Great for getting started
If you are getting started with Yerba Mate tea, this is a great way to do it.I had not had Yerba Mate in many years, but as a daily coffee drinker I thought it might be interesting to try this as a caffeine alternative. This is the third product I have from this company as part of that journey, the first was a larger gourd, the second was smaller than this one, and this is, well, just right.The thermal flask is actually a great inclusion in that getting-started process, I was actually re-heating water in a kettle between refills so filling the flask once makes a ton of sense. By the way, I was also heating the water to the upper end of the temperature range (80C/176F) but this seems to make a bitter brew, now I go with 70C/158F, I pour some into the gourd and place the remaining water in flask, works out great.This gourd is about 2/3 the volume of the larger gourd (same company) and as a beginner, the smaller volume makes for a more forgiving experience… less yerba mate tea to start with, less likelihood going overboard and wasting it, and also there is less water and a more gentle (that seems a good word) introduction to the results of the preparation and actual consumption. This gourd has a wide mouth and a shape that is easy to hold, and which remains cool to the touch throughout.The canister with the pouring spout, the possibly-underappreciated element, is quite useful for dispensing the tea into the gourd. If you choose to pour directly from a bag of yerba mate, you and your countertop may have some work to do after… not that that happened in my case, but the canister was a welcome addition to the mix. Do note, if you get a 1kg bag of tea, the original tea bag will remain quite full, so a clip or something similar to close it might be handy, or two or three canisters, depending on how much yerba mate you intend to work with.I prefer the spoon style bombilla, and a bonus using water at the lower temperature as I mentioned, the bombilla is less hot (it is still hot), again a more gentle experience. More bonus, I had actually ordered a set of three bombilla separately at the beginning of my journey, they are larger and a bit heavier, I prefer those but the spoon bombilla that comes with is fine. From what I am gathering there is a large variety of gourd, bombilla, temperature, additives (eg sweetener) and of course Yerba Mate tea to choose from, I have found this kit is actually the way I should have began the journey, it is now my daily as I continue to tune my own Yerba Mate experience.