{"id":969131,"date":"2026-07-30T13:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/969131\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:42:37","slug":"for-south-americans-in-l-a-yerba-mate-is-more-than-a-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/969131\/","title":{"rendered":"For South Americans in L.A., yerba mate is more than a drink"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When an elderly woman walked into Mate Conmigo on a recent Saturday morning, she let out a sigh of comfort. Gabriela Simoni, owner of the Northridge cafe, had spoken to the retirement home resident on several occasions. The woman usually introduces herself politely and grabs a seat to listen to the whistle of hot water pouring from a thermos. Her son tells Simoni that his mother\u2019s memories, including her time living in Argentina, have faded, but whether it\u2019s the mate leaves cradled in her hand, the bitter yet full flavor of the drink or Simoni\u2019s distinctive Argentine Spanish, he noticed her eyes get bright again after each encounter.<\/p>\n

Mate \u2014 a hot, caffeinated herbal drink sipped through a bombilla (metal straw) from a dried gourd \u2014 is the national drink of Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, and is beloved in Southern Brazil. The Guaran\u00ed people<\/a> of Paraguay were the first to harvest leaves from the wild yerba mate tree to brew them as an everyday drink. As Jesuit missions and Spanish colonization took over the continent in the 16th century, mate was popularized across other countries and between settlers and natives alike to become the region\u2019s largest export.<\/p>\n

\"Mate, <\/p>\n

Mate, a centuries-old drink from Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, is traditionally sipped from a metal straw, or bombilla, in a gourd of a dried squash, wood, or leather. Katerina Portela has mate the traditional style at Mate Conmigo on July 15. <\/p>\n

(Calvin B. Alagot \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cBack home, you wake up and drink mate, drive somewhere and drink mate, and come home and sit around with family to drink it,\u201d said Simoni, who was born in the Cordoba province of Argentina. \u201cFor me it\u2019s an important tradition \u2026 when I lost my old job, I turned to mate to start a business and support my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Mate Conmigo\u2019s warm social atmosphere, Simoni introduces new visitors to the brewed herb\u2019s earthy, slightly bitter flavor. At one table, 25-year-old Kayleen Lugo shared sips of terer\u00e9, a chilled summertime preparation of mate with her friend, who nodded as he tried it for the first time. Traditionally, mate is passed around a group, with friends and family members often drinking from the same bombilla. <\/p>\n

For Lugo, mate was never present in her Mexican-Puerto Rican household. One day, her cousin pushed her to visit Mate Conmigo; she\u2018s come back with friends ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the nice thing about mate is that it opens conversation. Even now, I\u2019m bringing my friend here and we\u2019re talking and passing the drink back and forth,\u201d Lugo said. \u201cThe people yearn for community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christian <\/p>\n

Christian Martinez tried mate for the first time July 15 with his friend Kayleen Lubo at Mate Conmigo.<\/p>\n

(Katerina Portela \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Juan Rivera tried mate for the first time from his now wife Tiffany, who whipped it up for him while manning a beverage booth at a music festival. The couple now run Erva Brew Co., a pop-up that appears at festivals like Coachella and farmers markets across L.A.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in my grandma\u2019s restaurant in Lima. I was in the kitchen with her, I saw how food and beverage can just bring a community together,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cMate has that ability to make you slow down and enjoy your company.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2020, they opened a brick-and-mortar location in Pasadena, where the couple experiments with terer\u00e9 in eclectic flavors, like tamarind, mint, and chocolate. <\/p>\n

\"Itzel <\/p>\n

Itzel Celis laughs over mate with friends July 15 at the Northridge cafe Mate Conmigo.<\/p>\n

(Katerina Portela \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cMate brought my wife and I closer together,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cL.A. as a city that\u2019s a melting pot, mate makes sense here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most recently, mate reentered the American consciousness as World Cup stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi<\/a> drink it off-field, leading to American cafes reporting increased<\/a> demand for mate and news outlets documenting <\/a>the significance of the drink. <\/p>\n

In the United States, mate was once advertised as a 1960s housewife aphrodisiac<\/a> and in the 2000s as a mass-bottled health superdrink<\/a> from California-based brands like Guayak\u00ed (later renamed Yerba Madre). In the latest hop on the mate craze, Barron Trump, President Trump\u2019s youngest son, started a canned mate line of his own (at a $39 per pack<\/a> price tag). As the trend grows in mainstream American fascination, South American communities continue to treat mate as sacred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a saying in Uruguay that you haven\u2019t grown up until you start drinking mate,\u201d said Paula Garcia, who moved to L.A. from Montevideo, Uruguay, 12 years ago. \u201cYou always picture mate in your family. It\u2019s like a companion.\u201d<\/p>\n

