The Ervateira da Vila Company is located in Cruz Machado, in southern state of Paraná, Brazil. The city recently became the largest producer of Paraná yerba mate. In 2014, the county produced 75,000 tons of yerba mate *. In the city, there are about 2,500 families who work with herbal cultivation. Present in the city for over 80 years, our family has the honor to meet the producers and proud to contribute to the development of our community.
The municipality of Cruz Machado is located in the heart of native herbal region. These plants produce the native yerba mate, that feature superior color and flavor. Native herbal, as the name implies, are trees that were not planted by man, but the original native forest in the region.
These herbal are shaded by tall trees, providing a lighter production tannins, which avoids the bitter taste and yellowish very exposed to the sun plants. The native yerba mate is rare, being limited to a specific region. Cruz Machado is privileged to be in the heart of this region.
Taking advantage of the cultural experience of native herbal, the producers at Cruz Machado also cultivate planted herbal. It is increasingly popular to cultivation technique that trees in the middle of the shadows of other taller trees. With the shadow, the producer can replicate the quality of native yerba mate because the seeds, the earth and the contact with the sun are the same. This type of yerba mate is known as yerba mate “sombreada” (shaded yerba mate).
Even herbal planted in Cruz Machado have differentiated quality, as the municipality has climate, topography, vegetation terroir and ideal for the cultivation of the plant. Cruz Machado is not a sunny and warm city. Frequent cloudy days and balmy city guarantee yerba mate quality. Moreover, it has mountainous terrain, which promotes greater stability of the culture. The rugged avoids competition with other mechanized crops.
The city is also located in the strategic southern Paraná state. The city is in the center of the largest consumers of yerba mate in the country. We are less than 200 km from the border of Rio Grande do Sul state and less than 50 km from Santa Catarina state. Paraná state also borders Mato Grosso do Sul state, another major consumer of yerba mate. For the consumer of Mato Grosso state, Paraná state is the closest producer.
To celebrate the production of yerba mate vocation annually the municipality promotes the Feast of Yerba Mate. Come Cruz Machado and lets drink a yerba mate!!