Flavors · Mato Grosso do Sul

Tereré

Yerba-mate infused with cold water, drunk from the guampa with a metal straw and passed hand to hand in a circle. A Guarani heritage shared with Paraguay, it is an everyday drink in Mato Grosso do Sul and a cultural heritage of the state.

Traditional drink from Mato Grosso do Sul

Updated October 2026

Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.

Click a photo to enlarge it.

Tereré — Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil — Tereré

Tereré — Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Tereré is the cold version of mate. The yerba-mate, ground coarser than chimarrão’s, fills the guampa, a cup that can be made of ox horn, wood, aluminum or other material. Cold water is poured over it, often with lemon, mint or herbs, and it is drunk through the bomba, a metal straw with a filter at the tip.

The word comes from Guarani, and the custom is a heritage of the Guarani peoples of the Paraguay River basin. It is shared with Paraguay, where traditional tereré practices are recognized as intangible heritage. In Mato Grosso do Sul, especially along the border in towns like Ponta Porã, tereré is part of daily life.

Tereré is taken in a circle. The person who prepares serves the guampa; the person drinks all the water and returns it, and the guampa goes to the next person. The circle has well-known etiquette rules: do not touch the bomba, and whoever empties the water bottle fetches more.

Legislative Decree 769/2023 declares tereré an intangible and cultural heritage of Mato Grosso do Sul, recognizing its role in social life and the identity of the state.

In the heat of the Center-West, a thermos with water and ice accompanies tereré at home, at work and on outings.

Share: WhatsApp

Where it comes from

Mato Grosso do Sul
Everyday beverage of Mato Grosso do Sul, declared cultural and intangible heritage of the state by the Legislative Assembly.

Ingredients

Yerba-mate with coarse grind and cold water; optionally lemon, mint or other herbs.

How it is eaten

In the guampa, with a metal bomba, in a circle: each person drinks the served water and returns the guampa to the person who served.

When it is eaten

All year round, especially on hot days.

Your questions

Questions about Tereré

What is tereré?

It is yerba-mate infused with cold water, drunk from the guampa with a metal bomba and passed around in a circle. It is typical of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraguay.

What is the difference between tereré and chimarrão?

Tereré is drunk with cold water and coarsely ground yerba, often with lemon or mint; chimarrão, typical of the South, uses hot water and finely ground yerba, served in a gourd.

How does the tereré circle work?

The person who prepares serves the guampa; each person drinks all the water and returns the guampa, and it goes to the next person. Do not touch the bomba.

Flavors of Brazil

Discover other flavors of Brazil

Dish · Belém

Tacacá

Hot tucupi broth with manioc masa, jambu and dried shrimp, served in a cuia. In Belém it is sold by tacacazeiras at street stalls in the late afternoon, and their craft is recognized as cultural heritage.

Dish · Belo Horizonte

Feijão tropeiro

Beans mixed with cassava flour, pork crackling, sausage, egg and collard greens. Inherited from the tropeiros who crossed Minas Gerais, it is the dish that best represents the cuisine of Belo Horizonte, according to a study by the city's tourism observatory.

Dish · Boa Vista

Damurida

A strong, very spicy broth of fish or game meat with tucupi, of indigenous origin, traditionally made in a clay pot. It is considered sacred by the Macuxi, Wapichana and Taurepang peoples and is a cultural heritage of Boa Vista.

Dish · Campo Grande

Sobá

Broth with wheat noodles, sliced meat, omelet and scallions, adapted from the Okinawa recipe by immigrants who arrived in Campo Grande in the early 20th century. It is a typical dish of the city and the subject of an annual festival at the Feira Central.

Dish · Caxias do Sul

Galeto al primo canto

Young chicken marinated with wine and sage and roasted over coals, served in sequence with agnolini soup, polenta and radicci. A tradition of the galeterias of Caxias do Sul in the Serra Gaúcha, related to Italian immigration.

Dish · Cidade de Goiás

Empadão goiano

Tall pie with thin crust and a generous filling of chicken, sausage, pork, olive, palm heart, cheese and egg, sometimes with guariroba or pequi. According to tradition, it originated in Cidade de Goiás, the former Vila Boa.

Dish · Espírito Santo

Moqueca capixaba

Fish cooked with tomato, onion, cilantro and urucum in a clay pot, without dendê oil or coconut milk. A state law established it as a typical dish of Espírito Santo, and the pot used in the preparation is made by the paneleiras of Goiabeiras, a craft registered by IPHAN.

