Mojo Maté

The UPALMERE! team is proud of Almere-based startup Mojo Mate from childhood friends Lars van Kranenburg (26) and David Damman (26). Their colourful, natural maté drinks are now available all Albert Heijns and To Go shops in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The friends discover maté two years ago, while backpacking through South America. Whereas in Europe there is a coffee culture, in Argentina and Brazil yerba maté tea is mainly consumed. Maté has also been growing in popularity in Europe for a while now, due to the unique flavour and natural boost it gives you. Mojo Maté wants to continue this trend in our country too.

The adventure begins after discovering maté while backpacking in Argentina. The guys get inspired and decide to bring some maté back to the Netherlands. After a period of experimentation, they develop the recipe for their maté drinks. In March 2022, they hand-fill the first drinks at a local craft brewery in Zaandam. Here, supported by friends, they spend days working in the factory. From 8am to 8pm, each bottle - piece by piece - is put through the machine, labelled and dipped. Each Mojo Maté passes through someone's hands at least five times before they end up in a box. After a hard day's work, they have 3,000 bottles, ready for sale. With a cooler bag over their shoulder, they step into trendy catering establishments in the Randstad. Soon the ball starts rolling, so the collaboration with Albert Heijn is an important milestone for the startup, with which they want to introduce the whole of the Netherlands to their maté.

UPALMERE! has supported the company from the beginning and is then very proud than it has been able to scale up so quickly in such a short time. Want to know more about Mojo Mate? Take a look at their website: www.mojomate.nl and take some bottles with you when you go shopping. We love it!