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Consumption of teas has been increasing around the world. In Brazil, mate tea, prepared from yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), is the most popular tea and its popularity is increasing due to the development of new mate-based products and the increasing health consciousness of the Brazilian population. Further development of the mate market in Brazil requires accurate consumer profiling, focusing on tea drinking behavior, preferences and perceptions. We applied a questionnaire to mate tea consumers to assess their beliefs, consumption behavior, and taste preferences. We also explored the acceptability of tea made from yerba mate processed in different ways: immediately after harvest and after eight months of storage, varying the percentage of leaves and sticks. One hundred consumers evaluated six experimental samples and two commercial mate teas. Results indicated that mate was most consumed in tea bag form, followed by ice teas. The preferred flavors were natural and lemon. Most of the consumers (61%) consumed mate with sugar, drinking it at home before bedtime. Product quality, brand and price were the most important aspects taken into account when purchasing mate. The majority of consumers were not satisfied with the products currently offered in the market, and the main criticism was poor quality and packaging. Consumers accepted all tasted samples, except the tea prepared with 100% sticks. Commercial teas were less preferred than the experimental teas, indicating that there are opportunities for further development of commercially viable mate products.

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ABSTRACT. The kinetic and experimental analyses of the hydration process of transgenic soybeans (BRS 225 RR) are provided. The importance of the hydration process consists of the grain texture modifications which favor grinding and extraction of soybeans. The soaking isotherms were obtained for four different temperatures. Results showed that temperature affected transgenic soybeans´ hydration rate and time. )), the equilibrium concentration remained practically unchanged.Keywords: hydration, kinetics, transgenic soybean, mass transfer. Cinética de hidratação de soja transgênicaRESUMO. Este trabalho apresenta o estudo experimental e cinético do processo de hidratação de grãos de soja transgênica (BRS 225 RR). A importância da hidratação de grãos consiste na modificação da textura característica dos grãos, o que favorece a moagem e a subsequente etapa de extração. Foram obtidas curvas cinéticas de hidratação de soja para quatro níveis de temperatura. A análise destas curvas indicou que a temperatura exerce grande influência sobre a velocidade e o tempo de hidratação da soja transgênica. Durante 270 min. de processo, a umidade em base seca dos grãos aumentou de 0.12 ± 0.01 kg kg )), a concentração de equilíbrio praticamente não variou.Palavras-chave: hidratação, grãos, soja transgênica, transferência de massa.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) was used to measure the concentration of macronutrients (carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg)) and micronutrients (sodium (Na), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)) in yerba mate leaves. We collected 270 samples of yerba mate, growing in association with eucalyptus, in different cultivation conditions, in the harvest seasons of the years 2011 and 2012. Calibration models, comprising 216 samples for calibration and internal validation of the models and 54 for external prediction. The results allowed determination of the mineral elements, providing values of the correlation coefficient (R) higher than 0.90, on calibration models. The predictive power of the models was verified and showed that NIR has potential to successful quantify P (R=0.62), Fe (R=0.75) and Cu (R= 0.89) in this study. On the other hand, for C, K, Na, Mn and Zn the technique were not efficient.