these trends are actually from Hamburg. The CCC originated in Hamburg.
New drinks like the Flora Power mate and 1337MATE are from Hamburg.

[http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/leetmate-hackerbrause-
aus...](http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/leetmate-hackerbrause-aus-
hamburg-a-877927.html)

~~~
Vektorweg
In thuringia, clubmate is preferred. But i also saw many hackers just drinking
tea.

------
myers
What the heck is up with the URL?

~~~
downer73
I know, right?

Normal:

[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-a-german-soda-became-
ha...](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-a-german-soda-became-hackers-fuel-
of-choice)

Abnormal:

[http://www-refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com/blog/ho...](http://www-
refresh.vice-motherboard-test.appspot.com/blog/how-a-german-soda-became-
hackers-fuel-of-choice)

------
dbbolton
Is it possible to order this soda online?

A quick look on Amazon and Google Shopping turned up nothing.

~~~
lobster_johnson
US? Some pointers here (online and physical locations): [http://club-
mate.us/](http://club-mate.us/)

