Celebrating Victory with a Taste of Tradition: How Argentina's Love for Uruguayan Canarias Yerba Mate Fueled Their World Cup Triumph

One of the smaller stories of the last World Cup, but one that hit close to home for us, was how much yerba mate the Argentine squad drank on their way to the trophy. And not just any yerba. They brought Uruguayan Canarias with them to Qatar.

A shared tradition across a rivalry

Argentina and Uruguay do not agree on much when it comes to football. We have been going at each other on the pitch for over a century. But mate is the one thing nobody argues about. Both countries drink it daily, and when it comes to flavor, Uruguayan brands like Canarias are widely respected on both sides of the Rio de la Plata.

So seeing Messi, De Paul, and the rest of the squad passing a gourd of Canarias around before matches was less surprising than it might sound. That is just how footballers from this part of the world warm up.

The ritual in Qatar

The photos that came out of the Argentine camp looked like any afternoon in Montevideo or Buenos Aires. Players in a circle, one thermos, one gourd, one bombilla, moving from person to person. You fill it, pass it, drink it, pass it back. That is mate. It is a social drink, and for a team spending weeks together in a foreign country, it was probably as much about the ritual as the caffeine.

Why mate, not coffee, for elite athletes

Mate gives you a long, steady lift instead of a jolt. A full gourd can last an hour or two because you keep refilling it with hot water, which means the caffeine trickles in gradually. For anyone warming up for a match, that kind of smooth energy is easier to work with than a quick espresso hit.

Lifting more than a trophy

Argentina went on to win the World Cup, and the celebrations were everything you would expect. What stuck with us was the photo of the players back in the locker room, trophy on one side, gourd on the other. A win for the squad, and a quiet win for a tradition that has been passed around a circle of friends in this part of the world for a very long time.

If you want to try the yerba they brought with them, Canarias is here. Same blend, shipped from our U.S. warehouse.