Beverages · Herbal Teas

Yerba Mate: Benefits, Caffeine, Nutrition and How to Brew It

What yerba mate is, how much caffeine a gourd or a cup carries next to coffee and green tea, what the human trials show for energy, exercise, blood pressure and cholesterol, and how to brew it well from clean, loose leaf.

By Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS·26-min read

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Evidence-based62 sources citedUpdated October 15, 2026

Published Oct 15, 2026Last updated Oct 15, 2026Editorial policyMedical review policyFact-checking policy

Yerba mate is made from the dried, chopped leaves of a South American holly tree, steeped in hot or cold water.

The Dr. Axe Score™

5.8/10

Overall Dr. Axe Score · Yerba Mate

Yerba mate scores 5.8 as a polyphenol-rich daily drink with a long traditional record, a real lift from its caffeine and a growing set of human trials on exercise, blood pressure, inflammation and cholesterol.

Scientific Evidence

6.0/10

Human trials of 11 to 142 people, lasting from a single session to 12 weeks, plus a 2023 systematic review of 32 studies.

Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory

7.4/10

About 155 mg of polyphenols in a 200 mL cup, mostly chlorogenic acids; IL-6 was 43% to 51% lower after 8 weeks of three cups a day than after a control drink.

Clinical Effectiveness

6.8/10

Our judgment: a traditional daily drink with a dependable caffeine lift and benefits in trials for exercise and the heart, best kept to modest amounts earlier in the day.

Nutrient Density

2.2/10

About 2 calories a cup with traces of potassium and other minerals, by USDA's record for brewed herbal tea, which includes mate.

Why this score?

Why Yerba Mate scores 5.8 / 10

A brewed cup carries very few vitamins or minerals, so Nutrient Density is its lowest factor. Weighting: Evidence 30% · Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory 25% · Clinical Effectiveness 25% · Nutrient Density 20% (6.0×0.30 + 7.4×0.25 + 6.8×0.25 + 2.2×0.20 = 1.80 + 1.85 + 1.70 + 0.44 = 5.79, shown as 5.8). How we score

A transparent, weighted index built for foods. See how it’s calculated →

Interaction check: Moderate. Some medicines slow how fast your liver clears caffeine, including fluvoxamine, mexiletine, clozapine, theophylline and some quinolone antibiotics, so a gourd's caffeine can build up, and caffeine can in turn raise levels of medicines cleared the same way.45 The list below says what to do. Interactions are rated separately and don't change the score.

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Yerba mate at a glance

Yerba mate is a caffeinated drink brewed from the dried leaves of a South American holly tree, and brewed in a gourd, sip for sip it carries nearly as much caffeine as brewed coffee, along with a rich supply of chlorogenic acids and other polyphenols.1 2 3

Caffeine: about 91 mg in a 350 mL (12-ounce) hot gourd and about 10 mg in a tea-bag cup, against about 40 mg in a 200 mL cup of green tea 2
Exercise: in trials, 1 to 5 grams of mate taken before cycling raised the fat people burned by 23% to 24%4 5
Heart and inflammation: three cups a day for 8 weeks left systolic blood pressure 4.8 points lower than a control drink in adults with high cholesterol, and IL-6, an inflammation signal, 43% to 51% lower6
How much: count a full gourd like a cup of coffee, and keep it to earlier in the day2 7

For a full plan around energy and metabolism, see the free Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset protocol.

Yerba mate is the everyday drink of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil: the dried, chopped leaves of a holly tree, steeped in a gourd and sipped through a straw called a bombilla.1 A gourd of it carries close to a cup of coffee's caffeine and a rich supply of polyphenols,2 8 and in human trials, mate capsules have helped people burn more fat during exercise, and three cups a day for 8 weeks lowered blood pressure and inflammation markers.4 6

The name comes from Spanish and Quechua and means "herbs from the calabash," after the dried calabash fruit the leaves were brewed in.1 Indigenous peoples of the region have used it for centuries as a social and medicinal drink.9

If somebody went into an ancient apothecary or pharmacy up to 150 years ago, the number one form of medicine would have been herbal tea.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom The Cancer Protocol She Wishes She Had Known Sooner | Liana Werner-Gray, The Dr. Josh Axe Show (2026), at 12:20

Mate's lift comes mainly from its caffeine, so it belongs in the same part of your day as coffee and tea. My advice on caffeine is simple: have a little, not too much, and don't drink it too late in the day, because it can disrupt your sleep, especially your deep sleep.7

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Daily drinks: green tea before 2 p.m., coffee black, and no soda, juice or sweet drinks

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Did you know?

Mate leaf has its own herbal monograph from the European Medicines Agency and a monograph in the European Pharmacopoeia.1
One gourd of leaves can be refilled with water six or seven times before it loses its taste.1
In a health program in Paraguay, 91.2% of 18,287 adults drank mate in some form.10

What is yerba mate?

