Yerba Mate Brands Comparison Chart (2026): Every Brand We Review, One Table
Thirteen brands, one master chart: origin, smoke profile, stems and cut, formats, and live verified per-ounce cost for every yerba mate we have reviewed, plus which drinker each brand actually suits.
By The Yerba Mate Reviews Desk · 10 min · Updated 2026-07-22
This is the reference page: every yerba mate brand we have reviewed on this site, compared in one table on the facts that actually differentiate them. Country of origin, smoke profile (smoke-dried or air-dried), stems and cut (con palo or sin palo), format, and cost per ounce of dry leaf, computed from live Amazon prices pulled through the Creators API on July 22, 2026.
The one-paragraph landscape: traditional South American kilos (Playadito, Taragui, Cruz de Malta, Canarias, Rosamonte, Pajarito) run $0.42 to $0.54 per ounce and split mainly on strength and smoke (Amanda, sold here as a 500g import pack, prices above that band without being a premium leaf). Modern organic unsmoked brands (Guayaki/Yerba Madre, EcoTeas) run $1.09 to $1.25 per ounce, a premium for certification and the clean air-dried profile. Ready-to-drink cans (Mateina, CLEAN Cause) run $3.25 to $3.33 per can, paying for convenience. Where a brand sits in that grid tells you most of what you need to know.
Every figure below is a live verified number from the July 22, 2026 pull, not a memory or a guess; brands whose tracked listings were out of stock that day are flagged and get no buy link. Yerba mate is a caffeinated beverage, not a supplement, and nothing here is medical advice.
The short version
- Thirteen reviewed brands, eleven verified in stock on July 22, 2026; Kraus and Wisdom were out of stock that day.
- Loose-leaf cost spans a 3x spread: $0.42/oz (Playadito, Taragui) to $1.25/oz (Yerba Madre's organic case).
- The traditional kilo band is tight: six classic South American kilos land between $0.42 and $0.54 per ounce (Amanda's 500g import pack prices higher).
- Smoke splits the market cleanly: air-dried (Guayaki, EcoTeas) vs smoke-dried traditional (most kilos), with Pajarito's light smoke in between.
- Strength shorthand: Playadito is the mildest kilo, Taragui and Cruz de Malta sit in the middle, Rosamonte and Pajarito add depth, Canarias is the strongest.
- Cans (Mateina $3.25, CLEAN Cause $3.33 per can verified) cost several times more per serving than any kilo.
- Every brand name in the chart links to our full review; every price links to the exact listing we verified.
The master chart: every brand we review
Loose-leaf brands first (ranked cheapest to priciest per ounce), then ready-to-drink. Prices are live as of July 22, 2026; the price cell links to the exact listing we verified, and the review cell links to our full brand review.
| Brand | Origin | Smoke | Stems / cut | Per unit | Price (7/22) | Our review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playadito | Argentina (Colonia Liebig co-op) | Traditional, mild | Con palo | $0.42/oz | $14.99 / 1kg | Review |
| Taragui | Argentina (Las Marias estate) | Traditional, moderate | Con palo (sin palo available) | $0.42/oz | $14.99 / 1kg | Review |
| Cruz de Malta | Argentina | Smoked, moderate | Con palo, large-leaf low-dust | $0.43/oz | $15.03 / 1kg | Review |
| Canarias | Uruguay | Smoked | Sin palo, fine powdery | $0.49/oz | $17.29 / 1kg | Review |
| Rosamonte | Argentina (Misiones) | Smoked, aged ~24mo | Con palo | $0.50/oz | $17.80 / 1kg | Review |
| Pajarito | Paraguay | Lightly smoked, aged ~24mo | Con palo | $0.54/oz | $18.99 / 1kg | Review |
| EcoTeas | South America (Argentine-style) | Unsmoked (air-dried) | Pure leaf (sin palo), sifted | $1.09/oz | $34.99 / 2lb | Review |
| Guayaki (Yerba Madre) | Argentina (rainforest-grown) | Unsmoked (air-dried) | Con palo | $1.25/oz | $59.99 / 6x8oz | Review |
| Amanda | Argentina (Misiones) | Smoked, light/balanced | Con palo | $1.42/oz | $25.00 / 500g | Review |
| Mateina | Canada (RTD), yerba from South America | n/a (cold-brewed RTD) | n/a, 120mg caffeine/can | $3.25/can | $39.00 / 12pk | Review |
| CLEAN Cause | USA (Austin, TX) RTD | n/a (sparkling RTD) | n/a, low sugar | $3.33/can | $39.95 / 12pk | Review |
| Kraus | Argentina | Unsmoked (air-dried) | Con palo, organic | n/a | Out of stock 7/22 | Review |
| Wisdom of the Ancients | Paraguay (leaf) | n/a (tea bags) | Tea bags, stevia-sweetened | n/a | Out of stock 7/22 | Review |
Two reading notes. Amanda's high per-ounce figure reflects its 500g import pack size on the verified listing, not a premium positioning; by the kilo in Argentina it competes with the value band. And Guayaki's row reflects the post-rebrand Yerba Madre 6 x 8oz case; the legacy tea-bag listing was out of stock on the pull date.
How to read the chart: the three questions that pick your brand
1. Smoke or no smoke? Air-dried brands (Guayaki, EcoTeas, Kraus when stocked) taste clean and green. Smoke-dried traditionals (Cruz de Malta, Rosamonte, Canarias) carry a toasty register, with Pajarito's light smoke and Taragui's moderate character in between. This is the single biggest flavor fork; our smoked vs unsmoked guide covers it in depth.
2. Stems or no stems? Con palo (with stems) brews smoother and more forgiving; nearly every Argentine and Paraguayan kilo on the chart is con palo. Sin palo (stemless: Canarias, EcoTeas' pure leaf, Taragui's blue label) packs denser and brews stronger. The stems guide explains why.
