Mate Cocido and Mate con Leche: Other Ways to Drink Yerba Mate

The traditional gourd-and-bombilla method isn’t the only way to enjoy yerba mate. Two popular variations — mate cocido and mate con leche — offer milder, easier entry points into the world of mate, and are especially common for breakfast, for kids, or for anyone easing into the stronger traditional style.

What Is Mate Cocido?

Mate cocido (“boiled mate”) is prepared by boiling yerba mate directly in water, then straining it and serving it in a cup — closer to how you’d brew tea than the traditional gourd method. It’s milder and less bitter than traditional mate, with a lower concentration of mateína, which is part of why it’s often recommended as a starting point for people new to yerba mate.

Interestingly, mate cocido has deep historical roots: Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century are credited with popularizing this boiled version — sometimes called “Jesuit tea” — as a way to let the Guaraní communities they worked with drink yerba mate without the extended, communal ritual of traditional mate slowing down their tasks.

How to Make Mate Cocido

1. Bring water to a boil in a pot (about 1 tablespoon of yerba mate per cup of water).
2. Once boiling, reduce the heat and add the yerba mate.
3. Let it simmer for a few minutes, then remove from heat and let it rest briefly so the yerba settles.
4. Strain into a cup using a fine strainer or tea infuser.
5. Sweeten with sugar or honey if desired, and enjoy.

Mate cocido is also widely sold in tea bags, making it the simplest possible way to try yerba mate — no gourd or bombilla required.

What Is Mate con Leche?

Mate con leche follows the same basic idea — replacing some or all of the water with hot milk — but it can be made either the mate cocido way (boiled and strained into a cup) or the traditional way, served in a gourd with a bombilla. Either way, the milk softens yerba mate’s naturally bitter edge, creating a creamier, gentler drink.

How to Make Mate con Leche

1. Heat milk (or a mix of milk and water) until hot but not boiling.
2. If making it mate cocido style: add yerba mate, let it steep a few minutes, then strain into a cup.
3. If making it gourd style: fill your gourd with yerba mate as usual, then pour the hot milk through the bombilla just as you would with water.
4. Sweeten to taste with sugar or honey.

Why These Versions Are Popular With Kids

Because mate cocido and mate con leche are milder and lower in mateína than traditional mate, they’re commonly given to children in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay — mate cocido con leche in particular became a staple of school breakfast programs across the region, valued both as an affordable source of nutrients and as an early introduction to a lifelong cultural habit.

Ready to Try Traditional Mate?

Once you’re used to the milder versions, you might want to work your way up to the real thing. Learn how to make traditional yerba mate, or check out our beginner’s buying guide to get set up with your first gourd.

Sources: Wikipedia, Cachamai, RegiónNet, TasteAtlas.