Latest News & Articles
Mate and Tea: How Uruguay and China Are Building a Cultural Bridge Through Their National Beverages
Uruguay drinks more yerba mate per capita than any country on Earth. China produces nearly half the world's tea. Now, as Beijing officially approves mate as a food ingredient and bilateral ties reach 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' status, these two beverage cultures are meeting in ways that neither tradition's founders could have imagined.
Buenos Aires Transforms Avenida de Mayo into a Yerba Mate Corridor: Inside Mate BA, the Festival That Opened Argentina's First Mate Museum
On December 7, 2025, Buenos Aires hosted Mate BA — a free, day-long festival that turned eight blocks of Avenida de Mayo into a curated mate experience featuring 30+ producers, live folk music, and the official opening of Argentina's first Mate Museum at Avenida de Mayo 853.
Paraguay Puts Yerba Mate on the Path to World Heritage: The 'Cultural Landscape of Yerba Mate' Enters UNESCO's Tentative List
In April 2022, Paraguay submitted the 'Yerba Mate Cultural Landscape' to UNESCO's Tentative List for World Heritage Sites — a formal step toward seeking inscription that would recognize the centuries-old productive systems, cultural practices, and ecological knowledge associated with yerba mate cultivation as a heritage of universal significance.
Tereré, the Cold Soul of Paraguay: How Yerba Mate's Iced Cousin Became a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
In December 2020, UNESCO inscribed Paraguayan tereré — the cold-water infusion of yerba mate blended with medicinal pohã ñana herbs — on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, making it the country's first cultural practice to receive the distinction.
The Land of Mate: How Uruguay Became the World's Highest Per-Capita Consumer Without Growing a Single Commercial Leaf
Uruguayans consume approximately 10 kilograms of yerba mate per person annually — the highest rate on Earth — yet the country imports 95% of its supply from Brazil, creating one of the most unusual commodity dependencies in global food trade.
The Tareferos: Inside the Grueling Lives of Argentina's Yerba Mate Harvesters, From Dawn to Sundown
An AP News investigation illuminates the conditions faced by the low-paid laborers who hand-harvest yerba mate in Misiones province — a backbreaking tradition stretching from the colonial Jesuit era to the uncertainties of Milei's deregulation.
From Cal Poly to Columbia: How Yerba Mate Conquered America's College Campuses
Yerba mate has become a fixture of American university culture, with students at Cal Poly, UC San Diego, Occidental, and dozens of other campuses adopting the South American beverage as a healthier alternative to coffee and energy drinks.
Christine Folch's 'The Book of Yerba Mate' Delivers the Plant's First Comprehensive English-Language History
Published by Princeton University Press, the anthropologist's new work traces yerba mate from its Guaraní origins through the Jesuit missions, industrial-era exploitation, and its reinvention as a global wellness commodity — challenging romantic narratives along the way.