Sol y Lluvia

In 1917, Don Nicolás Pawluk began a plantation of 20 yerba mate plants. Its processing was rudimentary: the sapeco was done by hand, passing branch by branch over a moderate fire, and then drying continued in a clay oven that he also used to bake bread.

The branches were placed in a wooden barrel where, using a mortar, they were crushed.

Don Nicolás sold the yerba to his neighbors, who also carried out the grinding manually, using stone mills.

Years later, Don Nicolás expanded the plantations and introduced improvements in the processing. He built a manual drying system consisting of a woven cylindrical drum that rotated over the fire, supported at both ends by iron posts. Its capacity was 400 kg.

The canchadora of the winch type (a large wooden wheel with teeth that crushed yerba branches) was powered by a horse and always rotated in the same direction, inclined toward the center.

At that time, the process did not reach the grinding stage. In 1960, a Barbacuá-type dryer was installed, which continues to operate to this day.

Nicolás’s efforts were continued by his son, Luis Felipe, who from sunrise to sunset planted, cared for, and produced a product that today fills us with pride.