First: what is yerba mate?

Yerba mate is an infusion made from the dried leaves and stems of Ilex paraguariensis, a plant native to South America. It is traditionally prepared in a small vessel called a mate and sipped through a filtered metal straw called a bombilla.

It is not the same plant as green tea, and it is not coffee. Yerba mate naturally contains caffeine, while its taste can range from grassy and herbal to toasted, woody or smoky depending on how it is grown and processed. Sherba is an unsmoked yerba mate, carefully aged for a smooth, balanced cup without added sugar or manufactured energy blends.

In Arabic, yerba mate is commonly written المتّة and often simply called maté or mate.

Before Lebanon: the South American roots of mate

Lebanon’s mate story begins in South America, long before the first Lebanese migrants arrived there. Indigenous peoples especially the Guaraní knew and used the leaves of the yerba mate plant before European colonisation. The plant grew naturally in a region that today includes Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and southern Brazil.

Knowledge of the leaf, its preparation and its value travelled through Indigenous exchange. During the colonial period, mate spread more widely through settlements, trade routes and Jesuit cultivation. By the nineteenth century it was already part of daily life across much of the Southern Cone. It could be consumed at home, on the road or during a working day with little more than dry leaf, water, a vessel and a filtered straw.

This matters because Lebanese migrants did not encounter mate as a rare botanical curiosity. They entered societies where the drink was visible and ordinary. It belonged to kitchens and courtyards, shops and farms, work breaks and visits between friends. Learning to drink mate was one small way of learning the rhythm of a new country.

How did yerba mate reach Lebanon?

The short answer is migration. The complete story is more human: people left Mount Lebanon and the wider Levant, built lives in South America, adopted some of the customs around them and kept those customs when they visited or returned home.

The first journeys from the Levant to Latin America

Large-scale migration from the Ottoman provinces of the Levant grew during the second half of the nineteenth century. The reasons were not identical for every family. Political instability, local conflict, economic pressure, changing agricultural conditions and the search for opportunity all played a role. Later migrations were shaped by the First World War, the end of Ottoman rule, the French Mandate and further regional upheaval.

The labels used in old records can be confusing. Many people who came from today’s Lebanon or Syria travelled with Ottoman documents and were registered in Latin America as turcos “Turks” regardless of their Arabic language, village, religion or sense of identity. Other records grouped them together as “Syrian-Lebanese.” Modern national borders and identities were still taking shape, so historic statistics do not always let us separate Lebanese and Syrian migration cleanly.

Argentina’s open immigration policy and expanding economy made it an important destination. Buenos Aires received newcomers, but many did not remain in the capital. Lebanese and Syrian migrants established businesses and communities in provinces across the country, including Tucumán, Córdoba, Santiago del Estero and Mendoza. Chain migration mattered: one relative or neighbour could help the next person find housing, learn Spanish, obtain work or begin a small business.

A new country and an everyday drink

There, families from the Levant encountered a drink already woven into everyday South American life. Mate was affordable, social and easy to prepare. It appeared at home, during work and whenever people sat together for a conversation. Many immigrants made the habit their own.

We should not imagine one exact day when “the Lebanese discovered mate.” Cultural habits spread person by person. A migrant might first accept a cup from a customer, neighbour or co-worker. A household might begin buying yerba because friends served it. Children born in Argentina could grow up with Arabic food at the family table and mate beside it. Over decades, what began as a local Argentine custom could become part of a Lebanese Argentine family’s own routine.

Mate also suited the realities of migration. The equipment was compact, the dry leaf stored well and a single serving could be refilled many times. More importantly, it made company. Sharing time around a drink required little translation, even when newcomers were still learning Spanish.

The return journey: carrying mate back to Lebanon

Migration was never only a one-way voyage. Some people returned permanently; others travelled back for family, marriage, business or extended visits. Letters, goods and money also moved between relatives on opposite sides of the Atlantic. These connections are often described by the Arabic idea of the mahjar: the emigrant world and the relationships it maintained with home.