Quick answer

Yerba mate, also called mate or yerba mate tea, is a caffeinated drink made by steeping the dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, an evergreen tree in the holly family that grows in northern Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.1 The leaves are dried, and often roasted, before they're sold, and the drink's polyphenols are mostly chlorogenic acids, a family that coffee carries too.1 3 8

You'll meet mate in a few forms. In Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, hot water poured over the leaves makes the drink called mate, mate cocido or chimarrão; in Paraguay and southwestern Brazil, tereré is made with cold water and often served with lemon or other citrus.1 The leaves also go into cold bottled drinks and energy drinks,1 and outside South America you'll find mate tea bags and loose leaf for a mug or French press.

Chimarrão (hot gourd)

Fill a gourd about a quarter full of leaves, top it with hot water, sip through a bombilla and refill.1 A 350 mL gourd carries about 91 mg of caffeine.2

Tereré (cold gourd)

It's made in the same gourd with the same leaves, using cold water and often lemon or other citrus.1 A 350 mL gourd carries about 84 mg of caffeine.2

Mate tea bags

Steep a bag in a cup like any tea. A 200 mL cup carries about 10 mg of caffeine.2 Loose leaf keeps plastic out of your cup; see the brewing section.

A short history of yerba mate

Mate's story begins with the Guaraní, the first people to drink it. When Jesuit missionaries arrived in the 16th century, they came to value the drink too, and around 1670 they began cultivating and trading the leaves, which is why mate was once called Paraguayan, missionary or Jesuit tea. After the Jesuit order was dissolved, its plantations were destroyed or went wild, and the difficult art of growing the tree returned only in the middle of the 20th century.1 Today Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay are the main producers, Argentina the largest, and less than 5% of the harvest is exported, so most of it is still drunk where it grows.1

How much caffeine is in yerba mate?

Quick answer

A hot gourd of yerba mate, about 350 mL (12 ounces), averages about 91 mg of caffeine, and a tea-bag cup of mate tea about 10 mg, in a 2022 Brazilian caffeine table built from published measurements.2 Per 100 mL, gourd-strength mate (26 mg hot, 24 mg cold as tereré) comes close to brewed coffee (30 mg) and runs above green tea (20 mg) in the same table, while a mate tea bag gives about 5 mg.2

Per 100 mL, gourd-brewed yerba mate carries nearly as much caffeine as brewed coffee

Source: Rocha et al. · Nutrients, 2022 [2]A full 350 mL gourd averages about 91 mg.

Those are averages. Across the measurements behind the table, hot gourd-brewed mate ranged from 14 to 52 mg of caffeine per 100 mL, so your own gourd may run lighter or stronger.2 Here's how the servings compare:

Drink	Serving in the table	Caffeine per serving
Yerba mate, hot gourd (chimarrão)	350 mL gourd	About 91 mg2
Yerba mate, cold gourd (tereré)	350 mL gourd	About 84 mg2
Brewed coffee	150 mL cup	About 45 mg2
Green tea	200 mL cup	About 40 mg2
Mate tea, tea bag	200 mL cup	About 10 mg2

USDA has no record of its own for brewed mate. For comparison, its records list about 94.8 mg of caffeine in an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee and about 29.4 mg in a cup of brewed green tea.11 12 A full gourd of mate is a real serving of caffeine, close to that cup of coffee, while a tea-bag cup is a light one, which matters if you're looking at mate as one of the energizing alternatives to coffee.

Mate's stimulants are mostly caffeine. In an analysis of four commercial mates, caffeine made up 90% of the methylxanthines, the stimulant family it belongs to, and theobromine, the main stimulant in cacao, made up the rest.3

Yerba mate nutrition

Quick answer

USDA has no separate record for brewed yerba mate; its general record for brewed herbal tea, which lists mate among its teas, gives about 2 calories and only traces of vitamins and minerals per cup.13 What it does carry in quantity is polyphenols: about 155 mg in a 200 mL cup in one lab analysis.8

Calculated from USDA FoodData Central FDC ID 2710502 (Tea, hot, herbal), a survey record whose descriptions include mate tea, at its 1-cup weight of 240 grams.13

Nutrient	1 cup (240 g)	Per 100 g
Calories	2	1
Carbohydrate	0.5 g	0.2 g
Potassium	21.6 mg	9 mg
Calcium	4.8 mg	2 mg
Magnesium	2.4 mg	1 mg
Sodium	2.4 mg	1 mg
Iron	0.19 mg	0.08 mg
Zinc	0.1 mg	0.04 mg
Thiamin	0.02 mg	0.01 mg

That record reflects a light herbal cup. Mate brewed strong carries more minerals: in lab infusions of about 4 grams of leaf steeped 20 minutes in 60 mL of water at 85 to 95 °C (185 to 203 °F), mate released 1.70 to 3.67 mg of manganese per liter, and the researchers calculated that a liter a day would cover 80% to 204% of the recommended intake. The same infusions carried 44.45 to 144.75 mg of magnesium per liter.14

The polyphenols are where mate stands out. About 90% of them are hydroxycinnamic acids, led by several forms of caffeoylquinic acid, the chlorogenic acid family, and the other 10% are flavonols such as rutin.3 In a lab model of digestion, about 57% of mate's polyphenols made it through the stomach and small intestine intact,8 and the next section follows them into your body.

What is yerba mate good for?

