Yerba Mate: Nootropic Benefits, Uses, Side Effects & Dosage

Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a caffeinated South American holly tea: a 500 mL infusion brewed from 7.5 g of leaf contained about 60 to 63 mg of caffeine in a laboratory analysis of two commercial brands.⁽¹⁾

Its stimulant effect comes mainly from caffeine, with smaller amounts of theobromine and a large share of chlorogenic acids. In a small trial of 12 women, 2 g of yerba mate leaf in capsules raised self-rated focus, energy and concentration after exercise; memory and mood findings come mainly from rats and mice.

The European Union lists mate leaf as a traditional herbal medicine for fatigue at 2 to 4 g a day, and its main risks are caffeine side effects and the link between very hot mate and esophageal cancer.

What is Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a plant species of the holly genus Ilex, family Aquifoliaceae, native to South America, and its dried leaves are steeped in water to make the drink called mate.⁽²⁾ It is drunk for its stimulating effect, which comes from caffeine.

It is traditionally drunk from a gourd through a metal filter straw called a bombilla, either hot (chimarrão) or cold (tereré), and also as tea bags, loose-leaf tea, canned drinks and capsules. The name is also written maté or yerba maté, and erva-mate in Portuguese; common misspellings include yerba matte, yerba meta, yarbe mate and yorba monte.

Yerba mate at a glance:

• Botanical name: Ilex paraguariensis A.St.-Hil. (mate leaf, Mate folium); part used: dried, cut leaf.
• Class: caffeine-containing herbal tea, in the same natural-stimulant group as caffeine and guarana.
• Main active compounds: caffeine, theobromine, chlorogenic acids, flavonoids such as rutin, and saponins.
• EU status: a European Union herbal monograph covers mate leaf as a traditional herbal medicinal product for fatigue and weakness and, as a second indication, to increase urine flow in minor urinary complaints, both based on long-standing use.⁽³⁾
• Human cognitive evidence: a small placebo-controlled crossover trial with mood-scale ratings (focus, energy, concentration) and a small observational study of cognitive impairment; memory experiments are in rats and mice.

Yerba mate also contains theobromine, the methylxanthine found in cocoa, at about half its caffeine level: one analysed mate tea held 5.4 mg of caffeine and 2.7 mg of theobromine per gram.⁽⁴⁾ Theophylline is present only in trace amounts (commonly reported).

The leaves and the drink also contain polyphenols such as quercetin and rutin, saponins, vitamins and minerals.⁽²⁾

What Are The Different Types of Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate comes in several forms, and the form changes both taste and composition:

1. Traditional yerba mate: Dried and cut leaves, sold with or without stems; the standard form for the gourd.
2. Roasted yerba mate: Leaves are roasted for a smoother, less bitter taste, but roasting deprives yerba mate of organic compounds with antioxidant activity.⁽²⁾
3. Green yerba mate: Unroasted leaves; the form used in the capsule trial and the ultrarefined-leaf drink trial described below.
4. Flavored yerba mate: Blended with herbs or fruits for added flavor; blends that include guarana have a higher caffeine content.
5. Organic yerba mate: Grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
6. Yerba mate extract and capsules: Powdered leaf or a spray-dried water extract in capsules, which gives a fixed dose per capsule (doses below).
7. Canned and bottled yerba mate drinks: Ready-to-drink products whose caffeine is set by the maker; the label is the only guide to the dose.

How the drink is made matters as much as the leaf: cold tereré releases far more caffeine than hot chimarrão (figures in the caffeine section below).

How Much Caffeine Is in Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate brewed once releases about 4 to 8.4 mg of caffeine per gram of leaf, so a drink made from 5 to 7.5 g contains about 20 to 63 mg. Measured values:

Leaf caffeine content varies by product: 5.4 mg/g in the mate tea analysed above, 6.1 to 10.2 mg/g across five mate types from one Brazilian producer⁽⁷⁾, and about 15 mg/g on the capsule certificate in the table. A single infusion or gourd session extracts only part of it, so leaf weight alone does not fix the caffeine of a given product.

