# Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate **Canonical URL:** https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ **Source:** teas.co.uk, UK tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent ## Summary Tereré is iced yerba mate, the Paraguayan way to drink it in the heat. It is not just cold mate, the method and the herbs are different. Here is how it works. ## Description Tereré, cold yerba mate, in summary: Tereré explained: cold-water yerba mate preparation, Paraguayan national drink, how to make it with citrus and herbs, UK starter guide. Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ Our yerba mate guide and the traditional hot method describe mate as a hot ritual. Tereré is the cold counterpart, and in Paraguay it is arguably the more important of the two. Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in March 2026. What tereré is Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for What tereré is, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ Tereré is yerba mate prepared with cold or iced water instead of hot. It uses the same gourd and bombilla idea, often a wider cup and a sturdier bombilla, but everything about it is built for heat: it is refreshing, hydrating and social, the default daily drink through the fierce Paraguayan summer rather than a novelty. How it differs from just "cold mate" Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for How it differs from just "cold mate", Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ Two real differences. First, the water is genuinely iced, often kept in a thermos with the ice, and frequently infused with citrus, mint or medicinal herbs (yuyos) crushed into it; tereré is commonly a herb and citrus cold infusion, not just mate gone cold. Second, because the water is cold, extraction is gentler, so the bitterness that scalding water draws out of hot mate is largely absent. Tereré tends to taste cleaner and more thirst quenching than hot mate, which is exactly the point in 40-degree heat. How to make it Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for How to make it, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ Fill the cup with yerba as for hot mate. Prepare a jug of very cold water with ice, and if you like, muddle in lime or lemon and a handful of fresh mint. Pour a little over the yerba, insert the bombilla into the wet hollow, and drink it down, refilling from the iced jug and passing it on. The same do not stir the bombilla rule applies, see the gourd and bombilla guide. The herbs and citrus are not optional extras culturally; they are most of what makes tereré tereré. Cold water extracts slowly, so the first cup is mild and the gourd lasts longer than a hot session, comfortably 60-90 minutes across many refills. Why it deserves to be better known here In a British context tereré is a genuinely good answer to "what do I drink, caffeinated, in hot weather, that is not iced coffee or a soft drink". It is refreshing, naturally low in calories, gently energising and endlessly customisable with citrus and herbs. It sits alongside cold brew tea and iced tea as a hot weather option, delivering the same caffeine that makes mate functional in a format that works at 28C as well as at 8C. In short: Tereré (cold yerba mate) Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ FieldDetailWhat it isCold-water yerba mate preparation, predominantly Paraguayan, prepared with iced water rather than hotOriginParaguay (national drink and cultural anchor); also widely drunk in Argentine and Brazilian summerEquipmentSame gourd and bombilla as hot mate, plus a thermos or jug of iced water (sometimes with citrus or herbs added)Cup characterCool, refreshing, less bitter than hot mate; the citrus or herb additions give bright fresh top notesCaffeine per session70-150mg, same as hot mateCultural roleParaguayan tereré is daily summer drink; tereré-pasting (gathering with friends to drink tereré) is core social practice in ParaguayBest forHot summer days, post-exercise hydration, drinkers who want yerba mate's caffeine but find hot preparation too intenseUK starter cost£20-£60 for gourd and bombilla; add £5-£15 for fresh herbs and citrus Why Paraguay specifically Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Why Paraguay specifically, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ Paraguay is the spiritual home of tereré. The country's very hot summers make hot mate uncomfortable for much of the year, so tereré evolved as the dominant daily preparation, and tereré-pasting (gathering with friends to drink it) is a foundational social ritual: groups of friends, students, workers and families share a gourd in parks, on benches and at work. The national congress declared tereré an intangible cultural heritage in 2010. Argentine, Uruguayan and Brazilian drinkers also take it, mostly as a summer alternative to their dominant hot mate. Herbs and citrus Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Herbs and citrus, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ Standard Paraguayan tereré uses fresh lemon or lime juice and crushed mint, sometimes coriander; traditional drinkers add local herbs (menta'i, burrito, cedrón) that are hard to find outside South America. For UK drinkers, ordinary supermarket mint and citrus work fine, the principle being "fresh, bright, complementary to the grassy yerba" rather than authenticity to specific herbs. Ginger, cucumber or rosemary all work too; the cold extraction is so gentle that off-balance combinations rarely turn bitter the way they would in hot brewing. Tereré vs Western iced tea Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Tereré vs Western iced tea, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ UK and US iced tea usually means brewed-then-chilled black tea, often heavily sweetened. Tereré is structurally different: cold-water-extracted yerba mate drunk in continuous gourd-and-bombilla refills across a session. The caffeine is higher (70-150mg across a session vs 30-80mg a glass), the pattern is shared and continuous rather than individual, and the flavour stays grassy and citrus-fresh rather than sweet and tannic. For UK drinkers it offers something genuinely different rather than a yerba-mate version of what you already know. Reference noted Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Reference noted, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/ EFSA Scientific Opinion on the Safety of Caffeine (2015) From the curatorteas · If a tea on this page sounds appealing, just try it once. You learn more in one cup than in twenty articles. Tea reading Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Tea reading, Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/terere-cold-mate/For the related hot preparation see the traditional gourd preparation. For the broader category see the what is yerba mate guide. For category context see the cold brew tea overview and the caffeine guide. The bottom line on tereréCold yerba mate is one of the underrated daily-drinker discoveries available to UK tea explorers. Worth learning if you've adopted yerba mate or want to; tereré gives you the same caffeine and similar cup-evolution rhythm as hot mate but in a format that works in summer and after exercise. The herb-and-citrus additions are simple and forgiving. For Paraguayan cultural enthusiasts, tereré is the national drink; for UK drinkers, it's a useful summer alternative to iced tea that delivers meaningful caffeine without coffee. Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Tereré: Cold Yerba Mate. 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