Caipirinha Origin, History And The Best Caipirinha Recipe
In searching for the best caipirinha recipe i found out there are a lot of variations. It looks like everyone makes it in its own way. Because of that it seemed that finding the original caipirihna recipe won’t be an easy task. In every caipirinha recipe there are 4 ingredients: cachaça, lime, sugar and ice. It seems that even in different parts of Brazil as well as in different parts of the world they make caipirinha differently, and after contacting my Brazilian friends, this proved to be the case. Main ingredient responsible for this confusion is sugar. Some say it should be used only white cane sugar, while others say that only true Brazilian way is to use brown sugar. Both of them are right. Also there is confusion whether to use ordinary white cane sugar or superfine sugar. In Brazil, the sugar is of a different granularity (it is much finer) and that kind of sugar is called superfine sugar in United Stated and other parts of the world. Also you will not make a mistake if you use typical granulated sugar, it will just take little more time to mix it before adding ice cubes.
The Best Caipirinha Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ oz (50ml) of Cachaca
- 1/2 a Lime sliced in 4-6 wedges
- 2 spoons of Superfine sugar
- Ice cubes
Preperation:
- First cut of the ends of a lime
- Then cut the lime in half, remove the bitter center pit from the lime
- Slice half of the lime in four wedges
- Put lime wedges in the glass
- Add 2 spoons of sugar
- Crush the lime and sugar together with Muddler in order to extract juice and essential oils from the skin of the lime
- Fill the glass with ice cubes
- Pour cachaca all the way to the top of the glass
- Pour the content of the glass it into the shaker, shake it well and pour it back into the glass(alternatively if you don’t have shaker you can use crushed ice instead ice cubes, in this case you just need to stir it well).
- Enjoy the best caipirinha!
Caipirinha – Ingredients, Derivatives and Brazilian Ways
Caipirinha is Brazil’s most famous alcoholic drink, and it is made with cachaca, sugar and lime. This Brazilian cocktail (in fact, their national cocktail) also goes under the names Pinga and Caninha.
As the drink comes from Brazil, the word “caipirinha” is a Portuguese derivative of the word “caipira”, meaning: hick, or hayseed, to which the suffix “-inha”, meaning something little or small, was added. Although the word “caipirinha” is used for determining both genders, masculine and feminine, when referring to a person that comes from the countryside, it becomes exclusively feminine when used for naming the drink. Anyway, the Brazilian people mainly use this word to refer to the drink, and not to the class of persons.
The popularity of the drink has leaded to its name being “borrowed” by any other drinks obtained from cachaca and fruit juice. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find drinks like passionfruit-caipirinha or kiwi-caipirinha. Also, Caipifruta is another variation of Brazil’s national cocktail, since it is also obtained from cachaca, but this time is mixed with smashed fresh fruits (one or many kinds of fruits can be used in the same drink) and ice, which is also crushed. Caipisake, another derivative of the drink, is not even made with cachaca, but with sake, and the commonly used fruits are kiwis and strawberries.
The original Caipirinha has been changed to such an extent that cachaca was replaced with various kinds of alcohol, such as vodka, rum, Portuguese liqueur or Campari. Thus, Caipirissima, Caipirao, respectively CaipirItaly were born.
Still, the original recipe always uses cachaca, which is very similar to brandy. Cachaca, or sugarcane alcohol, is in fact a unique product. It is not truly a brandy and, although sometimes it is incorrectly called “rum”, its flavor and taste are nothing like those of rum. To Brazilian people, pinga is the equivalent of cachaca, and it is sometimes preferred to the latter. Cachaca is often consumed on its own by many Brazilian natives and it is accustomed to spill just a few drops of cachaca “for the saints”.
Cachaca is obtained from the first pressing of sugarcane; the juice is filtrated and left to ferment, after it has been mixed with a leavening agent (certain types of cereals). The fermentation lasts between one and three days, after which the sugarcane juice goes through distillation, cooling and filtering processes before becoming cachaca and being used for obtaining Caipirinha. Only after the second distillation is the juice called cachaca (cachaca boa) and the product can be bottled (or aged).
The cachacas found on the market contain between 40% and 48% alcohol, which makes Caipirinha a pretty strong drink.
If the cachaca is aged, this results in a smoother taste and a pleasant color (yellow/caramel). The time involved in the aging process may differ depending on many factors, such as the size of the barrel, the humidity and temperature conditions in the room, as well as the kind of wood the barrel is fabricated from; but, in order for them to be called “aged”, all cachacas must stay in the barrels for at least one year. In Brazil they say “uanto pior a cachaça, melhor a caipirinha”, or in translation ”the worse the cachaça, the better the caipirinha”, therefore most experts believe that non aged, clear white cachaca is best to use in caipirinha.
The processes through which cachaca is obtained affect the taste of the Caipirinha cocktail, since it is the main ingredient of the drink.
Caipirinha origin and history
There are no known “historical” facts about Caipirinha. There is no certainty regarding the year when or the exact location where the very first Caipirinha was made. It is world renowned Brazilian national drink. In the old days, Caipirinha was much more than a great cocktail. It was also used for medical purposes, such as soothing a sore throat or alleviating common symptoms of cold and flu. To this day, the knowledge of making Caipirinha is widely spread around Brazil and many Brazilian seniors still use Caipirinha for its healing qualities. “Medical” Caipirinha is a mix that contains lime juice, honey and of course cachaca.
Caipirinha is one of the most popular drinks in Brazil, but it is a mix that for many years has been popular only within the borders of its native country. Recently, the popularity of Caipirinha has grown, even to the extent where Caipirinha is on the list of “Official Cocktails”, a list created by The International Bartenders Association. Caipirinha owns its growing popularity to the increasing product of cachaca. Brazil alone produces over 2 billion liters of cachaca on a yearly basis. Of those 2 billion liters, only 400 million are exported. This leaves 1.6 billion liters for Brazil alone, which stands for about 3 gallons per persons (including men, women and even children).
What a great drink! Don’t drive after you drink few of these
I thought the brown sugar is the most correct way of making caipirinha.
This is the best recipe so far
Nice, very nice piece on a great drink. Love it all!
I just love caipirinha, great recipe, i don’t have a shaker so i just pour cachaca over the ice cubes and stir it well