Roapipó Fuerte

First look

Nose

As with Roapipó Tradicional, the aroma of Roapipó Fuerte in the bag is very subtle and shy. I need to make an effort to smell anything from this yerba mate, but again, I get lots of papery and cardboardy notes that are probably coming from a bag itself, with a slightly sweet and woodsy notes somewhere in the background, and only after a deep whiff. Roapipó Fuerte is definitely not a yerba mate that will fill the room with its fragrant and intoxicating aroma, and is just as timid as its tradicional sister yerba. Needless to say, I also don’t get any typical notes for organic yerba mate, such as compost or soil. In fact, judging by the nose alone, I doubt I would find any difference between this yerba mate and Roapipó Tradicional.

Cut

Again drawing parallels with its traditional sibling, Roapipó Fuerte is a con palo yerba mate that is very heavy on the stems, which explains the lack of fragrant nose. Not only stems are abundant, but the size of the stems ranges from frequent inclusions of small thin splinters, to quite chunky and long pieces of branches. It is also quite dusty, to the point where it looks and feels like leaves are the least present component of this cut by volume, which I haven’t yet seen in Argentine yerba mate.

The color of Roapipó Fuerte is quite uneven, just like the color of the cut of Roapipó Tradicional, and ranges from very pale, overaged and almost lifeless leaves and dust particles, to deeper olive-green and toasty-brown pieces. Combined with powder- and stem-forward composition, Roapipó Fuerte reminds me more of a Paraguayan yerba mate, rather than Argentine.

Preparation

Despite a quite unorthodox con palo cut, traditional preparation in my experience did not cause any issues, no matter the gourd and bombilla that I used over the few weeks of drinking through the bag of Roapipó Fuerte. Dusty cut may intimidate the novice matero, but in reality the abundance of stems prevents any sort of clogging, and if shaken upside down before preparation, the stems should end up at the bottom of the gourd where the filter of bombilla will rest, and surround it with the natural anti-clogging barrier.

When it comes to temperature, I find Roapipó Fuerte to be more forgiving than the traditional version. Not that this yerba mate is great with any temperature of water, but it’s equally drinkable and simple at 60° C / 140° F as it is at 85° C / 185° F . Use whatever water feels to you more comfortable — you won’t miss out on any “secret” flavors or extended durability by using the wrong temperature of water.

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

Roapipó Tradicional was simple, shy, and left me with the feeling that something left unsaid. And, looking ahead, I have the same feeling with Roapipó Fuerte. The flavor profile is a bit different to the traditional Roapipó, with more smoky, leathery and chalky notes that are present in the flavor or this mate. Papery notes that I picked up on in the nose of Roapipó Fuerte are still present in the taste of this mate, and together with aforementioned notes give it a quite dry and non-sweet flavor profile.

Very faint hints of compost start to come through after a few first refills, but they are so subtle that I almost don’t want to mention them. I also get a little bit of woodsy notes, something slightly earthy, but again, all those notes are very muffled and subdued. Roapipó Fuerte is not bitter, it’s not sweet, and despite a more rugged flavor profile it is quite light-bodied and watery. I am not sure where the “fuerte” part comes from, but it’s definitely not from the taste of this mate, which is anything but strong.

Finish

After a weak and watery taste, it would be silly to anticipate some kind of long and potent finish from this mate. And the aftertaste is exactly as you might expect it — short, light and almost non-existent. Roapipó Fuerte is a very drinkable mate in that sense, and can be sipped at a very high cadence without exhausting your taste buds.

Durability

No matter the temperature of water, I was never able to get past 15 refills with this mate. More often than not Roapipó Fuerte became lavado right at the 13 refill mark, which makes it a short mate. Since its taste has already never been full and potent to begin with, sipping on Roapipó Fuerte past lavado was quite pointless. As you probably already expect, there is no evolution of flavors to begin with. Overall, durability of Roapipó Fuerte pretty much mirrors the impression left by its traditional sibling, where I concluded that the shortness of this mate combined with weak finish can be a positive quality, when you are in a rush and don’t have time for a long-winded mate session.

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

No surprises here as well — just as Roapipó Tradicional, this mate has neutral effect no matter the time of day I was drinking it. It was a nice and quick hot drink in the morning that acted more like an alternative to a glass of warm water than an energizing cup of coffee, and helped with rehydration after a night of sleep and relaxed my digestive tract before a good breakfast. In the evening I often substituted my daily cup or two of tea that I usually like to enjoy closer to bedtime with Roapipó Fuerte, and it never interfered with my sleep, while also making a delicious combination with a snack or sweet pastry.

I also feel like quick morning session or short evening nightcap with this mate is the best way to get health and mental benefits from this yerba mate, because its short durability is not really suitable for prolonged working sessions during the day, where you would want a longer mate that you don’t need to re-brew in the midst of deep concentrated work. And extra focus and mental clarity is still always welcomed both in the mornings, when most of the people usually start their work, and in the evenings, where you might also grab a book and need that extra boost in comprehension and immersion.

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