With summer approaching, almost everyone’s ditching the traditional hot yerba mate for a nice glass of tereré.

If you want to be one of them, you’ll find out how to make tereré by the end of this post.

Just give me two minutes and I’ll show you what equipment and ingredients you’ll need, how to prepare it, and much more.

Sound good?

Let’s begin…

What Is Tereré?

Tereré is the national drink of Paraguay. Although sometimes mistaken for something else, it’s the exact same thing as yerba mate except prepared cold. It’s consumed in Paraguay as much as hot mate is consumed in other native countries to help battle the sizzling hot weather.

Typically, tereré is prepared with a selection of fruits and herbs (yuyos) –  and sometimes sugar – for added flavor and refreshment.

How?

You’re about to find out…

What You Need For Tereré

To make tereré, you’ll need a few things first:

• A gourd/cup
• Bombilla
• Yerba mate

Let’s go over each one in more detail.

Tereré isn’t consumed in just any gourd. Traditionally, a guampa (cow horn) is used. But as technology has advanced, it’s uncommon to use or find one. Even if you do, it’s usually made out of wood or glass, instead of an actual horn.

So as an alternative, you can simply use any cup lying around. Or even better, a stainless steel gourd to help keep your tereré cold.

As far as bombillas go, I always recommend a spoon bombilla for its versatility, but any one will do. Today, I’ll be using our silicone-capped spoon bombilla. You can find more styles here.

Now for the yerba mate, you can go with any brand, but Paraguayan brands like La Rubia, Selecta, and Pajarito, are recommended as they’re designed to be consumed as tereré.

However, as mentioned earlier, tereré is typically prepared with fruits and herbs. If you want to skip adding your own, you can always opt for yerbas that come mixed/infused with them. I’ll be using Kurupi Menta Y Boldo (Amazon) for this tutorial which includes peppermint and boldo leaves for a refreshing mint flavor.

Once you have everything together, you can start preparing your first tereré.

How To Make Terere (Iced Yerba Mate)

Step 1:
Freeze some ice cubes and place a pitcher of water in the fridge to get it nice and cool. I used my tea kettle.

Step 2 (OPTIONAL):
Throw some herbs and fruits (e.g. mint leaves, lemon, lime, orange) into the pitcher to let it infuse.

Step 3:
Once your water is cold and filled with ice, fill your cup or gourd halfway with your loose-leaf yerba mate of choice.

Step 4:
Now, like you would prepare yerba mate traditionally, cover the gourd with your palm, shake it upside-down to get the large particles to the bottom for better filtration, then tilt it back upright and form a slope of mate.

Step 5:
Slide your bombilla into the empty side and place one ice cube on top.

Step 6:
Fill your gourd with cold water and let it steep. Because the water is cold, you’ll notice it takes longer for the leaves to absorb. It also takes longer for the water to extract everything out of the leaves so give it an extra minute.

Step 7:
Drink your first tereré! And keep refilling until all the flavor is gone.

If you’d like a sweeter tereré, you can always add sugar/sweeteners to your water, or steep your yerba in orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemonade, or any other fruit juice instead. But personally, I like to just stick with water.

Final Words

If you have yerba mate, don’t just prepare it with hot water.

There’s an entirely different world you can enter by just brewing it cold.

Plus, as the hotter weather approaches, it’s the perfect (healthy) drink to keep you cool.

I’ve been preparing myself a gourd of tereré almost every day and it’s been much more enjoyable than regular mate during this summer season. It just takes a bit of prep as you need to wait for your water to get cold. But trust me, it’s worth the wait and is extremely refreshing.

P.S. If you found this guide helpful, you might also want to check out our store for gourds and bombillas.