Quick answer

In human trials, mate capsules raised focus and energy and increased the fat people burned during exercise, and three cups a day of mate tea for 8 weeks lowered blood pressure and inflammation markers.15 4 6 Trials have also found lower LDL cholesterol, blood sugar and body fat,16 17 18 and in observational studies, women who drink it daily after menopause have had denser bones.19

Where the research stands

Yerba mate's human research is a set of small trials, of 11 to 142 people, lasting from a single session to 12 weeks, many of them run in Brazil, plus population studies from South America. A 2023 systematic review of 32 studies found benefits for metabolism, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, body weight and composition, exercise, mood and appetite, and rated 22 of the 32 at high risk of bias.20 Several trials tested capsules of ground leaf or extract rather than the drink, so each finding below names the form studied.

Yerba mate benefits, graded by evidence (updated October 2026). Evidence labels are editorial judgments that compare these uses with each other; they aren't formal certainty ratings.
Use	Evidence	Form studied	What the research shows
Energy, focus and mood	Moderate	Caffeine; capsules of ground mate leaf, 2 g	Focus, energy and concentration up; hunger and desire to eat down15 21
Fat use during exercise	Emerging	Capsules, 1 to 5 g; brewed mate tea	Fat use up 23% to 24%; a time trial 2.2% faster; faster strength recovery4 5 22
Blood pressure and circulation	Emerging	3 tea-bag cups a day for 8 weeks; mate tea, 5 g a day for 6 weeks	Systolic pressure 4.8 points lower than a control drink; thinner blood and better flow in the tiny vessels6 23
Inflammation and antioxidant defenses	Emerging	3 tea-bag cups to 1 liter a day; extract capsules	IL-6 43% to 51% lower than a control drink; paraoxonase-1 up 9.7%6 24 25
Blood sugar	Emerging	Roasted mate tea, 330 mL three times a day; 3 tea-bag cups	Fasting blood sugar down 25.0 mg/dL and HbA1c down 0.85 points in type 2 diabetes17 6
Body fat	Emerging	Extract capsules, 3 g a day for 12 weeks; 3 tea-bag cups	Body fat down compared with placebo; body weight unchanged18 6
LDL cholesterol	Mixed	Brewed mate, 3 cups to about 1 liter a day	LDL down about 8% to 12% in trials; the pooled difference wasn't statistically significant16 26 6 27
Bone density after menopause	Emerging	Daily drinkers compared with non-drinkers	Denser bones in two studies and fewer fractures in one; no link with fractures in a third19 28 29

How does yerba mate work in your body?

Mate works through two sets of compounds, its caffeine and its polyphenols. As I've explained on my show, caffeine works by blocking adenosine, a neurotransmitter that signals relaxation and sleepiness, which is why a caffeinated drink makes you feel awake.7 21 The polyphenols take a longer road, and much of their work depends on your gut bacteria.

1The leaf carries caffeine and chlorogenic acids

In a Spanish trial, three 3-gram yerba mate tea bags held 66.1 mg of caffeine and 666 mg of polyphenols, most of them caffeoylquinic acids from the chlorogenic acid family.6 3

2Caffeine blocks the tiredness signal

Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, easing the signal for relaxation and sleepiness.21 7

3Gut bacteria transform most of the polyphenols

In healthy adults who drank mate, 81% of the mate compounds later found in urine had been formed by gut microbes and absorbed in the colon.30

4More fat is used during moderate exercise

In 14 adults who each tried both, yerba mate capsules taken before cycling raised the energy drawn from fat by 24% at efforts below 70% of peak.4

5Pressure and inflammation ease over weeks

After 8 weeks of three cups a day, systolic pressure was 4.8 points lower than on a control drink in adults with high cholesterol, and IL-6 was 43% to 51% lower.6

Yerba mate benefits, ranked by evidence

Ordered by the strength of the human research, yerba mate's benefits start with energy and focus, then fat use during exercise, blood pressure and circulation, inflammation, blood sugar and body fat, with mixed results for LDL cholesterol.

Energy, focus and mood

Moderate evidenceHuman studyCaffeine research · 1 trial of mate in 12 women, each tried both

Mate's lift starts with caffeine: a full gourd carries about 91 mg,2 and at everyday intakes it works mainly through the adenosine block described above.21 Mate itself has been tested too. In a trial in which 12 active women each took 2 grams of ground mate leaf in capsules and a look-alike placebo on separate days, mate raised their scores for focus, energy and concentration and lowered their hunger and desire to eat on a test day that ended with 30 minutes of cycling.15 People who drink mate regularly describe an energy that doesn't make them nervous.1

Study takeaway: in 12 women, 2 grams of mate leaf raised focus, energy and concentration and lowered hunger.

