“Yerba mate gives us harmony and strength,” said Isabelino Mendez, an Indigenous village chief in Misiones.

To downsize the state, Milei seeks to scrap price controls and other regulations affecting a range of markets, including yerba mate.

Over yerba mate and torta fritas, his mother, Ederlinda Miguelina Yelón, passed along the knowledge she had stored in Chaná, a throaty language spoken by barely moving the lips or tongue.

One day this summer, the internet personality Adin Ross switched on his camera and started broadcasting himself live to thousands of fans, sipping a Yerba Mate drink and nodding along to Lil Uzi.

Amber Parucha, a marketing specialist at local beverage company Yerbana, was tasked with creating a series of free public wellness events to promote their yerba mate tea blend.