When migrants and their descendants travelled back to the Levant, they brought more than luggage. They carried accents, stories, commercial knowledge, recipes and routines learned abroad. Yerba mate was one of those routines. Packs of leaf and the tools used to drink it could be introduced to relatives, then requested again once the first supply ran out.

This is why the arrival of mate in Lebanon should be understood as a gradual exchange rather than a single import event. Family contact created curiosity. Repeated travel created continuity. Commercial supply eventually allowed the habit to survive without someone personally carrying every pack from Argentina.

What the trade records tell us

Academic research on mate in the Levant cites Argentina’s earliest systematic export records from 1936. Those records already identify Syria as a significant destination, receiving 39,639 kilograms that year. At that time, however, trade labels and routes did not necessarily describe where every final consumer lived. Goods moved across neighbouring markets, while the social networks connecting Lebanese and Syrian families crossed the new borders of the region.

The scale was far larger by 2017, when figures reported from Argentina’s National Yerba Mate Institute showed exports of approximately 22,563 tonnes to Syria and 800 tonnes to Lebanon. Syria’s volume should not be treated as Lebanon’s, but together the figures demonstrate the strength of the regional connection. The exact annual numbers change with war, economic conditions and shipping routes; the larger pattern is that mate did not disappear after one generation.

From family luggage to Lebanese shelves

No single company can claim to have introduced every Lebanese household to mate; family movement predates formal local distribution. Commercial histories nevertheless help show how the habit became easier to sustain. The Abu Khuzam family’s account dates Mohamed Abu Khuzam’s yerba mate business to 1956. It later moved from Beirut to Chweifat and then to Kfarhim in the Chouf.

This distinction matters. Migrants and relatives carried the culture; importers created dependable supply. Together, those two channels changed mate from something brought home in a suitcase into something Lebanese families could continue buying locally.

So mate in Lebanon is neither a recent wellness trend nor an imported imitation. It is a South American drink with a genuine Lebanese chapter, built through migration and cultural exchange.

Why did mate become part of Lebanese culture?

Mate travelled through migration, but it survived because it fit easily into Lebanese social life.

Lebanese hospitality is built around making time for people. Coffee, tea and food rarely function as refreshments alone; they create a reason to sit, speak and stay. Mate does the same. Preparing the cup, heating the water and refilling it slows the moment down just enough for conversation.

The custom became particularly visible among Druze families and in parts of Mount Lebanon, where it passed between generations. But mate is not limited to one community. Today it is drunk across Lebanon by people who inherited the habit, discovered it through friends or simply wanted a naturally caffeinated alternative to another coffee.

The Druze community and the continuity of mate

Research on mate in the Levant repeatedly notes its strong association with Druze communities. Migration history helps explain that connection. Druze families were part of the movement between the Levant and Latin America, and transnational family networks allowed customs to travel in both directions.

Once mate entered a household, repetition turned it into inheritance. Children did not need to know the full history of Argentina to recognise the cup, the metal straw or the sound of water being prepared. They learned by watching parents and grandparents. A habit acquired abroad became something served to guests at home.

It would be too simple, however, to say that mate belongs only to the Druze or only to one area. Lebanon’s communities have always influenced one another through work, education, friendship, marriage and movement between villages and cities. Mate is now familiar beyond the families that first protected the custom.

The association is especially visible in the Chouf and Aley regions. A 2014 report, for example, documented mate being prepared in the mountain village of Barouk. Kfarhim also became an important point in Lebanon’s commercial mate story. Naming these places does not mean every household prepares mate or that the tradition is limited to them; it shows that the connection has a real Lebanese geography, not only an abstract “Middle Eastern” identity.

Why the drink felt at home in Lebanon

The survival of mate was not automatic. Migrants carried many objects and habits that faded with time. Mate lasted because it was compatible with something already central to Lebanese life: hospitality expressed through a drink.

Lebanese coffee and tea were not displaced. Mate joined them. Each drink could have its own moment, family preference and style of service. Like a coffee pot placed on the table, a kettle and tray of mate supplies communicated that nobody needed to leave quickly.

