CBSé facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Beverage |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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Area served
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Americas, Europe |
| Products | Yerba mate |
CBSé is a famous brand from Argentina that makes yerba mate. Yerba mate is a popular drink in South America, a bit like tea! CBSé has been around for over 40 years. They were the first company to mix yerba mate with different herbs, creating something new and exciting. Today, CBSé makes many kinds of yerba mate and other cool products too.
Contents
How CBSé Started
CBSé was founded in 1978 by Florentino Orquera and María Amelia Elizagaray. They started their company in a town called San Francisco, Córdoba in Argentina. They wanted to find a way to help their family financially.
Florentino and María noticed that no one was selling yerba mate mixed with herbs. So, they began experimenting with different herb combinations right in their own home! Their hard work led to "Hierbas Serranas," which was the very first yerba mate product in Argentina to have added herbs.
Florentino picked the name "CBSé" because it sounds like the Spanish word "cebar." This word means "to prepare mate." At first, they sold their products in local markets. They even delivered them by bicycle, with hand-painted logos on the boxes!
Growing Bigger
CBSé grew a lot in 1982. They moved from their family home to a large factory in Frontera, Santa Fe. This factory covered a huge area, about 15,000 square meters!
In 1993, CBSé opened its main offices in Buenos Aires. This was an important step for the company's growth. The brand also started growing its own special herbs in 1994. They planted them in the rich soil of Valle Fértil in San Juan. This helped them create even more unique flavors.
By 1998, CBSé expanded to Misiones. They built another big facility called Establecimiento Santa Ana. In 2010, CBSé added three more drying facilities in Misiones. These were located in Capioví, San Pedro, Dos Arroyos, and Andresito.
Cool New Ideas
CBSé brought many new ideas to the yerba mate world. In 1997, they launched the first-ever flavored yerba mate products. Imagine yerba mate that tasted like orange, lemon, grapefruit, or even coffee! This was a big change for the industry.
In 2011, they introduced the "Hierbas Cuyanas" line. This mix included herbs like boldo (a plant used in traditional medicine), melissa (lemon balm), fennel, chamomile, and mint.
The year 2017 was exciting! CBSé launched "Mi Primer Mate" (My First Mate). This was a special edition designed just for kids. They also updated their "Energía" (Energy) variety, renaming it "CBSé Guaraná" with bright, new packaging.
In 2018, CBSé released "CBSé Etiqueta Negra" (Black Label). This was a premium version of their traditional Hierbas Serranas. It was made with yerba mate and special herbs that were aged naturally for 18 months.
Modernizing the Brand
In 2013, CBSé gave its product packaging a fresh, modern look. This helped make their products even more appealing to customers. Sol Orquera, the CEO and daughter of Florentino, played a key role in updating the brand's marketing. She created new campaigns, oversaw the rebranding, and improved CBSé's online presence.
CBSé also worked to celebrate the cultural importance of mate. In 2015, they asked the Unicode Consortium to add the mate cup as an emoji. This helped show how important mate is to Argentine heritage.
Continuing their innovative spirit, CBSé introduced "Mateando" in 2016. This was the world's first "Mate Food Truck"! It allowed people to enjoy mate on the go.
Where You Can Find CBSé
CBSé is one of the top brands in Argentina. A survey showed that Establecimiento Santa Ana, which distributes CBSé, is the third-largest yerba mate company. They have 22 million kilograms of yerba mate in supermarkets! Other big brands like Taragüí and Playadito are also very popular.
After CBSé introduced flavored varieties in the late 1990s, they earned a special quality certification called ISO 9001-2000. This certification allowed them to export their products to other countries. They started selling in Uruguay, Paraguay, the USA, and Spain.
In 2021, CBSé products even reached the Middle East with special 250-gram packages. That year, the brand exported over a million kilograms of yerba mate!
Today, CBSé sends its products to many countries around the world.
- In America, you can find their products in Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and the US.
- In Europe, they export to the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain.
- They also send products to Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
CBSé Facilities
The company has six main locations across Argentina.
- CBSé’s main offices are in Buenos Aires.
- Their big industrial factory, Establecimiento Santa Ana, is in Santa Ana, Misiones.
- They have three drying facilities in Misiones: one in Capioví, one in San Pedro, and another in Andresito.
- They also grow their own special herbs in Valle Fértil, San Juan.
- Their Planta Frontera facility in Santa Fé is where they bag their products.
Different Kinds of Yerba Mate and Other Products
CBSé makes many different types of yerba mate. Some have added flavors, others are mixed with herbs for a nice smell, some are sweetened, and some even have extra nutrients! Here are some of the varieties you can find:
Flavored Yerba Mate
These have extra flavors added:
- ginger
- guaraná
- berries (blueberry, raspberry, cherry, and strawberry)
- pear and green apple
- Tropical fruits (passion fruit, mango, papaya, and orange)
- Orange
- grapefruit
- lemon
Yerba Mate with Herbs
These are mixed with different herbs:
- Mountain herbs: mint (Mentha), pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), and peperina (Minthostachys verticillata)
- Herbs from the Cuyo region: pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), boldo (Peumus boldus), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), incayuyo (Lippia integrifolia), coriander (Coriandrum sativum), chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile), and mint
- Herbs from the Argentinian littoral region: lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora), mint, and coriander with a touch of lime
Sweet Yerba Mate
These varieties have a sweet taste:
Healthy Yerba Mate
These are designed to be good for you:
- “Silueta” (with sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa), pennyroyal, fennel, Fucus, mint, lemon verbena, and boldo, plus vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B9, B12 and Zinc)
- “Regulasé” (with prebiotics and a touch of plum)
Other Products
Besides yerba mate, CBSé also offers other items related to the drink:
- Different types of mates (the cups used for drinking yerba mate)
- A mate bag
- A vacuum flask (to keep water hot)
- A drinking straw (called a bombilla)
- Flavored mate cocido (a tea-bag version of yerba mate)
