Kraus vs Guayakí: Which Unsmoked Yerba Mate Should You Buy?

Buy Kraus if you want the most rigorously smoke-free, purest organic mate and you don't mind ordering online. Buy Guayakí if you want a clean, organic, unsmoked mate you can find at most grocery stores in any format.

Both are organic and unsmoked, so both deliver the smooth, green, no-campfire flavor that makes unsmoked mate worth seeking out — neither tastes smoky. The decision comes down to two things: how absolute you want the smoke-free purity to be, and how easily you want to buy it. The table above lays it out; the sections below explain why each difference matters.

'Unsmoked' gets used loosely across the category, but Kraus means it as literally as anyone: instead of drying the leaf over a wood fire, it uses an indirect hot-air system so the mate never touches smoke at all. That makes Kraus the reference point — the gold standard — for drinkers who want zero smoke contact and the cleanest possible cup. It's also Organic, Fair Trade, and Kosher.

Guayakí is also genuinely unsmoked — its traditional loose leaf is air-dried, so it's clean and green with no campfire note, and it's USDA Organic and Fair Trade. Both are clean; the distinction is that Kraus's indirect-hot-air method is the most rigorous, purist expression of smoke-free drying, while Guayakí is the widely-trusted, broadly-available unsmoked benchmark.

Guayakí wins on availability and format range. It's stocked at most grocery and convenience stores, so you can grab it in person and never run out, and it comes in loose leaf, tea bags, and cans — whatever way you want to drink mate, Guayakí makes it. It's con palo (with stems), which keeps the cup smooth and forgiving. It costs more than the big smoked 1kg imports, but it's the easy, on-the-shelf choice.

Kraus wins on purity but asks more of you. It's typically pricier per gram and usually an online or specialty-shop buy rather than a grocery-store grab, and it's sold mainly as loose leaf (e.g. 500g). It also comes in both con palo and pure-leaf options if you want to dial the strength. If the cleanest possible smoke-free mate is worth a little more money and a little more effort to source, Kraus is the pick.

Choose Kraus if smoke-free purity is your priority — if you want the gold-standard, indirect-hot-air-dried mate that never touches smoke, you value the Organic/Fair Trade/Kosher certifications, and you're happy to order it online and pay a bit more per gram. It's the purist's unsmoked mate.

Choose Guayakí if you want a clean, organic, unsmoked mate you can buy anywhere, in whatever format suits you — loose leaf, tea bags, or cans — and you value convenience and grocery-store availability. It's the easy, modern, broadly-available choice. Both give you the smooth, green, no-campfire flavor; you're really choosing between maximum purity (Kraus) and maximum convenience (Guayakí).