This may also explain why preparation evolved. Lebanese drinkers did not preserve every South American convention unchanged. They adapted the quantity of leaf, the size of the cup, the use of individual vessels and the habit of stirring. The result remained recognisably mate, but it also became recognisably Lebanese.

Mate arrived from South America, then Lebanon gave it a rhythm of its own.

From a shared gourd to individual cups: Lebanon’s adaptation

In Argentina and Uruguay, one person commonly prepares the mate and refills it for the group. Each person drinks the full serving through the same bombilla before returning the cup to the server. Sharing the vessel is part of the social code.

Lebanese service often places more distance between drinkers. Several small cups may appear on a tray, allowing each guest to use an individual vessel and straw. A plate with lemon may be used to freshen or clean a straw, depending on the household. Sugar, citrus peel or herbs may be offered alongside the plain leaf.

The yerba is also often treated more like a tea infusion. Rather than building a dry mound and carefully pouring into one side, a Lebanese drinker may add a smaller amount of leaf, pour the water and stir with the filtered straw. This produces flavour quickly and usually gives fewer refills than the South American mound method.

None of these differences makes one method authentic and the other incorrect. They show how a tradition stays alive. Customs survive when people use them, and people use them when they can make them fit the language of their own home.

How do Lebanese people drink yerba mate?

There is no single correct way to prepare mate. The Lebanese method and the better-known South American method use the same essential ingredients yerba, water, a cup and a filtered straw but the serving habits often differ.

These are patterns, not rules. Families prepare mate differently, and modern drinkers move freely between styles. What matters is finding a method that tastes good to you.

The cup and straw

You can begin with a dedicated mate cup, but a small heat-safe glass or ceramic cup also works. The filtered straw is the important part: it keeps most of the leaves in the cup while you drink. In South America it is called a bombilla; in parts of the Levant you may hear a local name such as masassa.

Traditional Lebanese equipment may include a small gourd known as a qar’a, a narrow glass or a small ceramic vessel. A local masassa is often shorter than a South American bombilla so it fits the smaller cup, with a perforated filter at its base. Older examples may be made from silver or alpaca, while modern stainless-steel versions are practical and easy to clean.

The water

Mate is prepared with hot water, not aggressively boiling water. A useful target is approximately 70–80°C. Boiling water can make the first pour unnecessarily harsh and flatten the flavour more quickly. No thermometer? Stop heating when the water is steaming and small bubbles begin to form, before a rolling boil.

How to prepare yerba mate: the easy Lebanese method

If you grew up around mate, your family may already have its own method. If you are new to it, start here.

1. Heat the water. Aim for 70–80°C and transfer it to a kettle or thermos that pours cleanly.
2. Add the yerba. Fill a small cup around one-third to one-half full. Use a little less for a lighter first cup.
3. Moisten the leaves. Add a small amount of warm or cool water and wait about 30 seconds. This helps settle the yerba before the hot water arrives.
4. Insert the bombilla. Place the filtered end at the bottom of the cup.
5. Pour and drink. Add hot water, let it infuse briefly and sip through the bombilla. In the Lebanese style, you can gently stir before drinking if that is how you like it.
6. Refill. Add more hot water whenever the cup is empty. Continue until the flavour becomes too light for you.

Prefer a longer-lasting, more layered cup? Fill the mate about two-thirds full, tilt the yerba to one side, moisten the lower side, insert the bombilla there and pour repeatedly into the same spot. Leaving the dry mound untouched releases the flavour gradually.

Whichever method you use, avoid constantly moving the bombilla after it is placed. Movement can disturb the filter and pull more fine particles into the straw.

What does yerba mate taste like?

Plain yerba mate is herbal, earthy and pleasantly bitter. The exact taste depends on its origin, leaf cut, ageing and drying process. Smoked styles can have a pronounced campfire note. Unsmoked yerba mate is typically cleaner and lets more of the leaf’s green, woody character come through.

Sherba sources premium unsmoked yerba mate from agroecological farms in Paraguay and ages it for approximately 24 months. The result is balanced enough for experienced mate drinkers but approachable for someone preparing a first cup.