A single yerba mate infusion holds about a third of the caffeine of a coffee-shop brewed coffee, but a full gourd session of coarse-ground mate or cold tereré can match or exceed it: brewed specialty coffees from coffee shops averaged 188 mg per 16 oz (473 mL) cup⁽⁸⁾, about three times the 60 to 63 mg in a 500 mL mate brewed from 7.5 g. Brewed white, green and black teas contained 14 to 61 mg of caffeine per 6 or 8 oz serving in a test of 20 commercial teas⁽⁹⁾, a range that overlaps a single mate infusion. A figure of 85 mg per 8 oz cup sometimes circulates for yerba mate; at the single-infusion yields above it would need about 10 to 21 g of leaf.

A traditional gourd session releases its caffeine over repeated refills. In a laboratory simulation of 30 refills from a gourd packed about two-thirds full with 85 g of mate, hot chimarrão released an estimated 63 to 69 mg of caffeine over the whole session for three standard cuts and about 175 mg for coarse-ground mate (leaf caffeine content multiplied by the share extracted).⁽⁷⁾ Cold tereré made from 50 g released about 2.5 times the caffeine of coarse-ground chimarrão over the same 30 refills, and 6 times that of the other hot types.⁽⁷⁾ On these figures, a whole session of standard hot mate equals about one 500 mL infusion or a third of a 16 oz coffee, coarse-ground mate comes close to one such coffee, and tereré exceeds two, which on its own approaches the 400 mg daily figure below.

The European Food Safety Authority judged habitual caffeine intakes up to 400 mg a day of no safety concern for non-pregnant adults, single doses up to 200 mg (about 3 mg/kg for a 70 kg adult) likewise, and up to 200 mg a day in pregnancy for the fetus.⁽¹⁰⁾ At 62.7 mg per 500 mL drink, 400 mg equals about 6 such drinks; at 20 mg per 250 mL drink, it equals 20. Caffeine from coffee, tea, cola, energy drinks and caffeine pills counts toward the same total.

What Are the Bioactive Compounds in Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate’s bioactive compounds are methylxanthines (caffeine and theobromine), phenolic acids led by chlorogenic acids, flavonoids, saponins and minerals:

In a yerba mate drink, chlorogenic acid and theobromine come in very different amounts: in the 250 mL trial drink above, chlorogenic acid (37.5 mg) outweighed caffeine (20.0 mg) almost two to one, while theobromine sits far below the doses tested for mood (see the mood section).

Did you know? Cold tereré pulled out almost all of the phenolics in the leaf, while hot chimarrão did not differ in phenolics between mate types.⁽⁷⁾

What is Yerba Mate’s Mechanism of Action?

Yerba mate’s mechanism of action primarily involves its xanthine content, particularly caffeine.

Caffeine acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist, blocking the effects of adenosine at A1 and A2A receptors. Adenosine builds up during waking hours and promotes sleepiness, so blocking it raises alertness and lowers perceived fatigue (standard caffeine pharmacology).

Theobromine binds the same receptors more weakly and acts differently. In 24 healthy women, in a study by Unilever researchers, 700 mg of theobromine lowered self-rated calmness at 3 hours and lowered blood pressure at 1 hour, while 120 mg of caffeine raised self-rated alertness and contentedness and raised blood pressure.⁽¹¹⁾

The polyphenols in yerba mate, such as chlorogenic acids, act as antioxidants in laboratory tests. Whether they reach the brain in useful amounts after a drink is not established, so a protective effect on neurons in people would be inferred, not measured.

Yerba mate’s saponins give the drink its bitterness; their effects in people are not established. On the amounts above, the focus and alertness people notice after mate would come mainly from caffeine (inferred).

Is Yerba Mate Psychoactive?

Yerba mate is psychoactive in the same way coffee and tea are: its caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant. It contains no known euphoriant or hallucinogen, and “mateine” is an older name for its caffeine (commonly reported).

Feeling “high” or buzzed after mate usually reflects a large caffeine dose taken quickly, such as cold tereré, coarse-ground mate, a very large amount of leaf, or mate on an empty stomach (inferred from the caffeine figures above).

In the UK, the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 exempts caffeine and caffeine products that contain no other psychoactive substance, and any substance ordinarily consumed as food that contains no prohibited ingredient.⁽¹²⁾ In the EU, mate leaf has the traditional herbal medicine status listed above.

