No history of Club Mate is complete without mentioning Tschunk.

https://de.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tschunk

It’s poison, and doesn’t even taste nice. I’ll never understand why people drink club mate.

A common trajectory seems to be your sentiment, followed by a couple of reluctant retries, followed by eventual, disproportional reverence. I'm no different

Guinness did this to me, I hated it until about 30 and used lots of hyperbolic language to negatively describe it as a dirty ashtray, etc.

I now find most styles of beer far too sweet or boozy and Guinness style beer is my go to.

Guinness tastes foul if you've had some beer before trying it. People ask me to 'try a bit' (i can down a pint whilst my next one is being poured), but I always refuse if they've had a beer beforehand. I was the same.

So like beer?

I'm 40 and frequently give many many beers a chance (e.g. lived in Czechia with ultra knowledgeable beer experts), even my German genes don't help me to enjoy it. On the other hand, I followed the Club Mate trajectory too.

Pretty much

Try the red variant? 'Granat'

My favorite!

So what? ;)

Poison? Why would you say so?

To be fair, everything is poison at the right dose.

Grandparent is a Hypercritical hippocratical hipocrit going for critical damage on a hippo

Club - Mate is so commonly drunk, it inspired a whole range of similar mate soda brands, also available in every supermarket. Also most Latin Americans don't know about the existence of mate sodas in Germany and they are always surprised when finding out.

P.S.: Why is the history "lost"?

I keep a crate in the basement, drink one per day, it’s great. Not sugary or synthetic-tasting, but just like a mild tea. Win for me.

Well, it does have a ton of sugar, though :/

There’s a Zero variant (which I haven’t tried but plan to): https://www.club-mate-shop.de/getraenke/46/club-mate-zero

Oh, good to know! Haven't seen it from this brand yet, thanks for sharing!

Not sugary tasting ??

If club mate does not taste sugary then what does ? Syrup ? :)