Caipirinha

It’s easy to see why the caipirinha (kai-pee-reen-ya) is the national drink of Brazil. The flavors are tangy and sweet. It is simple to make, hits you hard, and yet you can keep drinking them without even noticing that you are intoxicated. And while there’s no real need to change the classic recipe, the adaptations are about as diverse as the people who drink them.

So what’s in a caipirinha? Four simple ingredients: lime, sugar, ice, cachaça. Cachaça is a liquor made from fermented sugarcane and is extremely popular in Brazil. These days, it’s available in any liquor store in the States. Recipe below.

What You Need:
1 lime
2 oz. cachaça
2 tsp sugar
Ice to fill the glass
Something akin to an old-fashioned glass

What to Do:
Cut off the ends of the lime and then cut vertically. Remove the pith, slice into wedges and then add to your glass.

Add the sugar and muddle the lime and sugar together until the lime releases most of its juice.

Fill the rest of the glass with ice and then add the cachaça. Give it a stir or shake and serve.

Now what do you do if you don’t have or can’t find cachaça (or are too lazy to figure it out)? You can make a caipiroska. That’s right, you just replace the cachaça with vodka. Or how about mixing it up and making a sakerinha? Use two ounces of sake instead of cachaça. See how accommodating Brazilians can be?

Want something fruitier? Why not try making a passion fruit or lychee caipirinha? Use ¼ of the lime and add three tablespoons of passion fruit juice or lychee juice to the mix. The possibilities are endless. Which is why, when I went to a wedding in Brazil last year, I was thrilled with the caipirihna bar. Essentially, it was a choose-your-own-adventure caipirihna experience. You could choose cachaça, vodka or sake and then pick between a variety of fresh fruits (like passion fruit, lychee, strawberry, mango, pineapple, etc) that would be muddled into the mix. A great idea for your next party.