What Are The Cognitive Benefits of Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate’s cognitive benefits are higher self-rated focus, energy and concentration in one small human trial, with memory, mood and neuroprotection findings mostly from rats and mice. Claims about blood sugar, cholesterol and heart health concern metabolism, not cognition, and have not been shown to improve thinking. The evidence behind each benefit:

1. Focus and concentration: a small human crossover trial with self-rated scores, rated after exercise.
2. Memory: rat and mouse experiments, plus higher logical-memory scores among regular drinkers in a small observational study.
3. Mental fatigue: EU traditional use; the human trial found no change in fatigue ratings.
4. Mood and motivation: self-rated energy in the same trial, plus mouse studies.
5. Neuroprotection: a non-significant association in a small observational study, antioxidant blood markers in people and brain-tissue results in mice.

How Does Yerba Mate Enhance Focus and Concentration?

Yerba mate enhances focus and concentration mainly through caffeine, which blocks adenosine receptors in the brain and raises alertness.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 12 healthy active women swallowed 2 g of dried green yerba mate leaf in four capsules or empty placebo capsules, rested 2 hours, then cycled for 30 minutes.⁽⁶⁾ Yerba mate raised focus (p = 0.022), energy (p = 0.008) and concentration (p = 0.003) on the mood questionnaire after exercise compared with placebo, with a trend for alertness (p = 0.066); fatigue scores did not change.⁽⁶⁾

The trial measured self-ratings on a 1 to 5 scale, not test performance, and the resting period alone showed no significant effect. A focus effect from a mate drink is therefore expected to track its caffeine dose (inferred).

Does Yerba Mate Improve Memory?

Yerba mate improved short-term memory in rats and mice; in people, memory data come from a small observational study (see the cognitive decline section), and the trial above rated focus and concentration, not memory.

In rats, a single dose of hydroalcoholic yerba mate extract given by mouth or by injection before training improved short-term social memory, and short-term avoidance memory tested 1.5 hours after training, but did not change 24-hour memory; the highest injected dose, 250 mg/kg, disrupted performance in a water maze.⁽¹³⁾ Low doses of caffeine and extract that did nothing alone improved social memory when given together.

In mice, an aqueous extract prevented the memory loss caused by scopolamine, a drug that blocks acetylcholine, in a step-down avoidance task.⁽¹⁴⁾ Both groups of authors attribute part of the effect to caffeine. Applied to people, these results would predict at most a short-term, caffeine-like effect; this is inferred, not measured.

Does Yerba Mate Reduce Mental Fatigue?

Yerba mate’s effect on fatigue, and its “cellular energy”, is stimulation, not fuel: a plain infusion supplies almost no calories, and in the EU mate leaf is a traditional herbal medicine for symptoms of fatigue and sensation of weakness, a status based on long-standing use rather than trials.⁽³⁾ In the focus trial above, 2 g of leaf did not change self-rated fatigue.

Trials in athletes measured physical rather than mental fatigue. In 11 well-trained male cyclists, 5 g of yerba mate a day for 5 days and 1 hour before testing raised resting adrenaline; in a time trial of about 30 minutes, analysed in 9 riders after 2 were excluded as outliers, they finished in 29.4 minutes with yerba mate against 30.1 minutes with placebo, 0.7 minutes or 2.3% faster, a small but significant improvement (p = 0.0278).⁽¹⁵⁾ In 8 trained cyclists, a daily drink of 5 g of leaf in 250 mL for 7 days raised 20-minute time-trial power by about 3% when taken after a carbohydrate meal, compared with water and the same meal.⁽⁵⁾ In 29 adults, one 500 mL brewed drink did not change energy expenditure, fat or carbohydrate use, or heart rate during low- to moderate-intensity cycling.⁽¹⁾

During 30 minutes of cycling, 2 g of leaf raised fat oxidation from 0.17 to 0.21 g per minute compared with placebo (p < 0.05), an absolute rise of 0.04 g per minute or 23.5% relative.⁽⁶⁾

Regular drinkers commonly describe steady alertness without the crash they get from coffee (anecdotal, not studied).

Does Yerba Mate Improve Mood?

Human mood data for yerba mate alone come from small trials such as the one above, where energy ratings rose; most other data come from mice and from coffee studies.