Fat use during exercise

Emerging evidenceHuman study5 trials · 11 to 29 adults, each tried both

Several trials have found that mate shifts the body toward burning fat while you exercise. In 14 healthy adults who each took 1,000 mg of mate capsules or a placebo 60 minutes before an incremental cycling test, mate raised fat burning and the energy drawn from fat by 24% across efforts below 70% of peak. In kilocalories per minute from fat, placebo against mate, the figures were 2.38 vs. 3.13 at 40% of peak effort, 2.28 vs. 2.97 at 50%, 1.44 vs. 2.28 at 60% and 0.10 vs. 0.96 at 70%, while peak power and peak oxygen use didn't change.4 In the 12 women in the trial above, fat burning during a 30-minute ride ran at 0.21 grams a minute on mate against 0.17 on placebo.15

In 11 well-trained male cyclists who each tried mate and a placebo, 5 grams of mate a day for 5 days, plus a dose an hour before testing, raised fat use by 23% at easy to moderate efforts, and in the 9 riders tested in the time trial, it cut a roughly 30-minute ride from 30.1 to 29.4 minutes, 2.2% faster; neither the riders nor the researchers knew who got mate.5 Recovery may benefit as well: in 12 men who drank mate tea or water for 11 days around a hard arm workout, the rate of strength recovery improved by 8.6% on the first day after.22 In 29 young adults who drank a single 500 mL serving of brewed mate before light-to-moderate cycling, energy use and fat burning didn't differ from water,31 while the positive trials used capsules or several days of mate. For more ideas, see these pre-workout foods and tips for muscle recovery.

Study takeaway: before cycling, mate raised the energy drawn from fat by 24%, and trained cyclists finished a time trial 2.2% faster.

Before cycling, yerba mate capsules raised the energy people drew from fat at each effort level

Source: Alkhatib · Nutrition & Metabolism, 2014 [4]Results from a single dose of capsules taken before one exercise test.

Blood pressure and circulation

Emerging evidenceHuman study2 trials · 52 and 142 adults · 6 to 8 weeks

The clearest blood pressure result comes from Spain. Researchers gave 52 adults who didn't normally drink mate three cups a day of roasted mate from tea bags, 3 grams of leaf per cup, and a sugar-free sports-style control drink with no caffeine or polyphenols, for 8 weeks each, in random order; people knew which drink they had. In the 27 with high cholesterol, none of them on statins, systolic pressure measured 110.51 mmHg after the mate weeks against 115.32 after the control weeks, 4.8 points lower, and diastolic pressure 69.56 against 72.78. In the 25 with normal cholesterol, pressure changed less, 109.93 against 111.54 systolic, and heart rate didn't change in either group.6

A single serving is a different test: in 13 young adults who each tried hot mate, cold mate and water, one serving didn't change blood pressure beyond water, and while the arteries' ability to widen measured higher on both mate days than on the water day, it didn't rise after drinking, so the researchers saw no effect from the serving itself.32 Over weeks, the picture is stronger: in a trial in China in which neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what, 142 adults with high blood viscosity, or thicker blood, who drank 5 grams of mate tea a day for 6 weeks had thinner blood and better flow through the tiny vessels at the nail bed than those on a placebo.23 For the full plan, see these natural ways to lower blood pressure and the free High Blood Pressure Protocol.

Study takeaway: three cups a day for 8 weeks left systolic pressure 4.8 points lower than a control drink in adults with high cholesterol.

Three cups of yerba mate a day for 8 weeks: systolic pressure 4.8 points lower than with the control drink

Source: Bravo et al. · Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2025 [6]Diastolic pressure was 69.56 mmHg after the mate weeks against 72.78 after the control weeks.

Inflammation and antioxidant defenses

Emerging evidenceHuman study3 trials · 34 to 142 adults · 4 to 8 weeks

The same Spanish trial measured inflammation signals in the blood. After the mate weeks, IL-6 was 43% to 51% lower than after the control weeks, 10.23 against 18.07 pg/mL in adults with normal cholesterol and 9.49 against 19.23 in those with high cholesterol, IL-1β and TNF-α were 38% to 47% lower, and hs-CRP fell too; anti-inflammatory signals such as IL-10 also came down.6 In a Brazilian trial of 142 adults with overweight or obesity and untreated abnormal blood fats, a liter of gourd-brewed mate a day for 8 weeks raised paraoxonase-1, an antioxidant enzyme, by 9.7% from where it started, a significantly bigger change than in the trial's other two groups, which drank green tea or an apple tea control, and the rise went with higher HDL cholesterol.24

With a concentrated extract, in a placebo-controlled trial of 34 men who each tried both, 4 weeks of mate extract capsules didn't move inflammation markers against placebo overall, but fasting blood sugar fell 0.57 mmol/L, about 10 mg/dL, over the extract weeks only, and in a subgroup of 12 of the men, CRP fell by half and IL-6 by 19% after the extract weeks.25 For more drinks that help here, see these anti-inflammatory teas, and for a full plan, the free Anti-Inflammatory Reset protocol.

Study takeaway: after 8 weeks of three cups a day, IL-6 was 43% to 51% lower than after a control drink.

