The Caipirinha Cocktail

Caipirinha (Portuguese pronunciation: [kajpiˈɾĩj̃ɐ]) is Brazil’s national cocktail, made with cachaça(pronounced [kaˈʃasɐ]) (sugarcane hard liquor), sugar and lime. Cachaça, also known as pinga, caninha, or any one of a multitude of traditional names, is Brazil’s most common distilled alcoholic beverage. Although both rum and cachaça are made from sugarcane-derived products, in cachaça the alcohol results from the fermentation of fresh sugarcane juice that is then distilled, while rum is usually made from refinery by-products such as molasses.

Sounds better, right?

The drink is prepared by muddling the fruit and the sugar together, and adding the liquor. This can be made into a single glass, usually large, that can be shared amongst people, or into a larger jar, from where it is served in individual glasses.

According to one account it began around 1918 in the region of Alentejo in Portugal, with a popular recipe made with lemon, garlic and honey, indicated for patients with the Spanish flu. Today it is still being used as a remedy for the common cold. As it was quite common to add some distilled spiritsto home remedies, in order to expedite the therapeutic effect, aguardente was commonly used. “Until one day someone decided to remove the garlic and honey. Then added a few tablespoons sugar to reduce the acidity of lime. The ice came next, to ward off the heat,” explains Carlos Lima, executive director of IBRAC (Brazilian Institute of Cachaça).

Thank God we did away with the garlic!

According to historians, the caipirinha, as it is known nowadays, was invented by landowning farmers in the region of Piracicaba, interior of the State of São Paulo, during the 19th century, as a local drink for high standard events and parties, being a reflection of the strong sugar cane culture in the region.

The caipirinha is the strongest national cocktail of Brazil and is imbibed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. Once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink has become more popular and more widely available in recent years, in large part due to the rising availability of first-rate brands of cachaça outside Brazil. The International Bartenders Association has designated it as one of their Official Cocktails.

The word caipirinha is the diminutive of the word caipira, which in Brazilian Portuguese refers to someone from the countryside (specifically, someone from the rural parts of south-central Brazil), being similar to US English hillbilly or the Lowland Scots teuchter. Caipira is a two-gender noun. The diminutive mostly refers to the drink in which case it is a feminine noun.

And, I was told this was the ONLY Cachaça to use. Avuá Cachaça Prada. The one and only.

The Caipirinha

2 fresh limes
1/4 raw cane sugar cup sugar
ice cubes
6 oz. Avuá Cachaça Prata  
2 oz. soda water