La Merced Campo Sur

First look

Nose

If you had at least some experience with yerba mate, you won’t be surprised by the smell of La Merced Campo Sur — it has that classic, aged, earthy aroma of Argentine yerba mate. It smells fairly sweet and fragrant, with notes that are to be expected from yerba mate from this country. Notes of hay and wood add earthiness and “brownness” to the nose of La Merced Campo Sur, and dry fruity notes add sweetness and a bit of tartness to the aroma of this yerba mate. Overall, the nose of La Merced Campo Sur is pretty classic and familiar, and reminds me of its close sibling — La Merced De Campo.

Cut

Looking at the lineup of La Merced yerba mates, you can notice that all of their yerbas share the same cut, which is a con palo cut — you won’t find any despaladas amongst their products. La Merced Campo Sur is not an exclusion — it has the same balanced con palo cut that has been aged for 12 months, just like all the other products from La Merced. This yerba mate is milled very evenly, with no coarse leaf or stem chunks whatsoever, and a healthy amount of powder to bind them together. The color of the cut though is slightly different from La Merced De Campo. I see more variety in the color of leaves in this yerba mate, which range from lighter and pale pieces to darker, almost black or brownish toasted ones. It is apparent that La Merced tries to do something different with each of their product to achieve different taste profile and characteristics, and La Merced Campo Sur does look a little different to another yerbas from La Merced.

Preparation

As with any other Argentine con palo yerba mates, preparing La Merced Campo Sur traditionally is pretty easy and straightforward. The even grind of its balanced cut makes it effortless to build a mountain of yerba, and it never clogged any of my bombillas.

On the package of La Merced Campo Sur, manufacturer recommends to use 75° C / 165° F water with this yerba mate, and I totally agree with them — I appreciated the flavors and duration of this mate the most in the range between 70° C and 75° C / 160° F and 165° F . You can still enjoy La Merced Campo Sur at a slightly colder temperatures if that is your preference, but I found the taste of this mate to be fairly weaker at 60° C to 65° C / 140° F to 150° F . Hotter water, 80° C / 175° F and higher, in my experience ruins La Merced Campo Sur and makes this mate too bitter and unbalanced.

Most convenient way to get ideal water temperature is to use an electric kettle​ or a stovetop kettle​ with temperature control. If you prefer traditional kettle you can use a infrared thermometer​ or a food thermometer​ .

Taste

La Merced Campo Sur was advertised as a softer, lighter and sweeter yerba mate, so naturally I wanted to compare it with the more traditional and similar-sounding La Merced blend — La Merced De Campo — as well as with other light, sweet and soft Argentine yerbas, such as Playadito Con Palo and Liebig Original. And to be honest, La Merced Campo Sur is much more close to La Merced De Campo than it is to yerbas from Cooperativa Liebig. It has that signature super balanced taste that I loved La Merced De Campo for, with just perfectly enough bitterness and sweetness, and clean classic aged flavors. I get notes of hay and cedar, dry apricots and raisins, and, similarly to Playadito Con Palo, subtle notes of roasted sunflower seeds. La Merced Campo Sur is not as sweet as Playadito Con Palo though, and other than being also a light-bodied mate, there are not much more similarities between these two yerbas.

Finish

After the sip, the flavors of La Merced Campo Sur don’t sit in your mouth for too long. Unlike La Merced De Campo, which had a long-lasting aftertaste, the finish of this mate is quite watery and non-existent, as if I just had a sip of plain warm water. I was disappointed with that at first, but eventually I learned to love this “drinkability” of La Merced Campo Sur for those occasions when I didn’t need a complex mate that makes you ponder each sip and just wanted something to go along with work or a book, when I could just be chain-sipping without exhausting my taste buds.

Durability

Both La Merced De Campo and Playadito Con Palo had an exceptionally long durability despite being light and simple. La Merced Campo Sur, unfortunately was not as long — on average I was able to get around 18 refills from this mate. It still has a solid moderate durability, and it feels nice to go through more than one liter of water with a medium-sized gourd, but it is nowhere near those impressive numbers shown by other similar yerbas. The simple flavors of La Merced Campo Sur don’t really offer much evolution, but transition from light and simple taste profile to lavado is very gradual, allowing you to enjoy this mate even after it becomes washed out.

The last thing you want while drinking mate is to constantly re-heat your water or add more ice to it. No matter if it's hot mate or cold tereré, use a vacuum bottle​ or a very popular in South America mate thermos​ with spout.

Effect

When it comes to effect, La Merced Campo Sur also differs to other La Merced yerbas, which in my experience were quite energizing. And also, unlike light and sweet Playadito Con Palo, this mate is not relaxing as well. No matter the time of day, be it early in the morning or late in the evening, I did not feel any particular stimulating effects from La Merced Campo Sur. In that sense, this is a neutral mate that is very versatile and allows you to enjoy it at any time. I still appreciated how it positively affected my mental state and my productivity, so in my book it is a great all-day mate to sip on while working or studying.

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What are your thoughts on La Merced Campo Sur? Comment below!