Blood sugar

Emerging evidenceHuman studyPilot trial of 58 adults · trial of 52 adults

In a 60-day Brazilian pilot study, 58 adults with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes drank 330 mL of roasted mate tea three times a day, got dietary counseling, or did both. In the 11 with type 2 diabetes who drank mate without counseling, fasting blood sugar fell 25.0 mg/dL by day 60 and HbA1c, a three-month blood sugar average, about 0.85 percentage points, and LDL fell 13.5 mg/dL by day 20 and was still 8.1 mg/dL lower at day 60, while their calories, carbohydrates and fiber stayed the same; there was no placebo drink.17

In the Spanish trial, fasting blood sugar was lower after the mate weeks than after the control weeks in adults with high cholesterol, 72 against 76 mg/dL, and trended lower in those with normal cholesterol, 72 against 79, and insulin resistance, measured as HOMA-IR, was 29% lower after the mate weeks than after the control weeks with normal cholesterol and 12.5% lower with high cholesterol.6 If blood sugar is your focus, see the free Insulin Resistance & Prediabetes protocol.

Study takeaway: in adults with type 2 diabetes, 60 days of mate tea lowered fasting blood sugar by 25.0 mg/dL and HbA1c by 0.85 points.

Body fat

Emerging evidenceHuman studyPlacebo-controlled trial of 30 adults · trial of 52 adults

In a Korean trial, 30 adults with obesity, 26 of them women, took 3 grams a day of mate extract in capsules or a look-alike placebo for 12 weeks, and neither they nor the researchers knew which. Mate lowered body fat mass and body fat percentage compared with placebo, and waist-to-hip ratio fell from 0.93 to 0.91 while it edged from 0.92 to 0.93 on placebo; body weight itself didn't differ between the groups.18 In the Spanish trial, adults with normal cholesterol had 21.27% body fat after the mate weeks against 23.66% after the control weeks, with weight and waist unchanged.6 For the rest of the plan, see how to lose belly fat and these natural metabolism boosters.

Study takeaway: over 12 weeks, mate capsules lowered body fat and waist-to-hip ratio compared with placebo.

LDL cholesterol

Mixed evidenceHuman study3 trials · 52 to 121 adults · 1 pooled analysis · 1 survey

Several Brazilian and Argentine studies found lower LDL with daily mate. In a 40-day trial of 102 adults who drank 330 mL of green or roasted mate three times a day, LDL fell 8.7% in people with normal cholesterol and 8.6% in those with high cholesterol, whose HDL rose 4.4% by day 20; in 30 people already taking statins long term, LDL fell a further 13.1% by day 40. Triglycerides didn't change, and results were compared with each person's starting levels.16 In 121 Argentine adults with high cholesterol who weren't on cholesterol medicine, 12 weeks of daily mate, made with 50 or 100 grams of leaf a day, lowered LDL by 11.95% and total cholesterol by 9.49% in a before-and-after study with no comparison group.26

When researchers pooled 7 trials with 378 people in 2022, the differences in LDL and total cholesterol against control groups weren't statistically significant.27 In a survey of 18,287 Paraguayan adults, those who drank more than a liter of cold-brewed mate a day had slightly lower LDL (118.6 vs. 121.2 mg/dL), total cholesterol and fasting blood sugar than moderate drinkers, though they also weighed more and ate more carbohydrates.10 In the Spanish trial, LDL fell by the same amount on mate and on the control drink in adults with high cholesterol, while in those with normal cholesterol, LDL was 82.14 mg/dL after the mate weeks against 89.50 after the control weeks.6 For more, see these cholesterol-lowering foods and how to lower cholesterol naturally.

Study takeaway: in trials of daily mate, LDL fell by about 8% to 12%.

Three markers for your heart and metabolism

These three markers show where your heart and blood sugar stand and give you a baseline to track as mate and other changes become part of your day. Go over your numbers with your practitioner.

ApoB: A count of the particles that carry LDL cholesterol through your blood.
hs-CRP: Low-grade inflammation anywhere in the body.
HbA1c: Your average blood sugar over about three months.

See the cellular bloodwork panel

Have results? Analyze them free →

Yerba mate benefits for women

For women, mate's most interesting research is about bone. In Argentina, 146 postmenopausal women who had drunk at least a liter of mate a day for 4 years or more had 9.7% higher bone density in the lower spine and 6.2% higher at the femoral neck, part of the hip, than 146 women of the same age and time since menopause who didn't drink it, and mate was the only factor besides body mass index linked to higher bone density at both sites.19 A Brazilian study of 95 women found no link between drinking mate and fractures,29 while a 2025 Argentine study of 153 drinkers and 147 non-drinkers found osteoporosis in 3.3% of drinkers against 10.9%, and low-impact fractures in 5.9% against 12.9%.28 All three studies observed women's habits rather than assigning mate. For more, see the best foods for bone health.

Women also made up most of the volunteers in two of the trials above: 26 of the 30 adults in the Korean body fat trial,18 and all 12 in the trial in which mate raised focus and energy and lowered hunger.15 If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, mate's caffeine counts toward your daily limit; the safety section has the numbers.

How much yerba mate per day, and when?