After teaching at a local elementary school for the day, Garcia stopped by El Gaucho Meat Market in Redondo Beach, an Argentine butcher and grocery store that supplies products from across South America. As she checked out, she looked up behind the cashier to the line of mate gourds and hot water thermoses emblazoned with Messi and various South American flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to be an immigrant and to find a place that feels like home, like your culture,\u201d Garcia said in Spanish outside of El Gaucho. \u201cThe closest I could find was this market, and here I\u2019ve met other Uruguayans and Paraguayans. But always, preparing mate is what transports me. Or when I\u2019m with a friend and we have to talk, we have to make the mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia looked for places to drink mate in company and found social club Argentinite on Instagram. Along with its wide variety of beach days and soccer watch parties, it also hosts \u201cmateadas,\u201d gatherings entirely centered around sharing mate.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

At a mateada, or mate gathering in Santa Monica\u2019s Airport Park last summer, Angelenos from South American diasporas pass around thermoses and mate to share a moment of connection over the drink.<\/p>\n

(Damian Funes)<\/p>\n

Argentinite founder Damian Funes missed the natural gathering of friends around mate and hosted his first mateada to a surprising response.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople thanked me, because for a moment, it felt like they were home,\u201d Funes said. \u201cI saw people from Mexico and even France try mate and love it and make friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Neilsberg data<\/a>, California is home to the second-largest Argentine and fourth-largest Uruguayan communities in the United States, with L.A. being the most populous California city for both groups. Brazilian and Paraguayan diasporas are more centered in Massachusetts and Florida, according to U.S. census data<\/a>, although Brazilian markets like HiBrazil in Redondo Beach carry the drink.<\/p>\n

Erick Viet, the Peruvian-born manager of Catalina\u2019s Market, one of the first Latino grocery stores in L.A. founded in 1967, says he orders pallets with hundreds of mate packages weekly because, \u201cthere\u2019s such a great demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Erick <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Different <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"Gabriela <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Erick Viet looks over the mate stock in Catalina\u2019s Market in East Hollywood, one of the first Latin grocery stores in L.A. He says customers sell out the mate section and will often gather to drink it in the market\u2019s dining area. 2.<\/strong> Gabriela Simoni, owner of cafe Mate Conmigo, pours hot water into a customer\u2019s gourd at Mate Conmigo. (Katerina Portela \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I know the South American community in L.A. is still strong, because people come and buy mate by the kilo,\u201d Viet said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a big part of people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside Fuegos LA, an Argentine restaurant-cafe-cultural hub outside of USC, co-owner Federico Laboureau shook his head as I poured hot water over all of the mate leaves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wrong, the way you did it,\u201d he said, playfully. \u201cI will show you how.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, my dad drank mate, the leather-bound cup a permanent fixture in the cup holder of his Ford Focus. His Uruguayan dad drank it too, but I couldn\u2019t stand the taste until years later, when he lived across the country and my grandfather passed away. That was when mate became a comfort that tied me to them.<\/p>\n

Laboureau carefully poured the mate leaves into the cup until a mound, or monta\u00f1ita, formed on one side of the metal straw. Then the hot water, from a thermos, an unusual sight in an L.A. summer, poured until the mound is a little island. <\/p>\n

The Buenos Aires native recalled watching his grandfather holding two things in his hands every evening: in one, a small radio to listen to tango, and in the other, mate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought it was so old-fashioned. But now I want to hold the radio up to my ear, to listen to tango and drink mate and show that I am Latino,\u201d Laboureau said.<\/p>\n

\"Federico <\/p>\n

Federico Laboureau, co-owner of Fuegos LA, demonstrates the steps of making mate. First, Laboureau pours the leaves, then shakes the \u201cmonta\u00f1ita\u201d or mountain of leaves and finally pours water from a thermos.<\/p>\n

(Katerina Portela \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

When he moved to L.A. to work as a production designer, he felt the pressure to fit in, or as he calls it, \u201cbe gringo.\u201d When he traveled to work on a show, the first thing he packed was his mate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started drinking it in front of my co-workers, and it felt like saying, this is me,\u201d Laboureau said. \u201cIt was how I introduced myself, like a symbol to show people my background and not feel like I have to be perfect to be American.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also takes him back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I would get home late, my mom texts me, \u2018I am waiting for you with the mates,\u2019\u201d Laboureau recalled. \u201cIt means, somebody\u2019s taking care of you. They\u2019re waiting for you. It\u2019s not about the mate. It\u2019s about getting together for a moment, and that somebody cares for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wiped his eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why I get emotional. Mate reminds me,\u201d Laboureau said. \u201cI miss my family.\u201d<\/p>\n