Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate)
Yerba mate served ice cold, often with crushed herbs, shared round after round on a hot Paraguayan day.
Tereré is yerba mate made with cold water instead of hot. Ice-cold water, often infused with fresh herbs or citrus, is poured over the leaf in a guampa and sipped through a metal bombilla.
Sensory profile
You should taste
How it unfolds
Where it sits
That is 80 mg in one serving (10 oz (300 ml), refilled), a concentration of 26.7 mg per 100 ml. The scale above ranks whole servings, and servings differ in size, so a larger drink can sit further right while being weaker cup for cup.
Editorial estimate, not a laboratory measurement
Related gear
| Brewing method | Guampa or Gourd with Bombilla |
|---|---|
| Brew ratio | 1:10 |
| Dose & yield | 30g → 300g |
| Grind size | Coarse cut with little dust |
| Water temperature | 39°F / 4°C |
| Target brew time | Continuous pour-and-sip refills |
| Serving | 10 oz (300 ml), refilled |
What you need
- 30 g yerba mate, a coarse cut with little dust, about half of a 300 ml guampa
- 300 g ice-cold filtered water, about 4°C, for each pour
- A few crushed mint, lemon verbena or lemongrass leaves, optional (the yuyos)
- Ice cubes or a little citrus juice, optional
Required gear
- Guampa, cup or gourd that holds about 300 ml
- Bombilla, a metal straw with a filter
- Thermos or jug of ice water
- Mortar, for crushing herbs, optional
- Scale accurate to 1 g
Step-by-step protocol
- 0:00Fill the guampa about halfway with 30 g of yerba. Cover the top with your palm, turn it upside down and give it a few firm shakes so the fine dust works its way to the top, then tilt it so the leaf banks up on one side.
- 0:30If you like herbs, crush a few leaves of mint, lemon verbena or lemongrass and steep them in a jug of ice water for a few minutes.
- 1:00Push the bombilla down to the bottom of the guampa, then pour in about 300 g of cold water, with an ice cube if you like.
- 1:30Sip through the bombilla until the guampa is empty, then refill with cold water and pass it on. Keep refilling until the taste turns flat and watery, then start again with fresh yerba.
Troubleshooting
What it may be good for
How strong is it?
We list about 80 mg for a 300 ml serving, one pour over a fresh guampa of yerba. Yerba mate leaf carries caffeine and a little theobromine, and the figure moves with how much leaf goes in and how many times the cup is refilled.
Cold water, not cold brew
Tereré is poured and sipped, not steeped overnight. The water goes straight over the leaf and the cup is refilled as often as you like; the leaf only needs replacing once the taste turns flat.
What to watch out for
- Yerba mate contains caffeine. If you are pregnant or nursing, sensitive to caffeine, or have been told to limit it, check with your doctor about how much is right for you.
Tereré is yerba mate made with cold water instead of hot. Ice-cold water, often infused with fresh herbs or citrus, is poured over the leaf in a guampa and sipped through a metal bombilla. It began with the Guaraní, and in 2020 UNESCO added Paraguay's tereré to its list of intangible cultural heritage.
Origin & Story
On a hot afternoon in Paraguay you see them everywhere: people in the shade of a tree or a shop doorway, a thermos of ice water at their side and a cup of green leaf in hand. One person pours, one person drinks, and the cup goes around. That is tereré, the cold cousin of mate, and in Paraguay it is closer to a daily habit than a drink.
The Guaraní were drinking mate before Europeans arrived, and they are credited with the cold version: leaf in a cup, cold water from a spring or a river instead of hot. In December 2020 UNESCO inscribed Paraguay's tereré as intangible cultural heritage, under a title that names the medicinal herbs, pohã ñana, that go with the drink. Paraguay keeps the last Saturday of February as National Tereré Day.
The craft is simple. A guampa, traditionally a cup made from animal horn and now also from wood, metal or a gourd, is filled from half to three quarters with yerba, and a bombilla, a metal straw with a filter at the bottom, is pushed in. Cold water goes in, ice if you have it, and often a jug of crushed leaves such as mint, lemon verbena or lemongrass has steeped for a few minutes first; these herbs are the yuyos. A coarse cut with little dust works best, because fine powder clogs the bombilla. As with hot mate, one person, the cebador, does the pouring and passes the cup on, and a gracias means you have had enough.
Chile has a mate chapter of its own, though not a tereré one. Yerba reached Santiago within decades of the city's founding in 1542, carried by mule from Paraguay through Santa Fe, Córdoba and Mendoza and over the Andes, and by 1664 it sold in Santiago for 8 reales a pound. Chile never grew yerba commercially; it imported all of it, and after independence tea and coffee gradually displaced mate among the upper classes.
Fill a guampa halfway with about 30 g of coarse yerba, push in the bombilla, pour in 300 ml of ice-cold water, then sip, and refill as it empties.
Reading the Flavor Profile
| Axis | Score |
|---|---|
| Sweetness | 60/100 |
| Acidity | 30/100 |
| Bitterness | 60/100 |
| Body | 70/100 |
| Aroma | 70/100 |
These values are comparative editorial positions within our own catalog, calibrated so entries can be ranked against each other. They are not laboratory measurements.
How much caffeine is in Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate)?
One serving, 10 oz (300 ml), refilled, contains approximately 80 mg of caffeine.
What temperature should I use for Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate)?
Use cold water, around 4°C (39°F), straight from the refrigerator or with ice. Hot water is for hot mate; this drink is served cold.
How long should Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate) be extracted?
Timing: Continuous pour-and-sip refills. Method: Guampa or Gourd with Bombilla. Ratio: 30g yerba (about half of a 300ml guampa) per 300ml pour, refilled. Grind or leaf format: Coarse cut with little dust.
Why does my Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate) taste bitter?
In tereré, a harsh or flat cup usually points to the yerba or the pour. Choose a coarse cut with little fine dust, which also keeps the bombilla from clogging, and refill as soon as each round is finished. When the flavor turns flat and watery the yerba is spent, or lavado, and it is time for a fresh guampa.
What is the difference between tereré and mate?
Tereré is yerba mate served cold. Mate is traditionally made with hot, never boiling, water at about 70 to 80°C, while tereré uses ice-cold water, sometimes with herbs or citrus, and is the usual choice on hot days in Paraguay. The leaf, the cup and the bombilla are the same.
What does con palo mean?
Con palo means with stems. It describes yerba cut with leaf, stem and a little fine dust, a traditional style in Argentina and Paraguay. For tereré, pick a cut with little dust, because fine powder clogs the bombilla.
Is tereré a Chilean drink?
No. Tereré belongs to Paraguay and the Guaraní. Chile drank a lot of imported yerba mate in the colonial period, but it has never grown the plant commercially, and tea and coffee displaced mate there after independence.
Who should avoid Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate)?
Yerba mate contains caffeine. If you are pregnant or nursing, sensitive to caffeine, or have been told to limit it, check with your doctor about how much is right for you. This information is educational and is not medical advice. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, managing a cardiac or gastrointestinal condition, or taking prescription medication, discuss caffeine and botanical intake with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes.
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