Quick answer

There's no set daily amount for yerba mate, so count it the way you'd count coffee: a 350 mL (12-ounce) gourd carries about 91 mg of caffeine, close to the 94.8 mg in an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee.2 11 For people who do well with caffeine, that means one to three of those gourds a day at most, after food and finished by early afternoon.7 A traditional session, refilled again and again, can carry more than 260 mg, so count every refill.1

What you drink	Caffeine
1 tea-bag cup (200 mL)	About 10 mg
1 hot gourd (350 mL)	About 91 mg
2 hot gourds	About 182 mg
3 hot gourds	About 273 mg

Calculated from the Brazilian Caffeine Content Table's averages.2 The FDA notes that up to 400 mg of caffeine a day isn't generally linked with negative effects in healthy adults, and that sensitivity varies from person to person.33

For coffee, the safe range for most people is about one to two, maybe up to three, cups a day if you do well, and I don't recommend four or more for anybody.7 The same count makes sense for mate, with tea-bag cups much lighter.

Timing matters as much as the amount. My Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset protocol keeps green tea before 2 p.m.,34 and if sleep is your issue, my Deep Sleep Protocol keeps caffeine to one or two cups before noon, after breakfast.35 For anxiety, my Stress, Anxiety & Mood protocol allows one caffeinated cup, after food and before noon, because caffeine raises adrenaline, especially on an empty stomach.36 For mate, that means your last gourd by early afternoon, and mornings only, after food, if sleep or anxiety is your concern.

It's really important that you listen to your body and you don't use caffeine as a crutch all the time.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom Why SLEEP is Medicine: My 4 Tips to Improve Energy, The Dr. Josh Axe Show (2026), at 25:44

My wife and I often take a day or two a week off caffeine and let our bodies tell us how tired we really are.37 Scripture treats rest as a gift: "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2).38 If you find yourself leaning on caffeine to get through long days, the guide to feeling always tired covers the root causes, and sleep hygiene covers the evening routine.

How to make yerba mate

Quick answer

To make yerba mate the traditional way, fill a gourd about a quarter full of leaves, pour in water heated to about 70 °C (158 °F), well below boiling, let it steep 3 to 5 minutes and sip through a bombilla, refilling with water as you go.1 39

Fill a gourd about a quarter full of leaves, or a little more.1
Heat the water to about 70 °C (158 °F). Traditional brewing uses water at 65 to 80 °C (149 to 176 °F), and in a lab study, infusions made at 70 °C held more polyphenols than infusions made with boiling water.1 39
Pour to about two-thirds full and let it steep 3 to 5 minutes.1
Sip through the bombilla once it has cooled to warm; the safety section explains why that wait matters.
Refill with warm water as you drink. The leaves hold their flavor for six or seven refills,1 so count a long session toward your day's caffeine.

No gourd? Steep loose leaf in a mug, teapot or French press. The Spanish trial's strength is a good guide: 3 grams of leaf, the amount in one of its tea bags, for 150 mL (5 ounces) of water, steeped 5 minutes.6 For a cold version, brew the same leaves in cold water to make tereré.1

When you buy mate, four checks get you the cleanest cup:

Dried without smoke. Wood fires used to dry the leaves leave polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), compounds from smoke, on the leaf, so look for leaf labeled air-dried or smoke-free; the safety section has the details.40 41
Organic. For coffee, I recommend organic,7 and the same standard makes sense for the mate leaf you steep every day.
Loose leaf over plastic bags. My advice on tea is to drink lots of it, loose leaf or in bags without plastic.42 When researchers steeped one plastic tea bag at 95 °C (203 °F), it shed about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into the water.43 Our news story on plastic pieces in tea has more.
Brewed leaf over canned drinks. I don't recommend energy drinks, sugar-free ones included, and a canned mate energy drink is still one: as I've said on my show, caffeine masks your tiredness, telling your body it isn't tired even when it is.44 36 For bottled mate teas,1 read the label for added sugar; my Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset protocol leaves out soda, juice and sweet drinks.34

If you like your mate sweeter, stir in a little raw local honey once it has cooled to warm. For more ideas, see our list of healthy drinks.

Questions about yerba mate?

Ask Dr. Axe AI. Answers are grounded in this library, with sources shown.

Is yerba mate safe? Side effects and who should be careful

Quick answer

Brewed yerba mate is safe for most adults in the amounts above. The two habits to manage are temperature and caffeine: let it cool to warm rather than drinking it scalding, and count each gourd toward your daily caffeine.46 2 Choose leaf dried without smoke, and see the list below for pregnancy, medicines and low iron.

Does yerba mate cause cancer?

With mate, the main cancer concern is drinking it very hot. In 2016, the World Health Organization's cancer agency, IARC, classified drinking very hot beverages, above 65 °C (149 °F), as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), and drinking mate that isn't very hot as not classifiable (Group 3).46 47 A study from Paraguay shows why. Among 131 people with esophageal cancer and 381 without, how much mate people drank and for how many years weren't linked to the cancer, but drinking it very hot was, at about 2.4 times the odds of drinking it warm or hot, after accounting for alcohol and tobacco, and cold mate didn't raise the risk.48 When five South American studies were pooled, after accounting for tobacco and alcohol, very hot mate and heavy drinking, more than a liter a day, were each linked to higher odds, and the two together raised them more than either alone: the highest odds, about 4 times, were in people who drank more than 1.5 liters a day of very hot mate, compared with light drinkers of cooler mate.49

The same pattern shows up with tea and coffee. In a study that followed 50,045 adults in Iran for about 10 years, tea measured at 60 °C (140 °F) or hotter went with a 41% higher risk of esophageal cancer, and drinking within 2 minutes of pouring, rather than waiting 6 minutes or more, with a 51% higher risk.50 In 454,796 adults in the UK Biobank, hot and very hot tea and coffee showed the same kind of link.51 Let each pour of mate cool for a few minutes, until it's warm rather than scalding, before you sip.

