Article by Martín Caballero Aug. 14, 2025 at 9:00 am
For its first release since changing its name from Guayakí in May, yerba mate specialist Yerba Madre is embracing fresh, fruit-forward summer vibes – while teasing a new seasonal flavor strategy.
The brand’s new summer release — Watermelody (watermelon), which joins the lineup of non-carbonated RTDs in 15.5 oz. cans — keeps up its momentum since its reinvention as Yerba Madre earlier this year, but it’s also the initial step in a plan to bring more audience-driven, limited-time options to the market, an effort that will continue into next year.
Watermelody is now in select stores at retailers along the West Coast including Albertsons in Seattle and at Gelson’s, Vallarta and Raley’s in California. It’s also in H-E-B in Texas and will enter some Sprouts locations starting October 1.
“It’s giving us the opportunity to really explore seasonality and test and learn with seasonal SKUs, and it reflects the approach that we want to take for all of our innovation, which is very iterative,” explained Jennifer Brush, VP for Product Innovation & Brand at Yerba Madre.
As Guayaki, Brush noted, seasonal releases were typically developed in the summer and manufactured in the fall for release during category resets in January. Following Watermelody’s debut, the company aims to drop new LTO flavors in summer and possibly add a second seasonal SKU for late fall.
In addition, Brush said the company is working on a different, “more marketing-led” LTO strategy for next year. That initiative would involve “super small” production runs that could be launched at will, with “the purpose of engaging in cultural moments with our community, not necessarily at retail.”
Watermelody’s release is also meant to reinforce Yerba Madre’s new brand identity in various ways, starting with a refresh for its familiar yellow-wrapped cans. The lightning bolts featured on previous iterations of Guayaki have returned to emphasize yerba mate’s natural energy, alongside an added callout for “natural energy.” Elsewhere, Yerba Madre’s wreath logo has been refined and the details on the flags have been updated to honor the brand’s South American farming partners.
Beyond an opportunity for cosmetic changes, Watermelody’s arrival is intended to strengthen Yerba Madre’s ties to its audience. The product was developed through conversations with consumers who “told us they wanted watermelon” and helped pick the SKU name over the course of three rounds of surveys, Brush said. The R&D process was chronicled on Yerba Madre’s Instagram page in a series of short reels.
Inside the can, Watermelody is consistent with the core line at 80 calories and 150mg caffeine per can. Cane sugar has been dropped slightly, falling to 20 grams from the usual 23 to 25 grams in each.
But the summer-ready flavor may also be a simple bridge between Yerba Madre’s roots in tea and its market position adjacent to energy drinks — particularly as the brand leverages national distribution with Anheuser Busch to push further into convenience outlets. Consumers may interpret Yerba Madre as belonging to one category or the other, “so we definitely monitor all those categories,” Brush said, noting that watermelon is a stronger flavor in energy sets than in tea.
“It’s not [about] intentionally following energy per se, but just thinking about how we stay true to who we are, but also think about what flavors resonate in these categories,” she said.
Featured product