Pinhão entrevero — pinhões and sautéed meats.

Dish · Lages

Entrevero de pinhão

Stew of various meats with cooked pinhão and vegetables, made in an iron pot or on a plow disc. A dish from the Serra Catarinense and the Festa Nacional do Pinhão in Lages, it was declared a cultural heritage of Santa Catarina.

Dish · Maceió

Sururu de capote

Sururu, a small mollusk from Lagoa Mundaú, cooked still in its shell with coconut milk, tomato, bell pepper and cilantro. It is the most typical way to serve sururu in Maceió; the sururu itself was declared intangible heritage of Alagoas.

Dish · Manaus

X-Caboquinho

French-roll sandwich with slices of tucumã, queijo coalho and fried pacovã banana. A typical Manaus breakfast, it was declared an intangible cultural heritage of the city by municipal law.

Dish · Minas Gerais

Pão de queijo

Small baked polvilho roll, cured cheese, eggs, milk and fat, crunchy on the outside and elastic on the inside. A snack tied to the tradition of Minas Gerais farms, it is a symbol of Minas Gerais cuisine and is offered to guests with coffee.

Ginga with tapioca — detail of the food or preparation.

Dish · Natal

Ginga com tapioca

Fried little fish, the gingas, served on tapioca with coconut. Signature dish of Redinha beach in Natal, created by fishermen more than half a century ago and recognized as intangible heritage of the municipality and the state.

Pato in tucupi — detail of the food or preparation.

Dish · Pará

Pato no tucupi

Roast duck then cooked in tucupi with jambu leaves, served with rice and manioc flour. Star of the Círio de Nazaré lunch in October, it is intangible cultural heritage of Pará.

Dish · Paraná

Barreado

Beef cooked for many hours in a clay pot sealed with a dough made from flour, served with manioc (cassava) flour and banana. A typical dish of the Paraná coast, it has a geographical indication linked to Morretes, Antonina and Paranaguá.

Drink · Paraty

Cachaça de Paraty

Sugarcane spirit produced in the stills of Paraty, on the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro, where the drink has been made since the colonial period. It was the first cachaça with a geographical indication in the country and later the first Brazilian distilled spirit with a Denomination of Origin.

Sweet · Pernambuco

Bolo de rolo

Butter-based cake with an ultra-thin batter, rolled in many layers with guava paste. A Pernambuco adaptation of a Portuguese cake, it is recognized by state law as cultural and intangible heritage of Pernambuco.

Drink · Piauí

Cajuína

Non-alcoholic drink made from clarified cashew juice cooked until it takes on an amber color, bottled and served chilled. The traditional production and practices linked to cajuína in Piauí are Cultural Heritage of Brazil, registered by IPHAN.

Dish · Rio de Janeiro

Feijoada carioca

Black beans cooked with salted or smoked beef and pork, served with rice, couve, farofa and orange. In Rio de Janeiro, it is the Saturday dish at botequins and at samba school quadras, and the feijoada carioca is an intangible heritage of the state.

Detail of the meat carving in the espeto corrido service.

Dish · Rio Grande do Sul

Churrasco à gaúcha

Meat seasoned only with coarse salt and roasted on a skewer or grill over embers, with manual control of the fire. A 2003 state law established churrasco à gaúcha as a typical dish of Rio Grande do Sul and created Barbecue Day on April 24.

Dish · Salvador

Acarajé

Little fritter made from ground cowpea (feijão-fradinho), fried in dendê oil and filled with vatapá, caruru, dried shrimp and chili. Sold from the baianas’ trays, it is a cultural heritage of Salvador, and the craft of the baianas de acarajé is registered by IPHAN.

Dish · São Luís

Arroz de cuxá

Rice mixed with cuxá, a sauté of vinagreira leaves with toasted sesame, dried shrimp and flour. A signature dish of Maranhão, it was already sold in the streets of São Luís in the 19th century.

Dish · São Paulo

Virado à paulista

Bean thickened with flour, served with rice, pork chop, pork crackling, collard greens, fried egg, sausage and breaded banana. Monday dish in São Paulo restaurants, it is registered as intangible heritage of the state by Condephaat.

All the flavors of Brazil