Tereré (Cold Yerba Mate)

Before you start

Tereré is yerba mate made with cold liquid, and it is everyday drinking in Paraguay, where the heat makes a hot gourd unappealing much of the year. The setup is similar to hot mate: a vessel packed with yerba, a filtered straw, and repeated small refills from a jug. The difference is the jug itself. It is usually an insulated thermos full of ice water, often crushed with fresh herbs, or a pitcher of citrus juice, and the drink tastes grassy, cold and pleasantly bitter.

Because cold water extracts flavor slowly, tereré uses a coarser, stemmy yerba and benefits from herbs pounded into the water to add aroma straight away. Common choices are mint, lemongrass and a few slices of lime or orange. The traditional cup is a guampa made from cattle horn, but any wide cup works. Plan on refilling often, since the leaves give their best flavor over the first ten rounds.

Ingredients

• 35 to 45 g (about ¾ of the guampa) yerba mate — a coarse con palo yerba, ideally one sold for tereré
• 700 ml (about 3 cups) cold water
• 300 g (about 2 cups) ice cubes
• 1 small handful (about 10 g) fresh mint leaves
• 1 stalk lemongrass — bruised and cut into 5 cm pieces, optional
• ½ lime — sliced into thin wheels

Method

1. Put the mint and lemongrass in the bottom of the thermos or pitcher and press them firmly with a muddler five or six times, just enough to bruise them and release their oils.
2. Add the lime slices, ice and cold water. Close the thermos and give it a shake, then leave it for about 5 minutes so the water picks up the herbal aroma.
3. Fill the guampa about three-quarters with yerba. Cover it with your hand, tip it upside down and shake gently to lift the dust off the leaves.
4. Tilt the cup so the yerba forms a slope, then push the bombilla into the low side at an angle until it touches the bottom. Do not stir it afterward.
5. Pour the herbal ice water onto the low side until it reaches just under the rim of the yerba. Wait a few seconds for the leaves to swell, then sip until the cup gurgles empty.
6. Keep refilling from the jug. Pass the cup in turn if you are sharing. When the drink tastes thin and the leaves look pale and sodden, replace the yerba with a fresh load.

Tips for success

• Use plenty of ice. Tereré should taste bracingly cold; once the water warms up the bitterness becomes more noticeable.
• Coarse yerba with stems keeps the bombilla from clogging. Very fine yerba packs down under cold water and stops the flow.
• If you like a softer start, pour a little juice in the first round, then switch to herbal water.

Substitutions

Herbal ice water

Chilled pasteurized orange, grapefruit or pineapple juice makes a sweet-tart tereré popular in Argentina and southern Brazil. It masks the bitterness well but loses the grassy notes.

Mint and lemongrass

Lemon verbena, a little fresh ginger or a few leaves of basil all work. Dried herbs blended into the yerba add flavor more slowly than fresh ones pounded into the water.

Guampa

A tall glass or cold brew pitcher works for a no-straw version: steep 15 g of yerba in 500 ml of iced herbal water for 10 minutes and strain.

Variations

Tereré ruso

Use chilled orange or grapefruit juice instead of water for the whole session. Add a little cold water halfway through if it gets too sweet.

Pitcher tereré for a crowd

Steep 40 g of yerba in a 1.5 liter pitcher of herbal ice water for 15 minutes, strain, and pour over ice in tall glasses.

Troubleshooting

Nothing comes up the straw

The yerba has packed down or the filter is clogged with dust. Loosen the leaves around the straw gently with a spoon, or start again with a coarser yerba.

It tastes like plain cold water

Cold extraction is slow at first. Give each fill 10 to 20 seconds before sipping, and add more pounded herbs or a splash of juice to the jug.

It becomes harsh and bitter

The water has warmed or the yerba is very fine and dusty. Add ice to the jug and use a stemmy yerba next time.

Storage

Make the herbal water the same day and keep it cold; refrigerate any left over and use it within 1 day. Juice-based tereré should be kept chilled and not left out more than 2 hours. Rinse and dry the guampa and bombilla after each session.

Safety notes

Yerba mate contains caffeine, and repeated refills add up over a long session. Fresh-squeezed, unpasteurized juice can carry harmful bacteria, so choose pasteurized juice when serving young children, older adults, pregnant people or anyone with a weakened immune system.