In mice, an oral hydroalcoholic extract at 0.1 to 10 mg/kg had an antidepressant-like effect in the tail suspension test, similar to ketamine, and the extract’s methylxanthines (caffeine and theobromine) reproduced that effect.⁽¹⁶⁾ Chronic treatment with a hydroethanolic extract also produced an anxiety-reducing effect and more movement in mice.⁽¹⁴⁾ The human-equivalent figures for these mouse doses are in the dosage section.

In observational data on coffee rather than mate, higher coffee intake was linked to a lower risk of depression across 12 studies with 346,913 people (pooled relative risk 0.76, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.91).⁽¹⁷⁾

Theobromine, another xanthine found in yerba mate, is not a mood booster at mate doses. In 80 healthy adults, in a study supported by Unilever R and D, 250 mg of theobromine had limited subjective effects, higher doses produced negative mood effects, and theobromine raised heart rate in a dose-dependent way.⁽¹⁸⁾ At 2.7 mg per gram of leaf, 250 mg of theobromine equals the amount in about 93 g of leaf, even if all of it were extracted.

Does Yerba Mate Protect Against Cognitive Decline?

Yerba mate’s evidence on cognitive decline is a small observational study in people, antioxidant blood markers in people, and brain-tissue results in mice; no trial has tested it against cognitive decline.

In a pilot case-control study from Buenos Aires, published as a conference poster abstract, 43 adults aged 50 or older with amnestic cognitive impairment were compared with 39 cognitively normal controls. Regular yerba mate drinking had an odds ratio of 0.76 for cognitive impairment, but the 95% CI of 0.20 to 2.73 spans 1, so the result is not statistically significant; regular drinkers scored better on logical memory (immediate and delayed recall) and word-list learning.⁽¹⁹⁾ The design shows association, not cause.

In a 90-day randomized trial in 74 adults with dyslipidemia, 1 L a day of mate tea, with or without diet changes, was compared with diet changes alone. Serum antioxidant capacity and reduced glutathione rose in all three groups, including the diet-only group, while lipid hydroperoxides and protein carbonyls, markers of oxidative damage, did not change.⁽²⁰⁾

In mice given the extract, slices of hippocampus and cortex kept their cell viability when exposed to toxic glutamate, a neuroprotective effect that the extract’s methylxanthines alone did not reproduce.⁽¹⁶⁾ An effect on dementia risk in people is not established.

What Are The Side Effects and Precautions for Yerba Mate?

The side effects of yerba mate are mostly caffeine effects and rise with the caffeine dose. The EU monograph lists no known undesirable effects at its traditional dose⁽³⁾; at higher intakes the commonly reported effects are:

1. Insomnia or sleep disturbances
2. Increased heart rate and blood pressure
3. Anxiety and jitters
4. Digestive issues, such as nausea, upset stomach or loose stools
5. Headaches, especially in caffeine-sensitive individuals, and withdrawal headaches after stopping regular use

In a 12-week trial of 3 g a day of yerba mate extract in 30 adults with obesity, blood counts, liver and kidney tests and vital signs stayed within normal ranges, and one participant stopped because of side effects.⁽²¹⁾ More on caffeine side effects is in nootropics side effects.

Precautions:

• A first serving of one drink or one capsule shows individual caffeine tolerance
• Avoid consuming yerba mate late in the day; the EU monograph advises against use before bedtime because it may cause sleep disturbances⁽³⁾
• Stay hydrated, as caffeine can have a mild diuretic effect
• Let hot mate cool below 65 °C before sipping (see the cancer section); the bombilla delivers liquid straight to the back of the mouth, so it does not protect against heat

Is Yerba Mate Linked to Cancer?

Yerba mate’s cancer link is tied mainly to drinking temperature. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies drinking very hot beverages above 65 °C as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), and drinking mate that is not very hot as not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity (Group 3).⁽²²⁾

In a pooled analysis of two South American case-control studies with 1,400 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 3,229 controls, ever drinking mate carried an odds ratio of 1.60 (95% CI 1.2 to 2.2) compared with never drinking it. The odds rose in a straight line with cumulative intake, measured in liters per day multiplied by years, and the rise per liter-per-day-year was steeper for very hot mate (0.016) than for hot (0.007) or warm mate (0.004, not statistically significant).⁽²³⁾

An earlier review found the association with esophageal, laryngeal and oral cancer tied to hot mate, a combined effect with alcohol and tobacco in several studies, and no increased risk with cold mate.⁽²⁴⁾ The EU monograph also requires the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), contaminants formed by combustion, to be controlled in medicinal mate.⁽³⁾ The factors a drinker controls are temperature, amount, and smoking and alcohol use (inferred from these studies).

