Top Yerba Mate Brands for Beginners: A Flavorful Start

Yerba mate, a traditional South American beverage, has been gaining popularity around the globe for its energizing properties and numerous health benefits. For beginners stepping into the world of yerba mate, finding the right brand can make all the difference in experiencing its unique flavors and cultural richness. With a plethora of options available, from traditional blends to more modern adaptations, choosing the best brand could feel like finding a needle in a haystack. To make your journey easier, we have curated a list of top yerba mate brands that cater specifically to newcomers, offering blends that are approachable yet genuine. Discover our recommended brands and start your yerba mate journey with confidence below.

Illustration of yerba mate for beginners

Best brands of yerba mate for beginners in 2025

Guayaki

Guayakí, founded in 1996, is a leading brand of yerba mate, offering a smooth energy boost with a flavor profile suitable for beginners, through their shade-grown, certified organic, and fair-trade practices, with products available in over 45,000 stores across the US and Canada. The brand is dedicated to their mission to restore 200,000 acres of rainforest. You can explore their product line.

Cruz de Malta

Cruz de Malta, established in 1874, is a highly reputable yerba mate brand known for its consistent quality and mild, balanced flavor, making it an excellent choice for beginners, with its traditional blend containing approximately 65% leaves, 25% stems, and 10% dust, and now featuring larger leaves for a longer-lasting taste; this Argentinian yerba mate offers a smooth, earthy experience without excessive bitterness or smokiness, often praised by enthusiasts and even celebrities. For more information, you can visit the official Cruz de Malta website.

Taragüi

Taragüi, established in 1924, is a leading yerba mate brand in Argentina, holding about 30% of the domestic market share, and is produced by Establecimiento Las Marías, using a traditional method that includes stems, providing a less intense flavor, making it an easy starting point for beginners. This classic yerba mate, known for its quality and genuine taste, is harvested in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes and is considered a staple in over 90% of Argentinian households, with an annual consumption of 100 liters per person. Taragüi is also recognized with the quality certificate "Alimentos Argentinos, una elección natural". The brand is widely available in various forms, and a 50g serving of yerba mate has 0 fat, 0 sugar, and 30 calories.

Rosamonte

Rosamonte, established in 1936, is a family-owned Argentine company that has been cultivating, harvesting, and drying yerba mate, offering a traditional blend with approximately 65% leaves and 35% stems, aged for 12 months to achieve its distinct flavor. However, for beginners, the Rosamonte Suave variety, with its milder flavor due to a higher proportion of stems and larger leaves, is a great option to start with. Rosamonte's yerba mate is naturally gluten-free, providing a smooth, yet aromatic experience. This brand has become a well-recognized name with a long history of quality, classic tasting yerba, therefore, it is a good starting point for newcomers to the mate culture. You can find their products at Rosamonte's official website.

Amanda

Amanda, a traditional yerba mate producer with over 90 years of experience in Misiones, Argentina, offers a smooth and mild-flavored blend made with leaves and stems, making it a great starting point for beginners exploring the world of yerba mate, and despite some opinions that it might be a bit strong for beginners, its traditional preparation and soft taste is still recommended for those new to the drink with the classic blend being a very popular choice in Argentina; this yerba mate is also gluten-free and comes in various sizes such as 1kg or 500g packs.

La Merced

La Merced, established as a premium yerba mate producer, offers a variety of blends, including the "Campo Sur" known for its smooth, delicate taste, making it an excellent choice for beginners due to its mild flavor profile and less bitterness compared to other brands; the brand utilizes leaves from the southernmost plantations, providing a unique and balanced classic taste that's not too overwhelming, and boasts an unprecedentedly long durability, suitable for daily use with sustained energy, and often comes in 500g packages containing approximately 5-10 servings. You can find more information on their products at La Merced's official website.

Playadito

Playadito, established in 1926 by German immigrants in Argentina, is known for its smooth, subtly sweet and mellow flavor, making it an excellent choice for yerba mate beginners. With a light body and minimal bitterness, it offers a pleasant transition for those new to the drink. Playadito's traditional blend, often containing stems, is produced with meticulous leaf selection and a 12-month maturation period, with many considering it the best option for beginners because of its soft taste and being an easy-to-drink yerba mate. For more information about their products, visit their official website.

Canarias

Canarias, a leading yerba mate brand from Brazil and popular in Uruguay, offers a finely ground, mostly leaf blend with around 1.5% stems, providing a strong and intense flavor, which is considered by some to be a great experience for beginners, despite its potential to be strong and require proper preparation techniques to avoid bombilla clogging; its creamy texture and full-bodied nature make for a unique mate experience, with a 100% natural product free of artificial preservatives, while being a gluten-free option. The product is made with leaves that are grown in native forests in Brazil. For more details, visit their website: Canarias yerba mate.

Nobleza Gaucha

Nobleza Gaucha, a classic Argentine yerba mate brand since 1940, produced by Molinos Río de la Plata which was established in 1902, offers a smooth and mild flavor, making it an ideal choice for beginners due to its well-balanced profile with a medium cut and a good ratio of leaves, stems, and dust, and it is often recommended for those seeking a less bitter taste compared to other yerba mate varieties with a consistent flavor. For more information, visit Nobleza Gaucha's dedicated page.

Kraus

Kraus, a family-owned Argentinian brand since the beginning of the 20th century, cultivates 100% organic, unsmoked yerba mate, using sustainable agriculture practices without pesticides or herbicides, offering a smooth, mild flavor that is ideal for beginners, with some varieties being pure leaf, and they are certified organic with DE-ÖKO-006 and ABCERT AR-BIO-004. For more information, visit their official website.