Why choose leaf dried without smoke?

How the leaves are dried matters too. The wood fires used in drying leave PAHs, some of them carcinogens, on the leaf, and levels peak at the drying step.40 In 8 Brazilian brands, total PAHs ranged from 536 to 2,906 ng per gram of dry leaf, and in one brand, hot and cold water each released about 37% of the total over 12 refills, so cold tereré still carries them.52 Mate drinkers' urine carries more PAH breakdown products as their intake rises.53 A risk assessment that weighed the two concerns found that PAHs from a cup of mate carried a very low risk and that very hot temperature mattered far more,54 and leaf processed without smoke carried the least benzo[a]pyrene in one test.41 That's why the buying list above starts there.

Good to know before you drink yerba mate:

Caffeine: Count every gourd and cup toward your daily caffeine, using the amounts above. Jitters, anxiety, a racing heart or poor sleep are signs to cut back, and our guide to caffeine overdose lists the rest.33 As I've said on my show about coffee, caffeine stimulates cortisol, so if you have adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism or chronic fatigue, be careful with it: skip it, or have one good cup in the morning, never on an empty stomach.7 A gourd counts as that cup.
Pregnancy: Keep total caffeine under 200 mg a day, the amount ACOG says doesn't appear to be a major factor in miscarriage or preterm birth, and confirm your amount with your OB; two average gourds come close to that limit, and a strong brew carries more.55 2 In 5,189 births in southern Brazil, where about 68% of mothers drank mate at least weekly through pregnancy, mate wasn't linked to preterm birth, or to babies small for their age once other factors were accounted for.56 In one documented case, a premature newborn whose mother drank homemade mate throughout pregnancy showed jitteriness and irritability consistent with withdrawal.57
Breastfeeding: Caffeine and theobromine from mate reach breast milk; in that same case, the mother was advised to cut back to no more than 2 cups a day while nursing.57 In 279 breastfeeding women in Argentina, mate supplied more than 35% of their dietary polyphenols, with no changes in their milk's nutrients.58
Medicines: If you take one of the medicines in the interaction check above, review mate with your prescriber or pharmacist before making it a habit, and don't change your medicine on your own. In 8 healthy volunteers, fluvoxamine stretched caffeine's half-life from 5 to 31 hours.59
Low iron: In 14 adults with hereditary hemochromatosis, an iron-overload condition, 200 mL of mate with a meal cut the rise in blood iron after the meal by about 88% compared with water, and the researchers suggested it as a possible aid for iron overload.60 As I've said on my show, if your iron runs low, drink tea between meals rather than with them,61 and the same timing suits mate; these iron-rich foods help too.
Heart rhythm: In 50 habitual mate drinkers referred for heart monitoring, most with heart risk factors and 90% on heart medicines, 24 hours with their usual mate showed no more arrhythmias than 24 hours without it, and fewer early beats from the heart's upper chambers.62 Chest pain, fainting or a racing heartbeat that doesn't settle needs medical care right away.

The bottom line

Is yerba mate good for you?

Yes, for most adults who do well with caffeine. Yerba mate is a polyphenol-rich drink with a real lift, and people in South America have drunk it daily for centuries,1 9 a long record I give real weight. In trials, mate capsules raised the fat people burned during exercise, and three cups a day for 8 weeks lowered blood pressure and inflammation markers; its effects on cholesterol, blood sugar and body fat are promising but less settled.

Count a full gourd like a cup of coffee, keep it to earlier in the day, and choose organic loose leaf dried without smoke. If you're pregnant, take one of the medicines above or run low on iron, see who should be careful.

Your body is built to heal, and a drink people have trusted for centuries, made well, can be one simple part of how you support it.

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Yerba mate: frequently asked questions

What is yerba mate?

Yerba mate is a caffeinated drink made from the dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, a South American tree in the holly family.1 It's traditionally sipped from a gourd through a straw called a bombilla, hot as chimarrão or cold as tereré.1

Is yerba mate good for you?

Yes, for most adults who do well with caffeine. It's rich in polyphenols, and in trials, mate capsules raised fat burning during exercise, and three cups a day for 8 weeks lowered blood pressure and the inflammation signal IL-6.8 4 6

How much caffeine is in yerba mate?

About 91 mg in a 350 mL (12-ounce) hot gourd and about 10 mg in a 200 mL cup made with a tea bag, by a 2022 caffeine table built from published measurements.2

Yerba mate vs. coffee: which has more caffeine?

Brewed coffee has slightly more per 100 mL, 30 mg against 26 mg for gourd-brewed mate.2 A full gourd, at about 91 mg, holds close to the 94.8 mg USDA lists for an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee, because it's a bigger serving.2 11

Does yerba mate have more caffeine than green tea?

