Drinks Cocktails Recipes

Caipirinha Recipe

Caipirinha [KIE-PEE-REEN-YAH] is Brazil's national cocktail made with cachaça [KA-SHA-SA] firewater, sugar and lime.

Caipirinha pronunciation sounds kie-pee-reen-yah. Cachaça is pronunced ka-sha-sa. The word "caipirinha" is the diminutive version of the word "caipira", which refers to someone from the countryside, being an almost exact equivalent of the American English hillbilly. Cachaça, a main ingredient of a caipirinha recipe is Brazil's most common distilled alcoholic beverage. Cachaça, also known as "aguardiente" is a spirit akin to rum in that it is made from unrefined sugar, but the similarity stops there. For centuries, cacha was a downscale drink enjoyed only by slaves and natives. The easiest cachaça to find in Brazil is Ypioca Cachaça Prata. Make caipirinha coctail, place lime wedges and sugar in a mortar and using a wooden pestle squash the limes with the sugar to release their juice. Shake and serve with pão de queijo (cheese bread or cheese rolls), pastéis or your favourite Sultry Party Snack. An excellent cachaca coctail - muddle 1 bar spoon of white pepper corns and add sugar, 1 lime quartered and basil leaves. Place the lime slices in the glass and add the sugar. Shake the mixture and strain into a rocks glass over ice. Once the lime and sugar is muddled together, use a small amount of the cacha to rinse the excess sugar and lime from the sides of the glass. Then add crushed ice up to the top of the glass.

Caipirinha, a traditional Brazilian drink prepared with cachaça is very popular in Europe and the US.