DIY Bluephoria

One of my all time favorite flavors out of the Guayakí Yerba Mate cans is Bluephoria and I love making it at home to get creative with ingredients and sweetness levels. Packed with antioxidant bursting blueberry, immune boosting elderberry, and a zesty kick all mixed together to help you come to life with loose leaf yerba mate.

I chose to make mine using homemade huckleberry juice (a similarly sweet berry to the blueberry) from berries I harvested in the Montana mountains I live near. Huckleberries are in season this time of year and I thought it would be a great way to change up the original recipe and use what was local and accessible to me. Feel free to take this recipe and let your creative instincts flow to craft your own perfect drink using what’s accessible to you.

Making your own versions of Guayakí’s canned or bottled flavors at home is great for many reasons:

1. You can control the sweetness and use the sweetener of your choice. Get creative with maple syrup, honey, stevia, or coconut sugar!
2. You get to experiment with loose leaf yerba mate.
3. Aluminum is highly recyclable but swapping out a can here and there for a homemade loose leaf version of your favorite flavor is a great way to reduce your global impact.
4. Loose leaf is easy to travel with and the other ingredients are relatively easy to find, so you'll never be left Guayaki-less.

• 1 cup brewed loose leaf Guayakí Yerba Mate
• 1 cup 100% pure blueberry juice (or huckleberry in my case)
• 1 dropper full elderberry tincture, or 2 tbsp elderberry syrup/juice
• 2-4 tbsp raw honey or sweetener of choice (if not using elderberry syrup)
• 3-5 yerba mate ice cubes (simply freeze brewed yerba mate in an ice tray to add to your finished drink without watering it down!)
• Big squeeze of lemon juice

Serves 2

DIRECTIONS:

1. Brew your cup of yerba mate and set aside to cool. If not using elderberry syrup, combine 2 tbsp raw honey or alt. to mate before cooling.
2. In a glass, fill halfway with brewed yerba mate and fill the other half with the blueberry juice. Add in elderberry syrup and stir.
3. If you are making the drink with the honey already infused into the mate- combine 2 tbsp of the elderberry juice or one full dropper of tincture.
4. Add ice, a squeeze of lemon juice, and garnish with fresh berries or mint if you feel like dressing it up.

This drink is delicious and you can easily expand the recipe to make a big pitcher. Enjoy!