Street Corner · Cold Yerba Mate

Tereré

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UNESCO added tereré to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2020 — one of the few drinks with that honor.

A hollowed gourd (guampa) is packed with yerba mate and sipped through a metal bombilla straw, refilled again and again from a thermos of ice-cold water, often infused with crushed mint or other herbs. Street vendors known as tereréros sell pre-packed guampas and herb bundles from coolers on nearly every Asunción corner.

Why it's made this way: Unlike the hot mate drunk elsewhere in South America, tereré is served ice-cold specifically to survive Paraguay's brutal summer heat, and sharing one guampa among a circle of friends is considered as much a social ritual as a drink.