Caipirinha
Brazil, the land of samba, football and caipirinha. The Caipirinha cocktail is one of the most popular drinks of all. The drink is not only perfect on hot summer days, but can also be served on cosy winter evenings. In Brazil, the drink is considered the secret national drink. After the cocktail was invented in the South American country, it spread all over the world over the years. Following, we show you how to prepare the original Caipirinha recipe from Brazil. Have fun discovering and enjoying it!
Caipirinha Recipe
- 6 cl cachaça
- 4 cl lime juice
- 2 bar spoons of cane sugar
- Soda water
Step by Step Guide
- Cut lime into eighths and place in tumbler.
- Also add cane sugar to tumbler and squeeze lime with a pestle.
- Add cachaça and chrushed ice and stir with a bar spoon.
- Top up with soda if necessary and then serve.
The preparation of a Caipirinha is actually very simple. First, you should cut off the ends of a lime. It is advisable here to use untreated and/or organically mined limes. Now cut this citrus fruit into eight small pieces and put them into a tumbler. Then sprinkle the brown cane sugar over the lime quarters. Now squeeze the lime pieces with a pestle so that the lime juice can mix well with the brown sugar.
Then add Brazilian cachaça. After filling the Caipi glass with crushed ice, stir well with a bar spoon (alternatively with a tablespoon). If the glass is not yet completely filled with liquid, you can add a dash of soda water. Garnish the finished cocktail with a lime wedge and serve with a straw.
The perfect Caipirinha is ready!
Bar accessories
- Caipirinha glass or tumbler
- Muddler
- Bar spoon
- Crushed ice
Before preparing the drink, you should rinse limes in hot water. This will remove any pesticide residues from the fruit. Afterwards, you should roll the lime briefly on a board. This will cause all the fruit juice to come out. Only then should you cut off the two ends and start with the above recipe.
The taste of the Caipirinha
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Caipirinha tastes sweet and sour, with the flavour of the lime clearly in the foreground. The alcohol is more in the background. The fruity notes make the drink perfect for hot summer evenings, but also provide a feeling of holiday, sun and beach on cosy winter evenings.
Also a pleasure non-alcoholic
This tip is important for the anti-alcoholics and drivers among you. You can easily prepare the Caipi without alcohol. This cocktail is called Ipanema and tastes pleasantly fruity and fresh. And all without alcohol. Discover it now and prepare it yourself.
Fresh fruit juices for a special taste experience
With this cocktail, we would again like to point out the use of fresh, organically grown fruits. The taste of these fruits is much more natural and fresh. This makes the Caipirinha taste even better. Just try it yourself and convince yourself of its pleasant taste.
Enjoy without cachaça
You can also prepare this cocktail without cachaça. We have already shown you several recipe variations above. However, you can also prepare the drink with spirits such as grappa, mezcal, tequila, aquavit or even baijiu and soju.
The special Caipi glass
There are actually so-called Caipirinha glasses that have been developed just for the preparation of this cocktail. They have a filling volume of about 30 cl and are wider at the top than at the bottom. The bottom of the glass is slightly ribbed. This makes it ideal for preparing a cachaça cocktail. Alternatively, you can use a simple tumbler. You can find more information about bar accessories on our tumbler page.
Brazilian food to go with your Brazilian drink
Brazilian cuisine is very diverse and inventive. Therefore, it is a good idea to serve a Brazilian dish with a Brazilian cocktail. One dish that can be served with a Caipi is Tacacá. This is a Brazilian soup made from jambu leaves and manioc. It is particularly popular in the northern areas of the country. Adding chilli and prawns makes the soup a perfect accompaniment to the cocktail.
In addition, a nice brigadeiro can be enjoyed with caipirinha. A brigadeiro is a Brazilian chocolate truffle or chocolate praline that has been covered with more chocolate sprinkles. The sweet taste makes it the perfect accompaniment to the caipirinha.
A tropical cachaça drink
The Brazilian national drink is made with the spirit cachaça. But what is it actually? The basis of cachaça is sugar cane. Fresh sugar cane juice is used in its production, which is distilled in a pot still. Rum, on the other hand, is usually made from the residue from sugar refining.
In Brazil, the quality of cachaça is improving all the time and there are even the first cachaças aged in wooden barrels. The exotic fruity taste is perfect for juices and cocktails of all kinds. Therefore, cachaça is not only an important base spirit for the caipirinha, but also for many other tropical cachaça cocktails.
Through the Caipirinha to success: Cachaça
The spirit Cachaça has become known in the world mainly through the Caipirinha drink. No other really well-known cocktail has the basic spirit cachaça. It was only when the lime could be bought in large parts of the world that the drink became really well known and popular. That was around the year 1990.
An old Brazilian saying translates loosely as: “The worse the cachaça, the better the caipirinha”. You have to decide for yourself whether this saying is true. Presumably, this saying goes back to the origin of the drink as a beverage of the rural population. The ingredients for the drink were cheap and always easy to obtain. That is why the caipirinha is sometimes amusingly called the “peasant drink of Brazil”.
This mostly poorer class of the population only had cachaça of inferior quality at their disposal. This is probably exactly why the saying came into being.
To this day, many cachaça are distilled in small rural businesses and every Brazilian has his or her own favourite. Many claim that coarser distilled spirits, usually of inferior quality, have more flavour, which is again due to the saying. If you would like to know more about cachaça, please visit our cachaça page.
Difference between the European and Brazilian varieties
The differences between European and Brazilian drinks are greater than might at first appear. In Brazil, the drink is classically prepared with ice cubes instead of crushed ice. In addition, white cane sugar is used instead of brown sugar. In Brazil, a drink is also usually enjoyed with many people together in large groups. In Brazil, the limes are cut into slices, not eighths as in Europe.
More Drink Recipes
More Drink Recipes
FAQ
What is a Caipirinha?
Caipirinha is the most famous cachaça cocktail of all. In fact, the drink is the only known cocktail made with cachaça. Thanks to its fruity, fresh taste, the Brazilian cocktail has conquered various German bars and restaurants.
What does the Caipirinha cocktail taste like?
Caipirinha tastes sweet and sour, with the lime clearly in the foreground. The alcohol is more in the background of this drink, but can still be clearly tasted.
How do you prepare a caipirinha?
Muddle a lime and cane sugar in a glass and add cachaça and crushed ice. Stir everything together and top up the glass with soda water if necessary. Then you can serve the drink and enjoy it.
Can you also prepare the drink as a mocktail?
Yes, there is a non-alcoholic version of the Caipirinha. The Ipanema is made with passion fruit juice, lime juice, cane sugar and ginger ale. Without alcohol, but particularly refreshing and suitable for everyone.