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For multi-hyphenate Argentinian artist, Natasha Nua, yerba mate isn’t just an energy drink, it’s a ritual. A spark of connection, clarity, and conscious action. Join Natasha in her debut podcast, The Mate Chronicles, where she shares this magical “tea” with her inspiring guests: artists, changemakers, visionaries, and the beautifully chaotic humans shaping our world.
Listeners join these conversations to explore the current times: art, AI, politics, climate change, spirituality, technology, business and what it truly means to stay awake and inspired in chaotic times. Through honest dialogue, humor, ritual, and a bit of messiness, the show offers tools, perspectives, and grounded wisdom anyone can carry into their own life and creative journey. Because the world is wild, community is medicine, and sometimes we all just need a shared cup and a moment of inspiration to keep going.
We’re all figuring it out… one sip at a time.
Hi. I'm Natasha Nua, and welcome to the first episode of The Mate Chronicles, where I share this iconic, sacred, magical, South American drink, with people I love and admire. From artists to spiritual people to activists to entrepreneurs, I wanna figure out how we can all stay grounded in these crazy times, one drink at a time. So it's not Yerba Mate or Yerba. Okay?
Natasha:It's Yerba Mate or Yerba Mate like most South Americans say it. Argentinians, we just have this, you know, shhh shh to us. But anyways, sherba mate is, indigenous to the Guarani people of what is now Paraguay, North Of Argentina and some parts of Brazil. Today, we're drinking a loose leaf from Erba, our beautiful kind sponsor. They sourced their from Misiones.
Natasha:And how did I how did I meet Yerba? So since I love Yerba Mate, I created a whole one woman show, The Mate Monologues. And, you know, I was just writing, producing, directing this play. But then my friend is like, we gotta go to Coachella. I'm like, okay.
Natasha:Okay. It was really hard for me to go, but I still went. And there I see a Yerba Mate stand. I'm like, k? And they have amazing flavors.
Natasha:They have hibiscus, passion fruit, all cold brewed in the in the scorching heat of Coachella. I'm like, oh my god. This is amazing. Combining Yerba Mate, music, community, dance. Perfect.
Natasha:So, you know, I got a Yerba Mate. I kept dancing. Then they slid in my DMs and they were like, we love what we we love what you're doing. Let's sponsor you. Let's collab.
Natasha:And I'm like, wow. Like, magic exists. That's amazing. And then when I met them, we had so much in common. So much in common.
Natasha:So so we started so we started producing this podcast together, and I'm so excited. We're gonna have the founder in the next episode, so stay tuned. I love Yerba because they're community first. Right? They want to create art.
Natasha:They want to bring people together through joy and good energy. And that's why and and that is literally the spirit of Sherramate. It's good energy. It's euphoria. It's connection.
Natasha:It's socializing. It's pleasure. You know? And I'm so happy to be here in Topanga. Also, if you're driving, don't look at your screen right now, but it's such a beautiful day.
Natasha:We have hummingbirds. We have the mountains. We have this beautiful thrifted set, and I'm wearing this cute hat. I'm an Exploradoras, Ebydora because I love to travel. And I'm always trying to find home, but I can't seem to find it.
Natasha:Do you feel like that too? Like, lost and trying to find belonging? But then when I drink mate, I realize home is within. Belonging is within. Everything we need is within.
Natasha:Easier said than done. Right? But that's what I've come to the conclusion with the help of Mate, but also with the help of meditation. And I hope to have a lot of yoga and meditation teachers in the podcast to talk about that. Wow.
Natasha:Hummingbirds. That okay. I think I think, my grandma is a hummingbird. I know it's a hot take. But the more I commune with my ancestors through family constellations, meditation, rituals, the more I realize that they're trying to communicate with me through numbers, through birds, through animals, through signs.
Natasha:I'm such a Topanga hippie. No. But like for real. So Mate comes from the region that is now Paraguay, parts of North Of Argentina and parts of Brazil. It's it's indigenous to the Guarani people and the plant is called Ilex pariahuanensis, and it's aged and trimmed in tiny green leaves, and it's very bitter and earthy and grounding.
Natasha:And the indigenous people, in order to drink it, carved a gourd out of calabaza, and then to sip it, they made a straw out of bamboo. So this is the traditional way of drinking it. This is how this is how people have been drinking it through millennium. The tradition is to put the loose leaf in the cup, and there's hardcore cebadores and amateurs out there. Don't come for me.
Natasha:But, basically, the tradition is to do a little to shake the dust off. And then we slowly pour warm water in the cup. And the water can't be boiling. Okay? We don't wanna burn anyone.
Natasha:So right before boiling point. And the the person who prepares the mate is called El Cebador. And it's kind of a big deal if you prepare the mate for the group. For many many years, people have sat around a circle and shared the mate. Mate, mate.
Natasha:Mate, mate. So the first sip is very bitter and earthy and a little dusty. So in Argentina, we have a saying that whoever you know, if someone, gives you the mate to try for the first time, they don't like you. But I don't I don't believe in that. You know?
