Brazilian Mate Gelado com Limão, Iced Toasted Mate with Lime

📍 Where this dish comes from: Rio de Janeiro · Copacabana Beach
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Iced mate with lime is the taste of Rio's beaches, where vendors carry heavy metal drums of it across the hot sand. It is made from toasted yerba mate, which gives it a smooth, almost malty flavor. Lime and a little allulose make it bright and refreshing.

Per serving: 12 calories · 2.1 g net carbs · 0 g protein · 0 g fat (calculated from the ingredients)

What You’ll Need

Brazilian Mate Gelado com Limão, Iced Toasted Mate with Lime

Iced mate with lime is the taste of Rio's beaches, where vendors carry heavy metal drums of it across the hot sand. It is made from toasted yerba mate, which gives it a smooth, almost malty flavor. Lime and a little allulose make it bright and refreshing.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Course: Beverage

Cuisine: Brazilian

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 12kcal

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 1/3 cup toasted mate tea leaves or 6 toasted mate tea bags
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup allulose
• Ice and lime slices to serve

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Instructions

• Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the toasted mate. Let it steep for 5 minutes.
• Strain, then stir in the allulose until dissolved. Let cool, then refrigerate until very cold.
• Stir in the lime juice just before serving.
• Fill tall glasses with ice and lime slices and pour the mate over the top.

Notes

Add the lime juice at the end, because lime turns bitter if it sits in the tea for many hours. The tea itself keeps in the fridge for 3 days.

Chef's Tip: Toasted mate, called chá mate, is different from the green yerba mate used for chimarrão in southern Brazil. Look for toasted mate in Brazilian or Latin grocery stores, or online.

Keto Swap: Beach mate and bottled iced mate are usually sweetened with sugar. Allulose sweetens it just as well with no net carbs.

Success Tip: For a Rio beach afternoon at home, mix it half and half with sugar-free lemonade, the way beach vendors often serve it.

Nutrition is calculated from the ingredients and is an estimate per serving. Net carbs exclude fiber and allulose.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 12kcal | Fiber: 0.2g

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About This Dish

Yerba mate is a native South American holly whose leaves have been brewed for centuries, first by the Guarani people. In southern Brazil it is sipped hot from a gourd as chimarrão, but in Rio de Janeiro it is drunk iced. By 1950, homemade iced mate sold by beach vendors had become the most popular drink on Rio's hot beaches. The Matte Leão company, founded in Paraná in 1901, launched toasted mate in 1938. On the beaches, iced mate is traditionally enjoyed with Biscoito Globo, a light, crunchy ring snack.

This recipe is from The Ultimate Brazilian Keto Cookbook by Gisele Costello, Chapter 12: Drinks (Copacabana Beach). See all Brazilian recipes