Famous Personalities and Their Affinity for Yerba Mate

Yerba mate is everywhere in South America, so it is no surprise that a lot of famous South Americans drink it. What is more interesting is how many people outside the region have picked it up too. Here are a few of the names that come up most often when customers ask us, "who else drinks this?"

Lionel Messi

Messi is rarely photographed without a thermos nearby. For him and most Argentine players, mate is pre-game routine, part of being home even when they are not.

Pope Francis

Also Argentine, also a lifelong mate drinker. He has been handed mate by crowds in St. Peter's Square more than once and taken a sip in public without missing a beat. In Argentina that is about as normal as shaking someone's hand.

Luis Suarez

Uruguayan, through and through. We are from Uruguay too, so we are biased, but Suarez drinks mate the way most of us do at home: constantly, and usually with teammates.

Paulo Dybala

Another Argentine footballer, another daily mate drinker. Dybala has talked in interviews about how the thermos is what makes a hotel room feel like home when he is on the road.

Antoine Griezmann

Griezmann is French, but he spent years in the Spanish league around Uruguayan teammates and picked up the habit. It is a good example of how mate travels. Once someone makes you a good gourd, you tend to keep going.

Mauricio Pochettino

The manager always has a thermos on the bench. It has become part of his look on the touchline in the Premier League and now the U.S. men's national team.

Andrew Huberman

The Stanford neuroscientist and podcaster has talked about yerba mate on his show more than a few times. He likes the cleaner caffeine curve and the antioxidant profile. It is the most common reason American customers first come to us. They heard about it on the podcast.

The through-line across this list is simple: people who need sustained focus tend to like mate. Footballers at halftime, a researcher at the desk, a priest greeting a crowd. Same drink, same job.

If you want to try what they drink, we carry Uruguayan yerba mate along with the gourd and bombilla to drink it the traditional way.