Matte Leão

Matte Leão (English: "Lion Mate"; the spelling Matte is archaic, but preserved in the trademark; the currently correct Portuguese spelling for the herb and the derived beverage is mate) is a Brazilian tea brand, now owned by The Coca-Cola Company. Matte Leão offers a range of over 100 types of teas, which are ready for use.

The Guarani natives were first to use leaves and stems of Ilex paraguariensis, or yerba mate, a native of southern Brazil. After the 17th century, the herb began to be marketed on an industrial scale. On May 8, 1901, in Paraná, along with natural herbal, Agostinho Ermelino de Leão Júnior founded St. Augustine Factory, starting a new chapter in the history of processing mate. At first, Leo Junior exported in the form of mate to Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. When Leo Junior died in 1908, his wife, Maria Clara took over the business. A fire destroyed the factory in 1912 and the company moved to Curitiba. After a recovery period, the company's exports reached 5000 tons per year in the early 1920s.

The paths to market leadership began to be opened in 1926, when the Leão concluded the construction of facilities with a railway extension to dispose of own production to the port of Paranaguá, which exported to Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Another fire in 1930 burned the new plant, which had its own generation of electricity, rail terminal and a unique village houses for workers. Innovative also in image processing, in the 1930s to Leo Junior & Co. prepares the first film to promote their products, moving into the market. During these first three decades, the company diversified its activities also operating in the sectors of timber, coffee, wheat milling, livestock, mining, waterways, safe, and air transportation with the creation of Aerolloyd Iguassu.

At the end of this decade, in 1938, the company realized the habit of people to add an iced tea to drink, to consume it toasted, launched in the Brazilian tea Matte Leão toast. Its introduction was as innovative as the product: at night, a lighted boat ran the beaches of Rio de Janeiro Botafogo in announcing the product with the slogan "Já vem queimado use e abuse."("Already burned, use and abuse.") From this time the company realizes its true vocation, focusing the business to mate only. In 1950, in the scorching heat of the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, the most popular drink was home-made iced tea, sold by street vendors in drums on the beach. Noting this trend, the brand has launched the Matte Leão iced tea, the first mate ready to drink.

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