elmatecoYerba mate has quietly become one of the world’s most star-studded drinks. From football pitches to Hollywood sets, recording studios to Wimbledon courts, athletes and celebrities across the globe have picked up the gourd and bombilla — some because of their South American roots, others introduced by teammates, friends, or a curious taste for something different. Here’s a full breakdown of who’s drinking mate, and how they got hooked.
Yerba Mate in Sports
Football has done more than any other sport to spread yerba mate around the world — largely thanks to South American players bringing the habit into locker rooms far from home.
South American Football Legends
Lionel Messi is probably the most iconic mate drinker on the planet — the image of him holding the World Cup trophy in one hand and a mate gourd in the other after Argentina’s 2022 win has become one of the defining photos in football history. He’s joined by fellow Argentine stars Sergio Agüero, Paulo Dybala, Alexis Mac Allister, Julián Álvarez, Rodrigo De Paul, and the late Diego Maradona, all regularly pictured with mate in hand. Former Juventus stars Gonzalo Higuaín, Douglas Costa, and Rodrigo Bentancur were even shown sharing mate together in the Netflix documentary First Team: Juventus. From Uruguay, Luis Suárez is a well-known regular, while Brazilian stars Neymar, Alisson Becker, and Ronaldinho have all been seen with mate as well — a reminder that the tradition runs deep across the whole Southern Cone, not just Argentina.
European Football’s Mate Converts
What’s more surprising is how many top European players picked up the habit with no South American roots at all. Cristiano Ronaldo and French World Cup winners Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba have all incorporated mate into their routines. Griezmann developed his taste for it through former Atlético Madrid teammate Carlos Bueno, a Uruguayan.
The clearest example, though, comes from England’s national team. It started at Tottenham Hotspur, where a group of Argentine players — including Erik Lamela, Juan Foyth, and manager Mauricio Pochettino — introduced the drink to their English teammates. Defender Eric Dier became especially devoted, once describing himself as “a bit addicted to it,” and even thanked a former Argentine teammate in fluent Spanish on Instagram for teaching him about mate and asado. Dele Alli and Danny Rose picked up the habit too, and it eventually spread into the wider England squad ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
Beyond Football
Mate has crossed over into other sports as well. English rugby player Marcus Smith has spoken about drinking it, reasoning simply: “if it works for Messi, it will do for me.” Hungarian tennis player Márton Fucsovics, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist, is such a fan that he has a mate gourd tattooed on his body, crediting the drink with changing his life. And it’s not just endurance sports — Mexican boxing champion Canelo Álvarez shared a viral video describing mate as a way to “recharge energy” and reduce inflammation.
Yerba Mate in Music
James Hetfield, frontman of Metallica, is one of the most well-documented celebrity mate drinkers. He met his then-wife, Francesca Tomasi, from Rosario, Argentina, in 1992 while she worked as the band’s wardrobe stylist on the “Wherever I May Roam” tour; they married in 1997 and divorced in 2022. Tomasi introduced him to yerba mate, and by his own account, she played an important role in his long battle with addiction. Hetfield has been photographed with a mate gourd in hand often enough that a fan in Argentina even launched a yerba mate brand named after him.
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter has also spoken about her love for mate, tracing it back to a trip to Argentina at age 17 that turned into a lasting habit. Guatemalan singer Ricardo Arjona, one of the biggest names in Latin music, has shared photos and videos of himself with a mate gourd and thermos from his home in Miami.
Yerba Mate in Film & TV
Hollywood has its own contingent of mate drinkers, several with genuine ties to South America. Anya Taylor-Joy, star of The Queen’s Gambit and Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, grew up in Buenos Aires — her father is Argentine — and has kept the habit since childhood, famously speaking Spanish with a distinct Argentine accent in interviews.
Viggo Mortensen is perhaps the most deeply connected of all: he spent part of his childhood in Argentina, speaks fluent Spanish, and is a devoted fan of Buenos Aires football club San Lorenzo — he’s even been photographed drinking mate on the set of The Lord of the Rings. Zoe Saldaña, known for Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy, was introduced to mate by Argentine and Chilean friends while growing up in the Dominican Republic, and has said the focus it gave her helped her get through exams. Her Guardians of the Galaxy co-star Chris Pratt has also been mentioned among Hollywood’s mate drinkers, alongside Orlando Bloom and Kevin Bacon, who has called it a staple of his “perfect breakfast.” More recently, Matt Damon confirmed the drink is now part of his daily routine, telling an interviewer, “This morning I was drinking mate.”
Beyond Entertainment: Science and Culture
Andrew Huberman, the neuroscientist and podcaster behind the enormously popular Huberman Lab, has spoken about incorporating yerba mate into his routine for its effects on focus and cognitive function — introducing the drink to an audience that might never have encountered it through sports or entertainment. And the tradition reaches the very top of the Catholic Church: the late Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, grew up drinking mate and continued the ritual of sharing it with others throughout his life, even as pontiff.
Even a US President Got Hooked
Even Barack Obama got in on it. During an official visit to Buenos Aires in March 2016, the former US president tried mate for the first time and couldn’t stop talking about it. “When I was in college I would read Borges or Cortázar, these people, and they were drinking mate. And I didn’t know what this was,” he told reporters. “So I knew when I finally arrived in Buenos Aires, I would try some, and I just had some and it was quite good.” He even joked about bringing some yerba home on Air Force One. The moment was captured by longtime White House photographer Pete Souza and quickly went viral.
Why So Many Celebrities Drink Mate
What ties this entire list together isn’t just curiosity — it’s the way mate spreads. Almost every non-Argentine name on this list picked up the habit the same way: through a friend, a teammate, or a partner who shared it with them first. That’s the whole point of the ritual — a single gourd, passed from person to person, refilled and shared rather than consumed alone. It’s part of why the drink has traveled so far beyond South America, from Premier League locker rooms to Wimbledon courts to Hollywood film sets.
Curious to find out what all these athletes, actors, and musicians are drinking? Learn how to make yerba mate the traditional way, explore the different types of mate gourds to find the one that fits you, and check out which health benefits might explain why so many athletes swear by it.
Sources: Goal.com, MercoPress, Healthista, Canal 12 Misiones, Visit Argentina, Wikipedia, and public interviews and social media posts from the individuals named.
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