Time to Read: 7 minutes
Quick Overview
There is no single best time to drink yerba mate. Most people start in the morning, where it stands in for coffee at about 80 mg of caffeine a cup, but the afternoon works just as well and you can have it any time. If caffeine catches up with you, an early-afternoon cutoff helps, and we usually stop around 2 or 3 p.m.
If you are new to yerba mate, one of the first questions that comes up is simple: when are you supposed to drink it? The short answer is that there is no rule. Yerba mate slides into a morning, a slow afternoon, or an evening on the couch just as easily. Here is how we think about it, and how the people who grew up with it fit yerba mate into a day.
There is no single best time to drink yerba mate
The best time is whenever it fits your day. In Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, yerba mate is not tied to one slot on the clock. It shows up first thing in the morning, it travels to work and to class, and it comes out again when friends drop by in the afternoon. It is a daily companion more than a single event.
That is worth separating from personal preference. The tradition is that yerba mate is woven through the whole day and usually shared. What time you enjoy it, and whether you like it as your first drink or your afternoon one, is entirely your call. Below we walk through the times of day people tend to ask about.
Morning: yerba mate with or instead of coffee
Morning is the most popular time to start, and it is where a lot of newcomers land first. A cup of yerba mate has roughly 80 mg of caffeine, which is close to a cup of coffee, so it is a natural stand-in for that first-thing-in-the-morning drink. If you would rather ease in, plenty of people keep their coffee and add yerba mate next to it.
One thing to keep in mind: a yerba mate session is not a single cup. You keep adding hot water to the same gourd of yerba many times over half an hour or more, so the caffeine adds up across the sitting even though you are not adding new yerba each time. If you are watching your intake, that is useful to know. We wrote a fuller piece on how much caffeine is in yerba mate, and on choosing yerba mate over coffee and tea if you are weighing the switch.
Midday and the afternoon lull
The early afternoon is the other time people reach for yerba mate, often around that mid-afternoon lull when a warm cup and a small pause are welcome. It pairs well with sitting down for a bit, and it is easy to keep going while you work or read. A lot of the people who taught us about yerba mate say the lift feels steadier to them than coffee.
When it is hot out, the afternoon is also when you might switch to tereré, the cold version made with ice-cold water or juice. In Paraguay and the Argentine litoral, tereré is the summer default, not a novelty. If you want to try it, here is how to prepare tereré.
Evenings: how late is too late
Whether yerba mate works in the evening comes down to you. Some people happily share a gourd after dinner and sleep fine. Others notice that caffeine late in the day makes it harder to wind down. Because yerba mate has caffeine similar to coffee, a common guideline is to leave yourself a few hours between your last cup and bedtime. How much it affects your sleep varies a lot from one person to the next, so it is worth paying attention to your own pattern.
If you love an evening cup but are sensitive, a lighter pour or a shorter sitting later in the day is an easy adjustment. Some of us on the team are a bit sensitive too and stop caffeine around 2 or 3 p.m., then switch to something caffeine-free for the rest of the day. That is a personal preference rather than a rule, and everyone is different, but an early-afternoon cutoff is an easy thing to try if caffeine tends to catch up with you. When we make the switch, we reach for a caffeine-free blend like our Salta Sunset. This is general information rather than medical advice, and if caffeine and sleep are a real concern for you, a doctor is the right person to ask.
Good to Know
Whatever time you drink it, let your water cool before it hits the leaves. Keep it between 150 and 180 F, with about 165 F the sweet spot, and never boiling. Very hot drinks over many years carry a risk, so letting it cool is a good habit as well as a better-tasting one. More on this in the best water temperature for yerba mate.
Training days: timing it around a workout
If you train regularly, you're in good company. Messi and Suárez travel with a gourd. Nadal and Hungarian pro Márton Fucsovics call it part of the routine. MMA fighter Jason Nicevski, now training and collaborating with us, keeps one in his corner too. Some grew up with it at home, others picked it up later from teammates and friends, but it ends up in the same place: part of the routine.
Yerba mate carries about 80 mg of caffeine a cup, enough to help you feel awake before a session and settle down after one. The bigger part of it is the format: the same gourd, refilled through the whole warmup, becomes a piece of the routine itself, something you sit with rather than rush through. Whether that adds anything to performance is unproven, so treat it as personal preference and let your own body be the judge. Training at night? The same evening guidance from earlier still applies.
Water still does its own job. Sweat through a session and reach for both: water for the work, mate for everything else. For the fuller story on why so many athletes carry a gourd, read why athletes drink yerba mate.
Weekends and sharing: yerba mate is about company
The most traditional time of all is not a time on the clock, it is whenever people are together. A round of yerba mate on a weekend afternoon, one gourd filled and refilled and passed from hand to hand, is the heart of the whole thing. One person serves, everyone else waits their turn, and the cup keeps going around while the conversation does.
That is the part we care about most. Yerba mate is a daily routine and a cultural tradition, and above all a way to sit with people. If you take one idea from all of this, let it be that the best time to drink yerba mate is the time you can share it.
The way we actually do it
Here is a simple daily pattern if you are trying to find your own timing:
- Start in the morning with your first gourd, on its own or next to coffee, and see how it sits with you.
- Keep the thermos nearby into the early afternoon for a refill when the day dips.
- On a hot day, swap the hot gourd for cold tereré instead of skipping yerba mate altogether.
- Ease off in the later part of the day if you notice caffeine affecting your sleep.
- Save a round for the weekend, when you can slow down and pass the gourd with friends.
If you are still getting the setup right, our step-by-step on how to prepare yerba mate covers filling the gourd and placing the bombilla.
Frequently asked questions
Is it okay to drink yerba mate on an empty stomach?
Many people do, especially first thing in the morning. Others find it sits better with a little food first. There is no single right answer, so go with what feels comfortable for you.
Can you drink yerba mate at night?
You can, and some people do without any trouble. Since yerba mate has about as much caffeine as coffee, others prefer to leave a few hours before bed. It depends on how caffeine affects you personally.
How much caffeine is in yerba mate?
A cup has roughly 80 mg, close to a cup of coffee. Since you keep adding hot water to the same yerba throughout a sitting rather than starting a new cup each time, the total caffeine across a session is higher. There is a full breakdown in our caffeine guide.
Is yerba mate better than coffee in the morning?
Neither is better, they are different. They carry a similar amount of caffeine per cup, so it comes down to taste and how each one feels for you. Some people keep both.
When do people in South America drink yerba mate?
Throughout the day, rather than at one set time. It is common in the morning and again when people gather in the afternoon, and in the heat many switch to cold tereré. The constant is that it is usually shared.
How late is too late for yerba mate?
There is no fixed cutoff. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that up to about 400 mg of caffeine a day is an amount not generally associated with negative effects for most healthy adults, and leaving some hours before bed is a common guideline. Your own sensitivity is the best guide. This is general information, not medical advice.
Ready to find your own time of day? A starter bundle gives you everything you need to brew your first gourd.
Shop starter bundlesThis article is for general information and is not medical advice. If you have questions about caffeine and your health or sleep, please talk to a healthcare professional.
