Footballs' secret 'Ozempic'? Trendy herbal tea loved by South American stars ... trends now
Oozing an earthy smell and packing a bitter aftertaste strong enough to make you want to pour it down the sink, you'd be forgiven for assuming maté is your average herbal tea.
But the powerful brew – loved in Argentina, where it's more popular than coffee – cannot be compared to regular green teas stocked in British supermarkets.
Advocates argue it's got miraculous weight loss effects, with sellers boasting that it possesses the double-whammy of making you feel full quicker and revving up your metabolism to tear through fat.
And there might be some truth to the claims, experts say.
Perhaps fuelling its superpower claims is that, seemingly from out of nowhere, maté (pronounced ma-teh) has become a 'footballer's best friend', in the words of Argentina's own tourism board.
Lionel Messi is well known for his love of mate tea and is often seen drinking it around games
The traditional South American hot drink, made from the Yerba mate plant, is loaded with antioxidants and has as much caffeine as coffee
Lionel Messi, arguably the sport's greatest ever player, has become somewhat of an ambassador of the drink, often posting pictures of him with a freshly-brewed pot – sometimes even complete with the bombilla (a special, metal straw that 'filters' the brew from the ground up leaves of the yerba mate plant itself).
Such is his undeniable pulling power that even footballing icon David Beckham – co-owner of 36-year-old Messi's current club Inter Miami – was swayed into giving it a go...
Weeks after securing the Argentine World Cup winner's signature, Beckham posted on Instagram a picture of himself sipping maté through a bombilla with the caption: 'If it's good enough for Leo.'
It's not just Messi, though. Compatriots Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero are also said to be maté lovers, as are Uruguayan stars Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani and European players like Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba.
The reason for Suarez and Cavani's consumption is obvious. Gourds – the container maté is brewed in – are commonplace in homes across Uruguay, Paraguay and parts of Brazil, Bolivia and southern Chile.
The tea also drank by Sergio Aguero, pictured, has become a 'footballer's best friend', in the words of Argentina's own tourism board
But now it's cropping up all over Europe, fuelled by the influence of South American
