Sara Extra Suave

First look

Nose

The aroma of freshly opened bag of Sara Extra Suave is really interesting. If I took a whiff of this yerba mate blindfolded, I would definitely say that I’m smelling Argentine yerba mate! It is really sweet and fragrant, and that confectionery sweetness combined with notes of dry fruits and raisins really reminds me of preserved candied fruits. I don’t get any extensive earthy, smoky and leathery notes that are typical to some of the most popular yerbas from Uruguay, such as Canarias Tradicional, nor do I smell any doughy, malty and bready notes that can also be easily found in many yerbas from this country, such as Del Cebador or even Sara Tradicional. A very interesting nose coming from a Uruguayan yerba mate that made me really excited to taste it when I first smelled it.

Cut

When you actually look at Sara Extra Suave, you can now confidently say that this is not an Argentine yerba mate. In fact, it is one of the finest and dustiest Uruguayan yerba mates I’ve ever had! Sure, there a few slightly coarser leaves and splinters here and there, but the majority of this P.U.1 cut consists of dust and fine powder. Sara Extra Suave has that very fluffy and airy quality to it that I absolutely love Uruguayan yerbas for.

Color of this yerba mate on the other hand is quite pale and desaturated. Especially when coming from Sara Tradicional, which has more vibrant, almost erva-like hue to it. I was not able to find exact amount of months Sara yerba mates were aged for, but on their website​ they claim that both Sara Tradicional and Sara Extra Suave are made from the same raw material, and the only difference is the lower amount of dust in this suave version. That surprised me, as to my eyes both versions of Sara are quite dusty, with Sara Extra Suave maybe even slightly dustier than the traditional version.

Preparation

As with any P.U.1 yerbas from Uruguay, traditional preparation can be quite tricky and advanced thing to do. A super dusty cut of Sara Extra Suave presents even more challenges than the average Uruguayan yerba mate. Although I have quite a bit of experience with Uruguayan yerbas, Sara Extra Suave still managed to test my skills as a cebador! A proper mountain of yerba as well as a spoon bombilla​ with fine filter is a must for this yerba mate, as it is almost as fine as Brazilian erva mate. I would highly suggest getting a cuia​ with bomba​ for Sara Extra Suave — the shape of cuia combined with flat profile and fine filter of bomba will ease the molding of mountain that will not collapse after a few refills and clog your straw right away. Constant maintenance of the mountain is also required with this yerba mate to ensure that you always have a proper and clean water hole that will not turn into a muddy swamp that will also clog your bombilla.

When it comes to temperature of water, things become even more interesting. Unlike Sara Tradicional, no temperature is bad for this mate — not only was it perfectly fine be it at 60° C / 140° F or at 85° C / 185° F , it also tasted and behaved completely differently, offering a broad variety of flavors and durability. I will go into more details further, but for now you need to know that Sara Extra Suave is a very lenient mate that can be enjoyed at any temperature.

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

Since we started to talk about the temperature, let’s begin with the hottest water range — 80° C to 85° C / 175° F to 185° F . At this temperature of water Sara Extra Suave is bold, masculine yet still balanced and delicious. Expect lots of strong, earthy and, believe it or not, non-edible notes — leather, chalk, cardboard, and even some hint of smokiness that I wasn’t able to pick up earlier in the nose of this yerba mate. It is fairly bitter with such hot water, but the sweetness comes through at any temperature and balances out this bitterness quite nicely.

Going a little colder, around 70° C to 75° C / 160° F to 165° F , I no longer can taste smoky and leathery notes. Instead, I get that classic Uruguayan taste that combines both earthy, soily, papery and woodsy flavors with softer doughy, malty and milky notes. Despite branded as “suave”, I don’t get any “softness” or weakness in the taste of this mate. I also don’t get that vegetative freshness that I found to be prevalent in the taste of Sara Tradicional — to me, Sara Extra Suave is closer to Canarias Tradicional than the yerba from the same brand.

At the lowest temperature for hot mate, between 60° C and 65° C / 140° F and 150° F , Sara Extra Suave completely loses all the rest of the earthy and strong notes. Still delicious, still balanced, it turns into a chocolate milk of mate world. Syrupy, doughy, malty and velvety mouthfeel is accompanied greatly by creamy and cocoa notes, and remind me more of Del Cebador Clásica.

At each temperature level Sara Extra Suave does not necessarily exhibit some rich set of flavors or full and thick body — this mate has medium body and intermediate complexity at best, and if you just want one specific taste profile you will find more depth in other Uruguayan yerbas such as Rei Verde Export or an already mentioned Del Cebador Clásica. But the beauty and uniqueness of Sara Extra Suave comes from her ability to change and adapt to palate of any matero out there, no matter if you prefer strong and bitter notes, or enjoy softer and sweeter ones. In my opinion, in order to enjoy this mate to its fullest you need to start it with the hottest temperature — at 85° C / 185° F  — and then pace yourself, sip it slowly and leisurely, and let the water in your thermos cool down naturally over the course of several hours. This way you sort of create your own evolution of taste, that will take you from bitter, earthy and leathery notes to milky, chocolatey and soft flavors in a span of one drinking session.

Finish

The aftertaste of Sara Extra Suave however is much blander than the taste of this mate. It is very short and does not linger for too long. I get some leftover bitterness in the finish of Sara Extra Suave, and those vegetative notes inherent to Sara Tradicional but nowhere to be found in the taste of this mate, make sudden yet short appearance here in the aftertaste. Since I recommended slowing your cadence while drinking Sara Extra Suave in order to enjoy the variety of flavors that are available only at certain temperatures of water, I wish this mate would have a more complex, pronounced and flavorful finish. Then, it would’ve been an extra incentive that will naturally nudge you into taking it slowly and enjoy Sara Extra Suave fully unravel with gradually colder water.

Durability

Temperature of the water also plays a big role in the durability of this mate. While generally speaking, the hotter the water the faster it extracts the flavor from yerba mate, therefore the shorter mate becomes. But in case of Sara Extra Suave this works the opposite way. In my experience, at 60° C - 65° C / 140° F - 150° F Sara Extra Suave is only a moderate durability mate, taking on average 22 refills before becoming lavado. At 70° C to 75° C / 160° F to 165° F I was able to get about 28 refills from Sara Extra Suave, jumping into the long durability category. At the hottest but still safe temperature of water, about 80° C - 85° C / 175° F - 185° F , this mate became even longer, pushing 30 refill mark and oftentimes even further. Overall, even if you prefer your mate at colder temperatures than average, I still would consider Sara Extra Suave a nice and long mate.

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

So far there was not that much “softness” coming from Sara Extra Suave, and I began to wonder why it was branded that way? That was until I felt the effect that this mate had on me. I usually try any yerba mate that is new for me in the morning, in case it has an overly stimulating and energizing effect that will wear off by the end of the day. That one Saturday morning when I tried Sara Extra Suave for the first time, I did not have enough sleep and felt pretty groggy and tired after a work week. After sipping on this mate for couple of hours I noticed that I was drifting away and eventually went back to sleep. The next morning, still feeling a bit worn-out, I brewed Sara Extra Suave again, and it once more failed to wake me up.

That gave me confidence to start drinking this mate in the evening, where I also observed its relaxing and sedating properties. Not quite sure how, but Sara delivered on their promise and really made a soft, relaxing, suave mate that quickly became my go-to hot beverage for those evenings where I needed to wind down after long stressful day, while still giving me that calm focus that made it a perfect company for an evening movie session with a family or a light book before bed.

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What are your thoughts on Sara Extra Suave? Comment below!