Tereré

Ingredients

Kit

• 1guampa (hollowed cow horn or wooden cup), about 300 ml
• 1bombilla (filtered metal straw)
• 1thermos, 1.5 litres

Tereré

• 250 gyerba mate, coarse Paraguayan cut with plenty of stem
• 1.5 litreswater, plus a full tray of ice
• 1 handfulfresh yuyos, about 20 g: menta’i (mint), cedrón kapi’i (lemongrass), burrito or koku
• juice of 1 lemon (optional)
• 1 tbspsugar (optional, for pounding with the herbs)

Directions

1. Fill the thermos with water and ice and chill it for 2 hours. The water must be brutally cold; tereré made with cool water is just bad mate.
2. Pound the yuyos in a wooden mortar with a splash of the cold water, and the sugar if using, until bruised and aromatic. Strain the green liquid into the thermos, add the lemon juice and shake.
3. Fill the guampa two-thirds with yerba. Cover the mouth with your palm, invert it and shake so the dust comes to your hand, then tip that dust away; this is what stops the bombilla clogging.
4. Tilt the guampa so the yerba banks up one side, leaving a hollow against the wall.
5. Pour a little cold water into the hollow, let it soak in for a minute, then push the bombilla down into the wet side and do not move it again.
6. Fill the hollow with water. The cebador (the person serving) drinks the first, weakest serving, refills and passes the guampa to the person on their right.
7. Each person drinks it dry in one go, the slurp at the end being the signal, and hands it straight back to the cebador, who refills and passes on. Say gracias only when you have had enough.
8. Keep refilling until the yerba washes out and tastes flat, usually 20–30 rounds, then change it.

Technique

• Tereré is Paraguay’s national drink and a daily social ritual, drunk from breakfast onward in offices, fields and street corners. UNESCO inscribed the practice of tereré with yuyos as intangible cultural heritage in 2020.
• Never stir with the bombilla and never move it once it is set. Moving it breaks the seal, pulls dust through the filter and blocks it, which is the one real tereré foul.
• Paraguayan yerba is dried without smoke and cut coarse with a lot of palo (stem). Smoky, fine-cut Argentine yerba makes a harsher cold brew.
• Tereré rupa, literally the bed for the tereré, is the fried snack or breakfast eaten before drinking so the cold mate does not hit an empty stomach.

Substitutions

• No guampa: any tall, straight-sided glass or a thermal cup works with a bombilla.
• No fresh yuyos: mint, a bruised lemongrass stalk and a few slices of lemon give the right cooling, medicinal edge.

Variations

• Tereré ruso: built with orange juice instead of water.
• Mate cocido: the same yerba brewed hot and strained, drunk with milk at breakfast.
• A sweeter city version made with pineapple or lemon squash for the ice water.

History

Cold yerba mate with crushed medicinal herbs, drunk from a guampa; UNESCO inscribed tereré and its poha nana herb knowledge in 2020.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tereré?

Tereré is a drink from Paraguay: ice-cold yerba mate with medicinal herbs, shared from a guampa. Cold yerba mate with crushed medicinal herbs, drunk from a guampa; UNESCO inscribed tereré and its poha nana herb knowledge in 2020.

How long does Tereré take to make?

Tereré takes 10 min of preparation and 2 hr, to chill the water of cooking. The recipe makes shared by 4. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tereré?

Yes, within limits. No guampa: any tall, straight-sided glass or a thermal cup works with a bombilla. No fresh yuyos: mint, a bruised lemongrass stalk and a few slices of lemon give the right cooling, medicinal edge.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tereré?

Fill the thermos with water and ice and chill it for 2 hours. The water must be brutally cold; tereré made with cool water is just bad mate.