Meet the caipirinha cocktail, your new summer drink. Imported from beautiful Brazil, it’s meant to be enjoyed outise in the blazing sun with good company.
Made from cachaça (pronounced “ka-sha-sa”), limes and sugar, it’s simple but incredibly delicious. This caipirinha recipe (pronounced “kie-purr-REEN-yah”) is straight from the streets of Sao Paulo and it’s as authentic as it gets.
Brazil’s national cocktail has the perfect balance of sweetness, tanginess and kick. It’s also pleasantly refreshing and addictive. The caipirinha cocktail is usually made from limes but variants include substituting the limes with crushed fruits such as the tangerines, kiwis, passion fruit, mangos or shredded pineapple. Once your taste buds experience the awesomeness of the caipirinha you’ll be hooked all summer long.
We spoke to several Brazilians asking them how they made their own caipirinhas. Most agreed that quality cachaça is key to an awesome caipirinha cocktail. Recommended brands include Leblon, 51, Velho Barreiroe, Sagatiba Pura, Salinas, Minas Gerais, Ypióca Ouro and Sleeta.
If you’re wondering what the difference between rum and cachaça is, cachaça is made from fermenting and distilling fresh sugarcane juice while rum is mostly made from molasses, a by-product of sugar production. Cachaças have this unique vibrant earthiness and sweetness that rums don’t have.
So here it is, a tried and tested caipirinha recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lime cut
- ice
- 2 tbsp of superfine sugar
- 2 ounces of cachaça
Instructions
- Slice limes thinly and add to glass
- Add sugar
- Muddle limes and sugar
- Add ice
- Add cachaça and stir
There you have it, an authentic caipirinha recipe. Be warned though, it’s a strong drink that hits you hard. The tartness and sweetness disguise the strength of the drink so be mindful, unless you don’t care. If your making these for friends make it in batches, just multiply the caipirinha recipe by the number of drinks you need.
Keep in mind that this recipes is sort of starter template that you have to play around with to find what works for you. Our friend from Brazil Cartola summed it up perfectly by saying “The idea of caipirinha is that it is a bit sweet, a bit acidic with that sting of the cachaça. None of the three flavors should harshly overpower the other”. Many Brazilians mentioned that the caipirinha is great with Feijoada or BBQ but that’s another article.
