Matte Leão
Encyclopedia
Matte Leão is a brazilian tea brand, owned by The Coca Cola Company. Matte Leão offers a range of over 100 types of teas, which are ready for use.

History

The Guarani natives were first to use leaves and stems of the plant Ilex paraguariensis, or yerba mate
Yerba mate
Maté, yerba maté or erva maté , Ilex paraguariensis, is a species of holly native to subtropical South America in northeastern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay...

, a native of southern Brazil. After the 17th century, the grass 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
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

 and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. 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
Curitiba
Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...

. After a recovery period, the company's exports reached 5000 tons per year in the early 20s.

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
Paranaguá
Paranaguá is a city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city.It is known for its excellent port facilities, being the sea port for Curitiba, the capital of Paraná....

, 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 30s 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
Aerolloyd Iguassu
Aerolloyd Iguassu, was a Brazilian airline founded in 1933. In 1939 it was ssold to VASP.-History:Aerolloyd Iguassu was founded in the beginning of 1933, in Curitiba, Brazil with initial financial support from the mate manufacturer Matte Leão. Initially two 3-passenger Klemm Kl 31A were bought and...

.

At the end of this decade, in 1938, the company realized the habit of people to add a 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 his true vocation, focusing the business only to mate. 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 in vessels sealed.

Since 1969, the company ends its routine product release powder with Matte Leão concentrated in the bottle, followed in 1973 by creating the matte bag, initially in the flavors and natural lemon and toasted mate tea to be ready instantly soluble by adding hot water or ice. In 1983, again anticipating the trends in consumption of natural herbal teas launched, starting with the flavors of chamomile (one of the most popular herbs originating in the flora of Europe and West Asia), lemon grass, grass candy (produced by the selection of the fruits of the plant, guaranteeing the aniseed-flavored and taste particularly sweet tea), Boldo and mint. But in the summer of 1987 with the launch of ready to drink tea in cups of 300 ml, focused initially on sales on the beaches of Rio, the brand saw its sales soar.

The production of different packaging for the iced tea - 330ml, 500ml, 1.5 liters, and the 300ml cups - takes place in 2002 with the factory opened in Rio de Janeiro. In 2004, Leão invests in functional teas and introduces new line of teas mixed combinations of flavors and properties of many herbs tailored to situations and consumers with specific needs such as Boa Noite (Good Night) version (aroma and mild flavor and is ideal for company opportunities for relaxation), Silvestre (result of the combination of aromas of strawberry, raspberry and black currant), Orchard (mixture of soft aromas of peach, apple, cherry and orange) and Tropical (delicate combination of flavors striking passion fruit, mango, pineapple, apple and banana). The expansion of the line brought innovations such as the many choices of flavors: lemon with mate flavor, peach, guaraná and iced tea with peach and limon flavors).

In 2006, the company makes to innovate and launch the Green Tea, green tea ready to drink without calories in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. In the dry line were created with flavored green teas, black tea with cinnamon and winter line of flavors with tea Mate Leão chocolate with caramel flavor. Both success drew the attention of The Coca-Cola Company, which bought the company in early 2007. In the same year introduced the Green Tea Spree, first green tea with lemon low calorie ready to drink lightly carbonated Brazil. The latest new brand, introduced in 2009, was the Lion Concentrate Matte with home-made taste and striking the Matte and are extremely profitable for those who have the habit of drinking mate at all times.

External links

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