El Tony Mate

Brand overview and significance

El Tony Mate is a Swiss-developed cold-brew yerba mate drink that has become a familiar sight in lift lines, snowparks and contest edits across the Alps. Created by intelligentfood Schweiz AG, the brand takes the traditional “drink of the gods” from South America and repackages it as a modern, ready-to-drink energy booster for riders, creatives and night owls. Instead of the syrupy feel of classic energy drinks, El Tony Mate leans on freshly brewed mate tea, natural caffeine and a short ingredient list to give skiers and snowboarders a clean, sparkling pick-me-up that fits easily into a park backpack or roadside cooler.

While it is technically a beverage label rather than a hardware brand, El Tony Mate has carved out a real place in snowsports culture. Under the “Trust Your Madness” banner, it backs freeskiers, snowboarders and alpine racers, shows up on banners at parks and events, and even runs its own rider-driven video contest. For the skipowd.tv audience, El Tony Mate matters because it sits at the intersection of energy, style and community: a drink that fuels long days on snow and helps make independent film projects and progressive sessions possible.

Product lines and key technologies

The El Tony Mate range is built around freshly brewed, cold-brew yerba mate tea sourced from the Pindo farm in Misiones, Argentina. The core recipe uses a high mate-tea content, a splash of lemon juice, organic cane sugar and natural caffeine, resulting in a lightly sparkling drink with noticeably fewer calories and sugar than many soft drinks or classic energy drinks. The brand emphasises that there are no concentrates, no preservatives, no artificial acidification and no synthetic “E-number” additives, and all products are vegan and gluten-free. In practice, that means a clear label you can read in seconds and a flavour profile that feels closer to iced tea than to candy.

From that base, El Tony Mate spins a small but distinct lineup. The classic “Pure” version focuses on clean mate and citrus notes. Flavoured variants add subtle twists rather than heavy syrup: Mate & Ginger sharpens the taste and gives a slight spicy edge, while Mate & Mint doubles down on refreshment with a cooling finish. Other brand concepts in the wider “El Tony’s World” universe, such as the Turbo Tony line, lean into higher-energy nightlife settings, but the core mate products remain the everyday choice for slope days, park laps and long drives between resorts. All are designed to deliver roughly coffee-level caffeine in a more sessionable, drinkable form.

Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)

On snow, El Tony Mate sits in the same mental drawer as a thermos of coffee or a pocket snack: it is part of the rhythm of the day. Riders typically crack a bottle on the way to the hill, between park laps or during a mid-session break at the park rail line. Because the drink is based on tea and carbonated water rather than thick syrup, it feels relatively light and crisp, which suits the stop-and-go pattern of modern freeskiing—hiking a feature, waiting for friends to drop, then pushing into another run. The caffeine hit is pitched as steady rather than extreme, aiming to help riders stay switched on without the jittery peaks and crashes associated with some energy drinks.

El Tony Mate is especially well suited to skiers and snowboarders who treat a day on snow as a full lifestyle block rather than a short workout. Park and slopestyle riders filming with crews, freeriders stacking long laps in variable weather, coaches and filmers who spend hours standing still with a camera, and seasonaires who go from opening bell to late après can all use the same drink in slightly different ways. It is just as likely to show up at a laptop editing session or on a night drive to the next resort as it is at the top of a slopestyle course.

Team presence, competitions, and reputation

Where El Tony Mate really overlaps with ski culture is through El Tony Sports, the brand’s athlete and event program. The roster blends freeskiers, snowboarders, mountain bikers and alpine racers, including names that Skipowd viewers recognise from contest livestreams and park edits: freeskier Kim Gubser, Lukas Müllauer, Gian Andri Bolinger, Sam Baumgartner, Sybille Blanjean and Isaac Simhon; snowboarders like Celia Petrig and Lucas Baume; and alpine racers such as Camille Rast, Mélanie Meillard, Justin Murisier and Marc Rochat. The idea is to support riders who live the “Trust Your Madness” credo in different disciplines, not just to drop logos on bibs.

Beyond individual athletes, El Tony Mate has stepped into the role of content and event creator. The El Tony Crew Clash is a prime example: a ski and snowboard video battle where five pro crews, each captained by an El Tony athlete, meet in Davos to shoot, edit and premiere their own short film over a tight window of days. Instead of traditional judged runs, teams are evaluated on creativity and overall edit, with awards for best film and standout riders. The brand also partners with projects like the Downdays Snowpark Tour and other freestyle initiatives, reinforcing its image as a label that invests directly in the progression of park and freeride culture.

Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)

Geographically, El Tony Mate is anchored in Switzerland. Product development and brand direction are handled by intelligentfood Schweiz AG in Rotkreuz, positioning the drink right in the heart of one of the world’s most active freeski playgrounds, as reflected on Switzerland. That proximity to major alpine corridors means the cans and bottles you see in edits are often coming straight from local shops and fridges rather than from a distant global headquarters. Riders can pick up El Tony Mate at convenience stores, bars and mountain-town venues in many Swiss destinations, and distribution has spread into neighbouring European markets.

At the same time, the drink’s core ingredient and story reach back to South America. The mate tea used in El Tony Mate comes from the Pindo farm in Misiones, Argentina, where mate has been cultivated for decades. The brand highlights full traceability back to that farm, tying Swiss on-snow culture to a specific origin in the subtropical hills. On the snowsports side, hubs like Davos host signature projects such as Crew Clash, with filming and riding taking place on terrain around Davos–Klosters, including busy venues like Davos - Parsenn. In practice, that means El Tony Mate lives both in South American fields and in European lift lines.

Construction, durability, and sustainability

“Construction” for a drink brand is really about sourcing and processing rather than topsheets and edges, but the same logic applies: good raw materials, thoughtful methods and a long-term view. El Tony Mate stresses that its beverages are brewed using a cold-brew process with mate from its own Pindo farm nurseries, which have been producing seedlings since the 1920s. The gentle drying and fine cut of the mate leaves are presented as reasons for the drink’s mild, non-smoky taste, especially compared to roasted, dust-heavy mate blends. The final recipes are kept short and recognisable: mate tea, water, lemon juice, organic cane sugar, natural flavours and caffeine.

Sustainability is woven into the way the brand talks about its supply chain. Workers on the mate farm are described as fairly paid, socially insured and protected by clear safety standards, and the company frames “fairness” and “sustainability” as part of basic quality, not just a marketing label. For riders who think about what they buy as well as how it tastes, that emphasis is significant. Choosing a drink that is traceable to a specific farm, produced without preservatives or concentrates and handled by a dedicated supply team in Switzerland fits neatly with a broader push in the ski world toward responsible travel, better product choices and longer-term thinking.

How to choose within the lineup

Picking the right El Tony Mate for a ski day is mostly a question of flavour, context and how sensitive you are to caffeine and sweetness. The classic Pure version is the most straightforward choice if you want something crisp, tea-forward and versatile—easy to drink in the morning on the way up the valley or between afternoon laps without feeling heavy. If you like a bit more bite, Mate & Ginger adds warmth and a sharper profile that works well in cold, windy conditions or as a small jolt before another rail session. Mate & Mint, by contrast, leans into pure refreshment and is a natural fit for sunny park days, spring slush or road trips where you are looking to stay alert without feeling weighed down.

Practical details matter too. Bottles and cans fit differently into backpacks, camera bags and jacket pockets, so riders often experiment to see which format survives the day best. For long days where hydration is a concern, many skiers use El Tony Mate alongside water rather than instead of it—sipping mate for focus and flavour, and backing it up with plain water to stay balanced. Because the drink sits somewhere between classic energy drinks and functional iced tea, it can also be a good bridge if you are trying to reduce heavy-sugar options while still wanting something more interesting than plain water.

Why riders care

Skiers and snowboarders care about El Tony Mate because it feels like a drink that grew up alongside them rather than being dropped in from a distant marketing plan. The brand understands that modern riding days stretch from early-morning rail work to late-night editing, that creativity and community matter as much as rankings, and that riders increasingly pay attention to ingredients and sourcing. A can of El Tony Mate on the knuckle or in the editing suite signals membership in that culture: you are part of a crew that values both progression and the stories around it.

For the skipowd.tv community, El Tony Mate occupies a clear niche in the brand ecosystem. It does not compete with skis or outerwear; instead, it supports the people using that gear, giving them a reliable, more natural-feeling energy option and backing the events and projects where the most interesting skiing happens. Whether you are heading to a local park, watching a Crew Clash edit from Davos, or just scrolling clips from your sofa, El Tony Mate has become one of the small, recurring details that link distant sessions together—a taste of South American mate reimagined for Swiss mountains and the wider world of freeskiing.