From June 5 to 7, Materos Unidos took part in the first ever Mundial de la Yerba Mate in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A month before the event we shipped two samples each of our Mate Suelto and our Mate Cocido. Judges from many countries blind tasted entries from yerba producers and brands across the world and scored each one.
I want to tell you what that actually means, because the medals themselves are not really the point.
Why This Competition Mattered
Mate has always been judged by tradition, by the person who taught you, by the brand your family trusted for many generations. There was never a single, structured, blind evaluation that put yerba from across the world side by side and scored it on its merits alone. The Mundial changed that. Over three days, judges tasted blind, with no brand names attached, just the yerba itself.
For a small trilingual brand built in Montreal, sourcing from a partner farm in Brazil, entering that room was already a long shot. Every box of Materos Unidos, both the Mate Suelto and the Mate Cocido, is hand assembled by me. I source the yerba, order the materials, and pack each product myself. There is no production line behind this, just one person doing the work between classes and rotations. Going up against producers with industrial scale operations and walking out with real results is not something I take for granted.
The Results
Our Mate Suelto received a Gran Oro award, scoring 95.05 out of 100. Judges noted the homogeneous cut of leaf and stem, an amber infusion with real brightness, and a flavor profile with high intensity, present bitterness, and notes of umami with a long, woody finish.
Our Mate Cocido scored 81.06, which did not reach the medal threshold this round. Judges described it as easy to drink and light, with a clean, golden appearance, though less aromatically complex than the Suelto. Coming from the same one-person, hand-assembled process, it is a useful data point, not a disappointment, and it tells us exactly where that product needs to grow.
The Mate Suelto score is a direct reflection of the care we put into sourcing, every step from the farm to the bag. Scoring above 95 in a blind tasting is proof that the work behind the scenes shows up in the cup.
The Connections Mattered as Much as the Medal
Beyond the scores, the most valuable part of the three days was the room itself. We met yerba producers from many countries, people who have been doing this for generations, comparing notes on sourcing, processing, and what blind judges actually respond to. Those conversations will shape how we think about Materos Unidos long after the medals are packed away.
Why I Started This in the First Place
I did not start Materos Unidos because I saw a gap in the market. I started it because mate is one of the few things that has stayed constant across every chapter of my life, from my studies, to family in Argentina to building something new in Canada. The name itself, Materos Unidos, or "mate drinkers united", was never just a tagline. It was a bet that something this personal could still mean something to people who grew up nowhere near it.
What Comes Next
This does not change what we are doing day to day. We are still a small trilingual brand, still sourcing carefully, still figuring things out as we go. But it is proof, the kind that is hard to argue with, that doing this the right way produces something worth recognizing, and it gives us a clear roadmap for where the brand needs to grow.
United by mate, and proud to be standing among some of the best brands in the world.