Natasha:My dad used to try the first sips and spit it out so it would wash down so then I can have it. And and everyone and their mothers drink mate. Bosses and employees, people on dates to study. Yerba mate is home for me. It's the only tradition I keep.
Natasha:I am from so many places. I'm Argentinian and I'm Argentinian. I'm Spanish. I'm Polish. I'm American.
Natasha:I lived in so many cities, and I'm always trying to find belonging. But Yerba Mate is a portable home in a way. You know? My my copilot, my best friend, the ritual that makes me believe that I can actually ground myself and I can actually create things and manifest things and and and that I'm connected to and I'm connected to the earth, to mother nature, to magic in a way. I was born and raised in Argentina, and everyone drinks it there.
Natasha:My parents drink it in the morning, and we can't live without it. Right? So it's the only thing that ties me to home because I feel like I'm not from here, not from there. You know? I think in Spanish and English and I'm always stuck in the Bardo of identity of and a lot of and I think a lot of immigrants feel this way.
Natasha:Right? Not from here, not from there. Always traveling, to find belonging. When I drink mata, time stops, and I feel that time is my worst enemy. And I feel like a lot of us feel like that too.
Natasha:Right? We're anxious. We always feel like we're running out of time. Time is a time is a big topic nowadays. Right?
Natasha:It's fast and it feels like it's a not and it feels like a daunting force. Right? And that's where the name Chronicles came. Here in the podcast, I wanna talk about the times of today, the crazy times that we're living through, but also these states of being that don't have time. Right?
Natasha:These flow states where we create and we are present and we are in communion with the divine, whatever that means to you. So that's where that's where the title, The Chronicles, downloaded to my head and in my producer's head as well. I feel like I'm always running out of time, and I don't trust that there's a divine time. Right? But as nature shows us and take for example this plant.
Natasha:It takes a long precious time to grow and then a time to grab it, trim it, age it, another time to transport it, and now time time for it to be in my cup drinking it. I I actually wanna have someone in the podcast to talk about Greek mythology and and Kronos being this being, this entity that represents time. Right? I listened to another podcast called The Emerald, shout out, that talks about animism. What is animism?
Natasha:Indigenous traditions throughout the world have believed that things have an essence, a spirit. Right? That everything around us is animate. Not so in that framework, this plant has a spirit, has an intelligence, has a consciousness in a way. And why have we been drinking it for millennium?
Natasha:When we're hungry, we still drink mate. When we're at war, when we're at economic crisis, we still drink mate. We still engage with plants as medicine, as as a portal of connection. So the Watani myth of Mate was that the goddess of the moon Yerba came down to earth and was exploring the jungle. She was amazed by the beauty around the world.
Natasha:But then a jaguar comes and attacks her. She's super scared until a man, a human man comes and protects her and defends her from the jaguar, pushes the jaguar away and saves her and invites her over, gives her a place to sleep and eat. Yassi being super grateful, gifts him the Yerba Mate plant as a gift as a gift for his kindness and generosity. So that's the spirit that this plant, Sherba Mate, embodies. The spirit of sharing, of generosity, of kindness.
Natasha:And that's the intention with the podcast. I hope to share Amate with you and connect because we're all feeling very lonely and lost. And I hope this can be a source of inspiration for you. I hope this can be a source of connection. When you're feeling lonely, hope you can tune in to The Mate Chronicles and not feel lonely.
Natasha:When you're feeling uninspired, I hope you can come in and listen to all the amazing guests that we will have here. We will have artists, entrepreneurs, thinkers, magicians, friends, people that I love and admire. And, wow, I'm tearing up because, yeah, it's it's been it's been a really hard time for all of us. Right? I mean, we're here in Topanga almost a year after the fires.
Natasha:That's another that's another topic that I'm gonna touch in the podcast, environmentalism and ecology, and how how we can interact and coexist with nature. Right? And how can we use the plant's consciousness that we drink or we smoke, in order to save Mother Earth, but also to connect with each other because we are one with nature. Everything is interconnected. And I know it sounds like, oh my god, this hippie Topanga bitch.
Natasha:No. But for real. Like, everything is interconnected. We are in are in systems, ecological systems, energetic systems, political systems, everything is interconnected. So if we can if we can truly share and be connected, I think we can change the world.
Natasha:And, you know, I know that's a big burden to change the world. And it's not up to you, it's not up to me, it's up to us. I know that. But it all starts with sharing. And it it all starts with connecting one zero one.
Natasha:And this drink that gives me so much energy healed me in a way. And I know that's so that's such a big thing to say. But anyways, now I'm rambling. I think it's not what that's what a podcast is, just someone rambling. Right?
Natasha:Fuck. So I hope The Mythic Chronicles can be a source of inspiration for you, of connection, of energy, good energy, and we're all just trying to figure out life together, one sip at a time.