If the taste feels strong at first, use less yerba, slightly cooler water or a touch of sugar. Lemon peel, mint and other herbs can also work, but try the leaf plain at least once before changing it.

Does yerba mate contain caffeine?

Yes. Yerba mate naturally contains caffeine. The amount in your drink changes with the quantity of yerba, water temperature, infusion time and number of refills, so one universal number is misleading.

If you are sensitive to caffeine, begin with a smaller serving and avoid drinking it late in the day. Yerba mate is not caffeine free simply because it is a plant infusion.

Mate in Lebanon today

Lebanon did not merely preserve mate; it made room for it alongside its own coffee and tea traditions. A drink carried through migration now belongs to family kitchens, balconies, shops and long conversations across the country.

That history continues every time a younger Lebanese drinker asks a parent or grandparent how they prepare the cup. Some will keep the exact family method; others will use an insulated thermos, try the South American mound or take mate to work. The tools change, but the connection between generations remains.

Sherba is the next part of that story: South American knowledge, a Lebanese point of view and a clear standard for what goes into the pack. Our yerba is unsmoked, naturally caffeinated, carefully aged and available for delivery across Lebanon.

Explore Sherba loose-leaf yerba mate or begin with the Sherba Mate Tools Kit if you need the cup and bombilla too.

Frequently asked questions about yerba mate in Lebanon

Why do Lebanese people drink yerba mate?

Lebanese migrants encountered mate in South America especially in Argentina and carried the habit back through family and return migration. The drink became particularly established in Druze communities and parts of Mount Lebanon.

Is yerba mate popular in Lebanon?

Yes. It has been consumed in Lebanon for generations. It is especially familiar in some mountain communities, although today people across the country drink it.

What is yerba mate called in Arabic?

Yerba mate is commonly called maté and written المتّة in Arabic.

How do you prepare Lebanese mate?

Add yerba to a small cup, moisten it, insert a filtered straw and pour hot water below boiling. Many Lebanese drinkers use less yerba than the classic South American method and may stir the infusion before drinking.

Can I prepare mate without a traditional gourd?

Yes. A small heat-safe glass or ceramic cup works. You will still need a bombilla or another straw designed with a filter for loose yerba.

Is yerba mate the same as matcha?

No. Matcha is powdered green tea made from Camellia sinensis. Yerba mate comes from Ilex paraguariensis and is steeped rather than whisked into the water. Both naturally contain caffeine, but their plants, flavour and preparation are different.

Is yerba mate stronger than coffee?

It depends on how each drink is prepared. Yerba mate contains caffeine, but the amount varies widely with the serving size, quantity of leaf and number of refills. Treat it as a caffeinated drink and adjust your portion to your tolerance.

Where can I buy yerba mate in Lebanon?

You can order Sherba premium loose-leaf yerba mate online for delivery across Lebanon. Complete beginner tools are also available in the Sherba Mate Tools Kit .

About this guide

This guide was written by Gastón and Jana, co-founders of Sherba, a Lebanon based yerba mate company connecting South American mate knowledge with the way the drink is prepared and understood in Lebanon. Sherba works with agroecological family farmers in Paraguay and imports premium unsmoked yerba mate for delivery across Lebanon.

Historical statements were checked against academic research, official industry information and clearly attributed Lebanese commercial records. Preparation varies between families, so the cultural descriptions in this article identify common practices rather than declaring one universal Lebanese method.

Sources and further reading

• Sulaiman N., et al. “Socio-Cultural Significance of Yerba Maté among Syrian Residents and Diaspora.”
• Kujawska M. “Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) Beverage: Nutraceutical Ingredient or Conveyor for the Intake of Medicinal Plants?”
• Argentina’s National Yerba Mate Institute (INYM), Middle East export-market overview .
• Argentina’s National Yerba Mate Institute (INYM), preparation guidance .
• FoodNavigator, 2017 yerba mate export figures for Syria and Lebanon .
• Mohamed Abu Khuzam & Sons, the family’s account of commercial yerba mate distribution in Lebanon since 1956 .
• Independent Online, reporting on yerba mate in the Lebanese mountain village of Barouk .