Hugely popular in South America and the pre-game energy drink of choice for athletes like Leo Messi, Yerba mate has an array of benefits. Dietitians and herbalists break them down here.
We think of tea drinkers as pretty chill. No one's getting hyped up on chamomile. But yerba mate drinkers are a different breed. Yerba mate tea is the pre-game drink of choice for many athletes, including soccer players Luis Suárez and Leo Messi and NBA player John Collins.
Hugely popular in South America, Yerba mate, a bitter herbal tea, is becoming more sought after in the States, in large part because of its health benefits. Here, registered dietitians and herbalists share six science-backed reasons why it's worth sipping.
"Mate," as the tea is commonly called outside the US, "is the national drink of Paraguay," says Allison Birks, CDN, an herbalist and nutritionist. "It is widely consumed in South America as a daily beverage."
In South America, drinking yerba mate tea is a symbol of national identity and an important social practice. Typically, it's a shared drink, passed around in a gourd with a special straw called a bombilla.
But even if you sip yerba mate solo, you're going to reap plenty of benefits. Below are the six biggest.
Yerba mate has more caffeine than most other teas (roughly the same amount that's in coffee) and it won't lead to a crash when it wears off, the way coffee can. "Yerba mate is notorious for having a smoother downtick of a caffeine 'high,' which is likely because of the slower release of caffeine or the other bioactive components, like theobromine," says registered dietitian Paul Jaeckel, RD.
Theobromine -- the bioactive compound Jaeckel calls out -- is what gives yerba mate tea its bitter flavor and is used to make caffeine, but Birks says that you won't find it in coffee. Yerba mate also contains another compound that coffee does not: theophylline. "Theobromine improves mood, alertness, and may be neuroprotective. Theophylline is known to promote a calm, relaxed yet focused state of mind," Birks says. She adds that this unique composition may be why yerba mate tea is stimulating but doesn't cause jitteriness. This combination of calm and focus may also be why some athletes like to drink yerba mate tea before games.
Michael Dubanewicz, DHA, EdD, CCN, a culinary nutritionist and lifestyle medicine counselor, says that another one of the main benefits of yerba mate tea is its high antioxidant and polyphenol content, which helps lower inflammation in the body. He explains that there is a specific type of polyphenol in yerba mate tea (chlorogenic acids, or CGAs) which has been scientifically shown to reduce inflammation and protect against age-related disorders.
All three experts say that drinking yerba mate tea regularly can help lower the risk of many chronic conditions, including some forms of cancer.
If you have achy joints, regularly drinking yerba mate tea could improve your symptoms. While Birks says that human studies still need to be done to prove the connection, there is scientific evidence that the tea is effective in improving arthritis symptoms in rats. Birks says that this is because of the tea's anti-inflammatory properties -- especially those CGAs.