Name: Caipirinha
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 1&frasl;2 fresh Lime (fresh); 3 barspoon Powdered sugar; 22.5 ml Chilled water; 60 ml Cachaça (unaged)

Ingredients

¹⁄₂ fresh

Lime (fresh) (chopped)

3 barspoon

Powdered sugar (white sugar ground in mortar and pestle)

3/4 fl oz

Chilled water/mineral water (omit if using wet ice)

2 fl oz

Cachaça (unaged) (from freezer)

How to make

Glassware

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a HIGHBALL (MAX 10OZ/300ML) GLASS.

Prepare garnish of stirrer (spoon, wooden lolly stick or stick cut from sugar cane).

Method

Cut a ripe lime in half (from pole to pole) and remove the core from each half by cutting a V-shaped groove. (You'll need one-half of the lime per cocktail.) CHOP into wedges and each wedge chopped in half before dropping the resulting 6 or 8 lime chunks into the base of shaker.

Add 3 bar spoons powdered sugar [or 15ml (½oz) sugar syrup 2:1] and MUDDLE.

If using cubed ice straight from the freezer, add chilled water (or optionally add fruit of choice) and MUDDLE some more. If using watery ice then omit some or all of the water/juice.

When sure the lime's juice is fully extracted and the sugar dissolved, POUR the muddled fruit and sugar into serving glass (preferably a 30cl / 10oz highball glass).

POUR cachaça (stored in the freezer) into the shaker tin used to muddle and swirl to rinse tin before pouring cachaça into serving glass. STIR to combine with other ingredients.

FILL glass with small cubes or cracked ice. (If using large ice cubes, crack (rather than crush) four to five large ice cubes using an ICE TAPPER and drop into serving glass.)

STIR before topping with more ice.

Garnish

Serve with a stirrer (spoon, wooden lolly stick or stick cut from sugar cane) but no straws.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Alcohol content:

We don't have enough information to calculate the alc./vol., but based on known ingredients, this recipe contains at least:

18.9 grams of pure alcohol

History

The name Caipirinha translates as "country little girl", and this cocktail emerged from the countryside of São Paulo state. There are many stories of its origin; one traces it back to sailors who used to drink citrus juices with spirit to ward against scurvy but adopted cachaça instead of rum when they arrived in Brazil.

Another version recounts that in the early 20th century, it was common to consume a mix of cachaça, lime, honey and garlic due to the Spanish flu outbreak in the country. Over time, this medicinal drink arrived at the port of Santos where it came to be called "Caipirinha", since the main ingredient, cachaça, usually came from Piracicaba in the countryside of São Paulo.

Much of Brazil's population is poor, and locally produced cachaça is cheap. Since the Millennium, premium brands of cachaça have emerged, but even these are cheap compared to foreign imported spirits. Cachaça is the spirit of the Brazilian people, and it's mainly consumed mixed in Caipirinhas.

Review

If you are European or in North America, you're probably used to this drink being served with crushed ice, but until you have tried it with small cubes or cracked ice, you have not properly experienced a Caipirinha. Be sure to muddle the lime and sugar well and stir both before adding ice and after.

Comments & Discussion

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Jonathan Porras 29w

I didnt care for this rendition but I found a video on YouTube using simple syrup and just lime juice and my o my is that a good one.

Mephisto 45w

This recipe with Amburana cachaça is really a wonder.

Rick Dodd 49w

I have made a turbinado sugar syrup in the microwave using the rocks glass for more flavorful . I'll try granulated for variety.

Annechien Premium Member 1y

Made with yaguara cachaca and brown sugar. Delicious!

Andre Derailleur Premium Member 1y

Very keen on this when our lime tree is in fruit. A great variation is the sakerinha with sake instead of cachaca. Apparently São Paulo has the biggest Japanese expatriate community in the world.

Vincenzo 1y

For a merry old time pair this with samba! I use Demerara, takes longer to muddle but I find it extracts more from the limes.

Richard Forbes Premium Member 1y

Is icing sugar an equivalent of the powdered sugar called for? Any disadvantage to using here?

Calvin Grant Premium Member 1y

Greetings Richard. Check out "Sugar and Sugar Syrups" in the search function then go to powdered sugar. Great info there.

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 1y

Thanks, Calvin. I've also added a link to the ingredient in the recipe, which leads directly to the relevant page.

Richard Forbes Continue thread (1 reply)

Peter Beynon 1y

The normal sugar used in Brazil is similar to our castor sugar. When I was there, we made caipirinha in a jug with a pestle, just adding more cachaca, green lemons (look like limes but taste like lemons), sugar and ice as the evening wore on..and on...

Nathalie O Flynn Premium Member 2y

I have been making Caipis for many years, in fact it's the first cocktail that I have ever made. I am going to attempt this elaborate version but was wondering about the bit about adding a little water or juice, is that to try and extract more of the lime juice ?
My husband will read me the steps or I won't be able to follow lol

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 2y

Hi Nathalie. It's about hitting perfect dilution and dissolving all the sugar. Please see step 3 above.

Nathalie O Flynn Premium Member 2y

great stuff thanks. Yes step 3 was clear, I only ever use ice from freezer and will crack some with my hammer and lewis bag. I will think of someone I hate during the process lol.

Nathalie O Flynn Premium Member 2y

Well this definitely took my Caipis to a higher level. As my freezer can't accomodate a bottle, I poured the Chacaça in a small jug and put that in the freezer yesterday (I do the same with my big fat Patron Tequila). Fantastic Capi thanks