What Medications Cause Adverse Interaction with Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate’s drug interactions are mostly caffeine interactions. The EU monograph names two: people taking MAO-inhibitor drugs should use mate with caution, and caffeine reduces sedative action and increases side effects of sympathomimetic (stimulant-type) drugs.⁽³⁾ Other caffeine interactions are commonly listed:

1. MAO inhibitors: Caffeine taken with these antidepressants risks a rise in blood pressure. Avoid; ask a pharmacist or doctor.
2. Stimulant medications and decongestants: Amphetamines, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine, and nicotine, add to caffeine’s stimulation, raising heart rate and blood pressure. Avoid combining.
3. Sedatives and alcohol: Caffeine counteracts sleep medicines such as benzodiazepines and barbiturates, and it masks the feeling of alcohol intoxication without lowering it.
4. Drugs that slow caffeine breakdown: Fluvoxamine, ciprofloxacin, verapamil and mexiletine raise caffeine levels; caffeine in turn slows the breakdown of clozapine. Ask a pharmacist or doctor.
5. Lithium: Caffeine increases how fast the body clears lithium, so starting or stopping regular mate drinking changes lithium levels, and stopping abruptly can increase lithium side effects. Ask a doctor before either.
6. Anticoagulants and surgery: No major caution for caffeine; it might slow clotting in theory, but this has not been reported in people. Tell the surgical team about regular use before an operation.
7. Blood-pressure medicines: Caffeine raises blood pressure for a few hours, which works against these drugs; ask a pharmacist or doctor.
8. Diabetes medications: Caffeine changes blood sugar control in some people with diabetes; ask a pharmacist or doctor before regular use with diabetes medicines.
9. Thyroid medicine: Caffeinated drinks taken at the same time as levothyroxine reduce its absorption; separate them.
10. Cardiac stress tests: Caffeine blocks adenosine and dipyridamole; stop caffeine at least 24 hours before the test.
11. Other drugs: Caffeine may lower the effect of anti-seizure medicines such as valproate; with diuretics (water pills), both can lower potassium; estrogens, including hormone therapy and estrogen-containing birth-control pills, slow caffeine breakdown; caffeine slows the clearance of theophylline and adds to its effects and side effects; riluzole may also interact. Ask a pharmacist or doctor.

Who Should Avoid Using Yerba Mate?

The EU monograph contraindicates mate leaf in hypersensitivity to it, gastric and duodenal ulcers, cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension and arrhythmia, hyperthyroidism, and conditions where reduced fluid intake is recommended; it does not recommend use under 18 and advises avoiding it in pregnancy and lactation.⁽³⁾ Groups that should avoid it or ask a doctor first:

1. Pregnant or breastfeeding women: Avoid under the EU monograph; caffeine from all sources should stay within the EFSA pregnancy limit in the caffeine section.
2. Children and adolescents under 18: Not recommended.
3. Individuals with heart conditions: Hypertension and arrhythmia are contraindications; yerba mate may increase heart rate and blood pressure.
4. People with an overactive thyroid, stomach or duodenal ulcers, or kidney or urinary conditions that need fluid restriction: Contraindicated.
5. People with anxiety, panic or bipolar disorder: Caffeine worsens anxiety symptoms at high intakes; avoid large amounts and ask a doctor.
6. Those with sleep disorders: The stimulant effects can interfere with sleep patterns.
7. People with seizure disorders, glaucoma, osteoporosis or irritable bowel syndrome: High caffeine intake can worsen these conditions (commonly reported); ask a doctor.
8. People with liver disease: Caffeine is cleared more slowly; ask a doctor.
9. People with a history of mouth, throat or esophageal cancer, smokers and heavy drinkers: Avoid very hot mate and large daily amounts; the cancer association is stronger with alcohol and tobacco.
10. People taking the medicines listed above: Ask a pharmacist or doctor first.

How Do You Use Yerba Mate as A Nootropic?

