Caipirinha

Caipirinha

National cocktail of Brazil
Type	Cocktail
Primary alcohol by volume	Cachaça
Served	On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard garnish	lime
Standard drinkware	Old Fashioned glass
Commonly used ingredients	50 ml (1⅔ fl oz) cachaça ½ Lime cut into 4 wedges (or tahiti lime, but not green lemon) 2 teaspoons crystal or refined sugar
Preparation	Place lime and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle (mash the two ingredients together using a muddler or a wooden spoon). Fill the glass with crushed ice and add the Cachaça.
Notes	A wide variety of fresh fruits can be used in place of lime. In the absence of cachaça, vodka can be used, making a caipiroska.

Caipirinha (Portuguese pronunciation: [kajpiˈɾĩɲɐ]) is Brazil's national cocktail, made with cachaça (pronounced: [kaˈʃasɐ]) (sugar cane rum), sugar (preferably white powdered sugar, or any other sugar, even honey) and lime. Cachaça is Brazil's most common distilled alcoholic beverage (also known as Pinga or Caninha). Both rum and cachaça are made from sugarcane-derived products. Specifically with cachaça, the alcohol results from the fermentation of sugarcane juice that is afterwards distilled.

Popularity

The caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil, and is enjoyed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. Once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink has become 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. The International Bartenders Association has designated it as one of their Official Cocktails.

Name

The word caipirinha is the diminutive version of the word caipira, which refers to someone from the countryside, being an almost exact equivalent of the American English hillbilly. The word may be used as either a masculine or a feminine noun, but when referring to this drink it is only feminine (usage of diminutives is common in Brazil). In the Brazilian vocabulary, the word caipirinha is mostly associated with the drink itself rather than the class of person.

Variations

• The term caipirinha is sometimes used to describe any cachaça-and-fruit-juice drink (e.g. a passionfruit caipirinha, kiwi caipirinha or strawberry caipirinha).
• Caipifruta is a very popular caipirinha drink in Brazil, consisting of cachaça, crushed fresh fruits (either singly or in combination), and crushed ice. The most popular fresh fruits used to create caipifrutas are tangerine, lime, kiwi fruit, passion fruit, pineapple, lemon, grapes, mango, cajá, and caju (cashew fruit).
• Caipisake (made with sake instead of cachaça) is also becoming increasingly popular, most commonly made with strawberries or kiwi.^{[citation needed]}

Derivations

Limes, sugarcane, cachaça and crushed ice are typical ingredients for a Caipirinha

There are many derivations of caipirinha in which other spirits substitute for cachaça. The most well known include:

• The Caipivodka (also known as Caipiroska or Caipiroshka), in which vodka substitutes for cachaça.

• The Caipiroska Negra, Black Caipiroshka or Caipiblack is made with black vodka instead of cachaça.

• Caipiríssima is a caipirinha made with rum instead of cachaça; the word was coined for an advertisement for a popular rum brand in the late '70s.

• Caipifruta is a variation made with cachaça and other fruits instead of lime, typically found in tourist areas like Búzios.

• Caipirão is a recent derivation from Portugal. It's made using the Portuguese liqueur Licor Beirão instead of cachaça.^{[citation needed]}

• CaipirItaly is a variation from Italy. It's made using Campari instead of cachaça.^{[citation needed]}

• Sakeirinha or Caipisakê is a version made with sake.^{[citation needed]}

• Caipinheger is another variation made using Steinhäger.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Cachaça
  • Cocktails with cachaça
  • List of cocktails with cachaça
• Daiquiri – similar Cuban cocktail
• Ti'Punch – similar French Caribbean cocktail
• List of Brazilian dishes
• Sour (cocktail)

External links

• Caipirinha Appreciation Society