Per 100 mL, yes: gourd-brewed mate averaged 26 mg of caffeine against 20 mg for green tea in a Brazilian caffeine table.2 A tea-bag cup of mate, at about 10 mg, carries less than a 200 mL cup of green tea, at about 40 mg.2

Does yerba mate help you lose weight?

It lowered body fat in trials, though not body weight. In a 12-week trial of 30 adults, mate capsules lowered body fat mass and body fat percentage compared with placebo, and in a Spanish trial, adults with normal cholesterol had 21.27% body fat after 8 weeks of three cups a day against 23.66% after 8 weeks of a control drink.18 6

Does yerba mate lower cholesterol?

It lowered LDL cholesterol in several trials. A 2022 pooled analysis of 7 trials found no statistically significant difference from control groups,27 while LDL fell 8.6% over 40 days in adults with high cholesterol, compared with their starting levels, and 11.95% over 12 weeks in a study with no comparison group.16 26

Does yerba mate lower blood pressure?

In an 8-week trial, yes: three cups a day left systolic pressure 4.8 points lower than a control drink in 27 adults with high cholesterol, and diastolic pressure was 69.56 mmHg after the mate weeks against 72.78 after the control weeks.6

Is it safe to drink yerba mate every day?

Yes, for most adults, in amounts that keep your total caffeine in check: count a full gourd like a cup of coffee, and drink it earlier in the day.2 7 If you're pregnant, take certain medicines or have low iron, read the safety section first.

Does yerba mate cause cancer?

Drinking it very hot is the concern. IARC classifies drinking very hot beverages, above 65 °C (149 °F), as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), and drinking mate that isn't very hot as not classifiable (Group 3).46 47 Let each pour cool to warm, and choose leaf dried without smoke.41

Is yerba mate safe during pregnancy or breastfeeding?

In moderation: count it toward the under-200 mg of caffeine a day that ACOG advises in pregnancy, and confirm your amount with your OB; two average gourds come close to that limit, and a strong brew carries more.55 2 In 5,189 births in southern Brazil, mate drinking wasn't linked to preterm birth,56 and while breastfeeding, keep amounts modest, because mate's caffeine reaches breast milk.57

When is the best time to drink yerba mate?

Morning to early afternoon. Dr. Axe's Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset protocol keeps green tea before 2 p.m., and his Deep Sleep Protocol keeps caffeine before noon.34 35

Does yerba mate block iron absorption?

It can when you drink it with a meal. In 14 adults with an iron-overload condition, 200 mL of mate with a meal cut the rise in blood iron by about 88% compared with water, so if your iron runs low, drink it between meals.60 61

What's the difference between chimarrão and tereré?

Both are yerba mate sipped from a gourd through a bombilla: chimarrão is made with hot water, and tereré with cold water, often with lemon or other citrus.1 A 350 mL gourd of either carries about 84 to 91 mg of caffeine.2

Are canned yerba mate energy drinks healthy?

No. Dr. Axe doesn't recommend energy drinks, sugar-free ones included, because their caffeine masks your tiredness rather than giving you energy, and a canned mate energy drink is still an energy drink.44 36 Brewed, unsweetened leaf is the better way to drink mate, and for bottled mate teas,1 read the label for added sugar.34

Freshness & update log

October 15, 2026 — Rewrote the page in full. Added the Dr. Axe Score under the current food weighting (editorial score 5.8) with an Interaction check; replaced the "Cancer Fighter" title and the colon cancer cell-study claims with the human research on very hot drinks, IARC's classifications and smoke-dried leaf; replaced the unsourced caffeine figures ("25 to 175 milligrams" and "about 85 milligrams" per cup) with measured values for gourds, tea-bag cups, coffee and green tea; removed the unsourced compound counts, the vitamin and mineral list and the claim that mate carries three stimulants, and added USDA and lab values; added the human trials on energy and focus, exercise, blood pressure, inflammation, blood sugar, body fat, cholesterol and bone; replaced the coffee pros-and-cons lists with caffeine amounts and timing; replaced the blanket advice against mate in pregnancy and breastfeeding with ACOG's caffeine limit and the Brazilian birth data; and added medication, iron and buying guidance.

Originally published November 7, 2024. —

References

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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This article is for educational purposes. See our medical disclaimer.

On this page

What is it?
Caffeine
Nutrition
What is it good for?
How it works
Benefits, ranked
For women
How much a day
How to make it
Side effects
The bottom line
Is yerba mate good for you?
FAQ

Quick facts

What it isA caffeinated South American drink brewed from the dried leaves of a holly tree, Ilex paraguariensis
CaffeineAbout 91 mg in a 350 mL hot gourd; about 10 mg in a tea-bag cup
Best human evidenceFocus and energy, fat use during exercise, blood pressure and inflammation markers, in human trials
Everyday amountCount a full gourd like a cup of coffee, and keep it to earlier in the day
Interaction checkModerate: fluvoxamine, mexiletine, clozapine, theophylline and some quinolone antibiotics, which share a liver pathway with caffeine

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