3. How much strength? Reading the kilos from mildest to boldest: Playadito, then Amanda, then Cruz de Malta and Taragui, then Pajarito, then Rosamonte, with Canarias at the top. Beginners do best starting in the first half of that list.
The value bands, in one glance
The chart's prices fall into three clean bands. Traditional kilos, $0.42 to $0.54 per ounce: the six classic South American kilos, where all the per-ounce values in mate live (Amanda's $1.42/oz is a 500g import-pack artifact, not premium positioning). Organic unsmoked, $1.09 to $1.25 per ounce: EcoTeas and Yerba Madre, roughly 2.5x the kilo band, buying certification and the air-dried profile. Ready to drink, $3.25 to $3.33 per can: Mateina and CLEAN Cause, where one can costs about as much as 7 ounces of the cheapest dry leaf.
Matching a brand to a drinker
The chart answers 'what is different'; here is 'which one is yours'. First-timer: Playadito (smoothest kilo) or Guayaki (cleanest profile, easiest to find). Value maximizer: Playadito or Taragui at $0.42/oz verified. Organic-first: EcoTeas, with Guayaki as the grocery-store option. Strength chaser: Canarias, with Rosamonte as the con palo route. Coffee switcher: Rosamonte for dark-roast palates, Guayaki for light; our coffee drinkers guide maps the whole switch. No-gear drinker: Mateina or CLEAN Cause cans.
For ranked picks with full reasoning rather than raw data, the best yerba mate roundup is the companion page to this chart.
A note on freshness and the brewing basics
This chart is a snapshot: every price and stock status was verified on July 22, 2026, and Amazon import prices swing, so treat the numbers as accurate as of that date. We re-verify on a regular cadence and re-stamp the page when we do; the out-of-stock rows (Kraus, Wisdom) will regain buy links when their listings return.
How we chose
Scope: the thirteen beverage brands with a dedicated review on this site. Accessory brands (gourds, bombillas, thermoses) are excluded; they live in the gear guides.
Prices and availability were pulled live from Amazon's Creators API on July 22, 2026 for the exact ASIN each brand's review links to. Per-ounce figures are the live price divided by package weight (1 kg = 35.27 oz, 500 g = 17.64 oz, EcoTeas' 2 x 1lb = 32 oz, Yerba Madre's case = 6 x 8oz = 48 oz). Per-can figures are the 12-pack price divided by 12.
Out-of-stock handling: Kraus (500g organic) and Wisdom (Mate Royale tea bags) returned OUT_OF_STOCK on the pull date, as did Guayaki's legacy 75-count tea bags. Those rows carry review links but no buy link and no per-ounce math; we do not link to dead listings or compute prices from stale data.
Style facts (origin, smoke, stems, cut, aging) come from our individual brand reviews and the listings themselves. Where our review does not document a fact, the cell says so rather than guessing.
The usual beverage notes: mate contains caffeine (roughly 30 to 50mg per brewed serving; cans print their dose), and the IARC classifies drinking very hot beverages above 65C (149F) as probably carcinogenic, a risk tied to temperature, not to mate. This is not medical advice.
Questions, answered
What are the main yerba mate brands?
The brands we review fall into three groups: traditional South American kilos (Playadito, Taragui, Cruz de Malta, Canarias, Rosamonte, Pajarito, Amanda), modern organic unsmoked brands (Guayaki/Yerba Madre, EcoTeas, Kraus), and ready-to-drink cans (Mateina, CLEAN Cause). The chart above compares all of them on origin, smoke, cut, and verified cost.
What is the cheapest good yerba mate brand?
By verified per-ounce cost on July 22, 2026, Playadito and Taragui tied at $0.42 per ounce ($14.99 per kilo each). The entire traditional kilo band runs $0.42 to $0.57 per ounce, so any classic South American kilo is dramatically cheaper per serving than organic specialty leaf or cans.
Which yerba mate brands are unsmoked?
Among brands we review: Guayaki (Yerba Madre) and EcoTeas are air-dried and fully unsmoked, and Kraus is as well (out of stock at our last check). Pajarito is only lightly smoked. The rest of the traditional kilos (Cruz de Malta, Rosamonte, Canarias) carry classic smoke-dried character.
Which yerba mate brand is the strongest?
Canarias. It is Uruguayan sin palo: stemless and finely ground, so it packs the most leaf per gourd and brews the boldest, most intense cup on our chart. Rosamonte Seleccion Especial is the strongest con palo option, bold but rounded by roughly 24 months of aging.
Which yerba mate brand is best for beginners?
Playadito for a first traditional kilo (the mildest, most forgiving cup on the chart) or Guayaki for the gentlest overall entry (unsmoked, organic, sold in grocery stores, and available as tea bags and cans). Both are con palo styles that tolerate beginner mistakes like too-hot water.
How current are the prices in this chart?
Every price and stock status was pulled live from Amazon's Creators API on July 22, 2026, the date stamped on the page. Import prices swing, so figures are accurate as of that pull; we re-verify on a regular cadence, and brands out of stock on the pull date are flagged instead of priced.
Keep reading
The Best Yerba Mate You Can Buy Right Now
The ranked companion to this chart, across every style and strength.
Yerba Mate Price Index (July 2026)
The full live-price dataset: averages, medians, spreads, and unit math.
The Best Guayaki Alternatives
Nine verified in-stock swaps for the rebranded benchmark brand.
Smoked vs Unsmoked Yerba Mate
The drying fork that splits the chart in two.
Con Palo vs Sin Palo: The Yerba Mate Stems Guide
Why stems decide how strong your mate brews.
Argentine vs Uruguayan Yerba Mate
How the great mate nations differ in the cup.