Guayaki Announces Traditional Yerba Mate Tea Bags
The Energy, Nutrition and Flavor of Organic Rainforest Yerba Mate in its Purest Form

Sebastopol, California (January 25, 2007) - Guayakí (Gwy-uh-KEE) has announced a new addition to its line of premium organic yerba mate beverages.  Traditional Yerba Mate Tea Bags, offered with a SRP of $6.95, are lodged in a convenient gold box that contains 25 individually wrapped bags of Guayaki's premium traditional-style organic yerba mate (mah-tay).  Guayakí Traditional Yerba Mate is a nourishing, naturally-caffeinated beverage that boosts physical energy and stimulates mental clarity. 
 
Ancient Beverage - New Tea Bags
Guayakí Traditional Yerba Mate Tea Bags celebrate the rich heritage of organic yerba mate in South America.  Sustainably harvested in the thriving rainforest, the leaves of the shade grown yerba mate trees that are used in the Traditional Yerba Mate Tea Bags are dark, emerald green and teeming with nutrients and flavor.  Centuries ago, the indigenous people of the South American rainforests discovered that the leaves of the yerba mate tree boosted and sustained their energy.  The plant became a staple of their diet and the base ingredient of their herbal medicine.  These days, yerba mate outsells coffee at least 6-to-1 in Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil where people from all walks of life enjoy it as a daily tonic and ritual of friendship. 
 
The Stimulating Drink in the Healthy Beverage Category
"The unique combination of robust nutrition and balanced stimulation make Guayakí Yerba Mate the healthiest source of energy on the planet," says Guayaki co-founder David Karr.  Yerba mate contains 196 active compounds including 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, 11 polyphenols (powerful antioxidants) and saponins (phytochemicals that bolster the immune system).   When grown in the natural rainforest like Guayakí's Traditional Yerba Mate, it has higher antioxidant levels than Green tea and blueberries. 
 
Although Traditional Yerba Mate Tea Bags have caffeine comparable to coffee and energy drinks, the caffeine buzz is balanced by mate's content of theobromine - which is the euphoriant in chocolate, another stimulant named theophylline that is found in Green tea, and pantothenic acid - which prevents over stimulation of the nervous system.  Yerba mate is also a rich source of magnesium, which has been proven to ease anxiety. 
 
Leading Coffee Company Promotes Guayakí Yerba Mate as a 'Healthy Energy' Alternative
Yerba mate is one of the hottest food and beverage trends in North America. Guayakí announced a groundbreaking partnership earlier this month with Tully's Coffee, one of the nation's leading specialty coffee companies.  Guayakí Yerba Mate drink recipes and a full line of Guayakí products, including the new box of Traditional Tea Bags, will be promoted as a 'healthy energy' alternative at their cafes throughout the Pacific Northwest. (see www.tullys.com)
 
Market-Driven-Restoration Business Model is Protecting Rainforests
More than a decade ago, Cal Poly students Alex Pryor and David Karr dreamed up a plan to help save the rainforests of South America.  Vast areas of rainforest were being clear-cut for timber and to create cattle pastures and mono-agriculture sun plantations.  To help counter this rainforest crisis they created Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products, an award-winning company that is guided by a business model they call Market Driven Restoration.  Guayakí serves as a bridge linking consumer purchases of healthy yerba mate products in North America with indigenous communities engaged in sustainable agriculture and reforestation projects in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil.  Each person that drinks two servings per day of Guayakí Yerba Mate helps protect approximately one acre of rainforest every year.  
 
"Guayakí is proving that profitable business can go hand-in-hand with rainforest protection and they are inspiring a new generation of eco-entrepreneurs," says Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network, a non-profit that protects the forests and their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.  The Atlantic Forest of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, is one of the world's top 5 biodiversity hotspots and one of South America's highest priority sites for bird conservation.  "A century ago, most of the Atlantic Forest was intact.  Today, less than 5% of the forest is left and creative new approaches are needed to halt the destruction and to turn the tide by employing reforestation techniques," says Brune.
 
The product in the Traditional Yerba Mate Tea Bags is grown in the natural rainforest where shade from the upper canopy of towering hardwood trees above protects the leaves from direct sunlight, which can cause bitterness.  Guayakí harvesters, whom are paid a fair wage well above regular mate prices, handpick only the most tender mate leaves and stems to ensure that only the finest premium yerba mate is sourced. 
 
Traditional Meets Modern - New Hi-Tech Tea Bags Deliver Full Potency
Since exposure to air, light and humidity can impact the medicinal quality of cut and dried tea and herbs, each Guayakí tea bag is individually wrapped and sealed to ensure fresh flavor and preserve the potency.  The "flow-through" technology of the tea bags themselves maximizes brewing yield, flavor and potency.  Guayakí's logo bag tag strings provide for dunking and easy extraction after steeping - in hot or cold water.  The eco-friendly filter paper for the tea bag is made of biodegradable unbleached Manila hemp and unbleached wood pulp. 
 
The many panels on the inside and outside of the new tea box offer abundant space to communicate health and nutrition information, and Guayakí's award-winning mission.  A perforated bottom entry to the box allows tea bags to drop down and out for organized self service for home or food service use.  The material used for the box is 100% recycled paper with at least 55% verified post-consumer waste. 
 
In addition to the new Traditional Tea Bags, Guayaki offers a line of 6 Yerba Mate Tea Bag Blends, an innovative new line of bottled Organic Yerba Mate Drinks, 2 varieties of Mate Latte Concentrates and loose traditional yerba mate and accessories. 

For more information, visit www.guayaki.com  or call 1-888-GUAYAKI.