Yerba mate is used for stimulation and, in the EU, as a traditional herbal medicine for fatigue and for minor urinary complaints; it is taken as a hot or cold infusion, a canned or bottled drink, or capsules. The traditional method places a bombilla in a container, fills it one-half to three-quarters with dried leaves and adds hot but not boiling water, ideally around 85 to 95 °C.⁽²⁾ The gourd is then refilled several times from the same leaves. The boiling-water drink in the caffeine table used a different leaf and steep, so the two temperatures cannot be compared for caffeine; the 85 to 95 °C range is the traditional choice and is commonly said to limit bitterness.

Some users prefer yerba mate supplements in capsule or extract form for more precise dosing. Capsules suit people who dislike the bitter taste and fix the dose per capsule, although capsule labels do not always state the caffeine content.

To use yerba mate as a nootropic:

1. Choose plain leaf, tea bags or unsweetened drinks, and check the labeled caffeine of canned drinks.
2. Use less leaf or a shorter steep for a lighter cup; more leaf, longer steeping and refills raise the caffeine dose.
3. Consider breaks or cycling to limit caffeine tolerance (commonly advised).

What is The Recommended Dosage for Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate has no official nootropic dose; the reference points are the EU traditional-use dose and the amounts used in human trials:

Mouse doses (estimated equivalent, not a tested dose): the antidepressant-like mouse doses of 0.1 to 10 mg/kg of extract convert by body surface area as HED = mouse dose x (3 / 37). At the top dose, 10 x 3 / 37 = 0.811 mg/kg, and 0.811 x 70 = 56.8 mg, about 57 mg of extract for a 70 kg adult; the bottom dose gives about 0.57 mg (body-surface-area conversion of the mouse doses in the Ludka study).⁽¹⁶⁾

Community reports describe 1 to 3 cups (240 to 720 mL) of tea a day or 500 to 1,500 mg of capsules a day (anecdotal, not studied). Whatever the form, total caffeine from all sources is the limiting factor (EFSA limits in the caffeine section).

• Start with a lower dose (one cup or one capsule serving) and increase only if needed.
• Sleep, heart rate and jitteriness are the signals for adjusting the amount.
• People who take medicines or have a condition listed above should consult a healthcare professional before use.

What Are The Pros and Cons of Using Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate’s pros are an adjustable, moderate caffeine dose with chlorogenic acids and minerals; its cons are caffeine side effects, thin human cognitive evidence and the cancer link to very hot drinking:

Weight loss: yerba mate is not a weight-loss drug like Ozempic (semaglutide). In one 12-week trial of 3 g a day of extract, body fat mass and percent body fat fell compared with placebo, but body weight did not differ between the groups (p = 0.387); the yerba mate supplier provided the product and part of the funding.⁽²¹⁾

Can Yerba Mate Be Stacked with Other Nootropics?

Yerba mate stacks most often with L-theanine, the pairing with trial data for caffeine: in a study of 27 volunteers by Unilever researchers, 50 mg of caffeine with 100 mg of L-theanine improved speed and accuracy on an attention-switching task at 60 minutes and reduced distraction in a memory task at 60 and 90 minutes.⁽²⁵⁾ A 500 mL mate brewed from 7.5 g holds about 60 mg of caffeine, so about 120 mg of L-theanine matches that study’s 2:1 ratio (inferred).

Kola nut and guarana add caffeine rather than a separate effect; adding ground guarana raises the caffeine content of a mate brew.⁽²⁾ A kola nut and yerba mate tea therefore mainly raises the caffeine dose, and all sources count toward the 400 mg daily figure (inferred).

Community stacks pair yerba mate with the ingredients below; the ranges are anecdotal, and each ingredient’s own evidence is on its page:

1. L-theanine: 100-200 mg (anecdotal)
2. Alpha-GPC or CDP-Choline: 300-600 mg (anecdotal); see Alpha-GPC and citicoline
3. Rhodiola Rosea: 200-400 mg (anecdotal); see Rhodiola Rosea
4. Bacopa Monnieri: 300-600 mg (anecdotal); see Bacopa Monnieri
5. Lion’s Mane Mushroom: 500-1000 mg (anecdotal); see lion’s mane

Any synergy between these and yerba mate is inferred, not measured. For options without caffeine, see caffeine-free nootropics and natural nootropics.

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