There are many ways of preparing yerba yate. What is always needed is water, which can be either hot or of room or lower temperature. Hot yerba can be brewed in various drinkware, traditionally, however, it is drank from mate - special pear-shaped cup that can be made from metal, wood, or clay.

In order to prepare Paraguayan tea in the traditional way you should fill a mate cup up to half of its capacity with yerba mate leaves and pour in cold water in order for the leaves to soak and lose its bitter taste. After pouring out this bitter fluid brew yerba mate using water at 70-80°C for about 3 to 5 minutes and no longer than that. After drinking the infusion through a bombilla you can brew the leaves another two or three times getting the same flavour. The following are some of the modern ways of brewing the herbs using hot water:

• in a French coffee press
• in a teapot with a strainer
• in a mug with a strainer

However, the ritual character of yerba mate consists in drinking it from a small mate cup through a little straw called a bombilla. This is a very special manner of drinking yerba mate which has been cultivated for centuries and has become such an interesting way of drinking tea that in the streets of Buenos Aires as well as other cities and towns of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay many people can be seen drinking yerba from a mate cup by means of a bombilla. Walking the streets you might get the impression that you have travelled back in time to an era when people didn't yet know what stress and haste were. By dipping your bombilla you can join the tradition which has been around for centuries. After some time of drinking yerba mate form a mate cup gourmets fall in love with its shape and size. What we deal with here is sheer magic as real gourmets cannot imagine drinking the tea from any other dish but a mate and a bombilla becomes a peculiar cigarette-case or an amulet helping to overcome different hardships of nighttime and daytime.

Yerba mate brewed in cold water is called terere. It is a perfect drink on hot days when it is necessary to cool the body and quench the thirst. Terere brings about the feeling of refreshment and cooling. The preparation of terere is extremely easy. Fill up half of the cup with yerba leaves and pour in cold water. Steep for about 10 minutes and drink with a bombilla. Terere can be brewed up to 5 times.

Yerba mate is also delicious with milk, honey, sugar, fruit juice or lemon depending on your preferences. Yerba mate with honey tastes wonderful, but avoid putting too much honey as it will entirely kill the taste of Paraguayan holly. As for children, they like to drink sweet yerba with breakfast or dinner. However, be careful when you are starting to give yerba mate to children under six as their body not used to this tea might react by sleep delayed about two or three hours (after 5 p.m. don't give too strong yerba mate to children under six).