Place lime and sugar into a double old fashioned glass and muddle gently. Fill the glass with cracked ice and add Cachaça. Stir gently to involve ingredients.
Known and consumed nationally and internationally, caipirinha is one of the most famous components of Brazilian cuisine, being the most popular national recipe worldwide[3] and often considered the best drink in the country[4] and one of the best cocktails/drinks in the world, having reached third place in 2024, according to the specialized website TasteAtlas.[5]
Although the origin of the drink is unknown, there is a consensus in the academic community that Caipirinha was invented in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1918.[9] Some accounts say it came about around 1918 in the region of Alentejo in Portugal, with a popular recipe made with lemon, garlic, and honey, indicated for patients with the Spanish flu. Another account is that Caipirinha is based on Poncha, an alcoholic drink from Madeira, Portugal.[10] The main ingredient is aguardente de cana, which is made from sugar cane. Sugar cane production was switched from Madeira to Brazil by the Portuguese as they needed more land to plant it on. Before this people in Madeira had already created aguardente de cana, which was the ancestor to cachaça.[11]
Today, it is still used as a tonic for the common cold. Commonly, practitioners add some distilled spirits to home remedies to expedite the therapeutic effect. Aguardente was commonly used. "Until one day, someone decided to remove the garlic and honey. Then added a few tablespoons of sugar to reduce the acidity of the lime. The ice came next, to ward off the heat," explains Carlos Lima, executive director of IBRAC (Brazilian Institute of Cachaça).[12][13]
According to historians, the caipirinha was invented by landowning farmers in the region of Piracicaba, the interior of the State of São Paulo during the 19th century as a local drink for 'high standard' events and parties (parties at Barão de Serra Negra palace), a reflection of the strong sugarcane culture in the region.[14] Original recipe use a kind of Lemon called "galeguinho", a small yellow/green lemon very common in São Paulo countryside houses' backyards. Currently, it is made with a bigger green lemon called Tahiti lemon, a specie of lemon more spread around the country markets.
The caipirinha is the strongest national cocktail of Brazil,[15] and is imbibed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. Once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink became more popular and more widely available in recent years, in large part due to the rising availability of first-rate brands of cachaça outside Brazil.[16] The International Bartenders Association designated it as one of its Official Cocktails, as a Contemporary Classic.[8]
Name
The word caipirinha is the diminutive of the word caipira, which in Brazilian Portuguese refers to someone from the countryside (specifically, someone from the rural parts of south-central Brazil), similar to US Englishhillbilly or the Lowland Scots teuchter. Caipira is a two-gender noun. The diminutive mostly refers to the drink, in which case it is a feminine noun.
Variations
Although Brazilian law (Decree 6.871[17] based on Normative Ruling 55, from Oct. 31, 2008)[18] as well as the International Bartenders Association (IBA)[8] allow the use of the name caipirinha for the version with lime only, the term is often used to describe any cachaça-and-fruit-juice drink with the fruit's name (e.g., a passionfruit caipirinha, kiwifruit caipirinha or strawberry caipirinha).[19][20][21][22]
Having great popularity around the world, countless variations of this drink are known. In some regions, brown sugar is used instead of refined sugar. Even in Brazil, variants with artificial sweeteners or a wide variety of fruits can be found. Furthermore, cachaça is sometimes replaced by vodka (caipiroska, trademark registered by Smirnoff), Licor Beirão (known as caipirão), rum (caipiríssima, trademark registered by Bacardi), sake "Caipirinhas" (saquerinha) or wine (caipivinho) are also made.[23] In Cape Verde, caipirinha is also prepared with grog, a strong local rum.[24][25]
Derivations
There are many derivations of caipirinha in which other spirits are substituted for cachaça. Some include:
Caipiroska is the usual alternative, made with vodka[26]
^Garcia, Roosevelt (2022-01-20). "A caipirinha faz 100 anos" [The caipirinha turns 100 years old]. vejasp.abril.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
^Ferrareze, Ana. "A história da caipirinha" [The history of caipirinha]. revistacasaejardim.globo.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2012-12-02. Até que um dia alguém resolveu tirar o alho e o mel. Depois, acrescentaram umas colheres de açúcar para reduzir a acidez do limão. O gelo veio em seguida, para espantar o calor [Until one day, someone decided to remove the garlic and honey. Then added a few tablespoons of sugar to reduce the acidity of the lime. The ice came next, to ward off the heat]
^Rodrigues, Rafael. "CAIPIRINHA". drinquepedia.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2013-09-27.
^(in Portuguese) Cascudo, Luis da Camara (2006). "Prelúdio da cachaça" - Global Editora
^Willey, Rob (February 2006). "Everyday with Rachael Ray". Cane and Able. Retrieved 2007-01-14. The caipirinha—a sour-sweet combination of crushed limes, sugar, and cachaça— become the darling of American bartenders, and first-rate cachaça is at last finding a place on American liquor-store shelves.
^"CAIPIRINHA DE MARACUJÁ" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Destilaria de Cachaça Maison Leblon. 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2021-04-27.