Caipirinha Recipe
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The Caipirinha is made with a base of cachaça, a 500-year-old, sugar cane-derived spirit. Combine the popularity of the Martini and the Cosmopolitan, and you have Brazil’s national drink—the Caipirinha, or Cachaça Sour. The Portuguese word politely translates as “little man from the country,” or, less politely, as “yokel.” The Caipirinha is drunk from lunch until bedtime, which may come sooner than anticipated. It has been popular throughout Brazil for longer than anyone can remember, which is not a surprise, given the potency of the drink and the frequency with which it is drunk.
Cachaça is a spirit akin to rum in that it is made from unrefined sugar, but the similarity stops there. Cachaça is a sharper, tart liquor that is tamed into seduction when muddled with lime and sugar.
Brazil, being consistently more temperate—if not downright more sultry—than other parts of the world, offers the ideal climate for sipping a Caipirinha and watching the rest of the world go by. The first warm days of spring through the end of summer are best suited for this refreshing drink.
The Caipirinha is a down-to-earth, honest drink that requires no ostentation. A good old-fashioned glass is all you need. The Caipirinha will do the rest. Until recently, only two brands of cachaça were generally available outside of Brazil: Pitú and Toucano. While not as complex, Pitú has a brashness and joviality that is more common to the Caipirinha found on the streets of Rio. Stick with regular granulated sugar, which will properly... read more
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 4 Key limes, halved and seeded, or 2 small, juicy limes, quartered
- 2 ounces cachaça
- Sprinkle the sugar over the limes, and muddle them in the mixing glass part of a Boston shaker until the sugar is dissolved and the lime juice is released. Pour an old-fashioned glassful of cracked ice into the mixing glass, add the cachaça, and shake to incorporate. Return all the contents to the old-fashioned glass.
Variations:
Caipirissima: Use rum in place of the cachaça.
Caipirosca: Use vodka in place of the cachaça.
This recipe, while from a trusted source, may not have been tested by the CHOW food
team.
Copyright Quirk Books
Just to say that if you really can't find cachaca anywhere near you, Brazilians sometimes substitute vodka (making it a caipiroska) or rum (making it a caipirissima). It's not quite the same but it'll do at a pinch!
The other thing I'd recommend trying is adding a little fresh mint to the limes before you muddle them like they do here (http://www.therealbrazil.com/guide/br...) - it gives it a little hint of a mojito!
This thread made me thirsty. I keep some Ypioca Crystal in the bar, but am out of limes, so I grabbed a sweet orange from my tree and made an orange Caipirinha (no sugar needed). A lovely variation.
To the person who said 51 or Pitu are the ONLY cachaça's to use, well -- this is simply wrong.
1st - Both of these brands can give you a nasty hangover and headache if you have more than one or two. It is true they are the most common brands. Think the difference between well and shelf liquor and you get the idea.
2. -- It is perfectly acceptable and fairly common for Brazilians to order caipirinhas with a better cachaça. I prefer Germana, from Minas Gerais where all the best cachaças come from, but I also like Triunfo (from Pernambuco, where I currently live). Ypióca, from Ceara, is okay if you get their 'gold' version but it's not fantastic.
It is true that there are a great deal of artisinal cachaças that are intended for sipping like a good bourbon, and are not meant to be mixed into a caipirinha. Particularly the darker blends. But to say that you should only use 51 or Pitu is not only very inaccurate, it's also cutting you off from a whole dimension of subtleties available with this fine drink.
A nice variation is to add a spoonful of brown sugar to add extra depth and flavour. Some other interesting alternatives to the usual Caipirinha recipe can be found here:
http://www.mixshakeandpour.com/nindex...
That seems like a lot of limes for 2oz of liquor!
Yeah stay away from the darker stuff for mixing. Some places will try and push it for a "higher end" mixed drink, but it just ends up tasting off. In response to drbuss's comment, I tried Leblon a few days ago here in New York, and was actually pretty surprised. It makes for a really smooth drink, and it goes down dangerously easy ;) Before that, I mostly had caips with 51, and the Leblon was waaay better.
Second on the brown sugar suggestion. The real stuff is made with cane sugar, if you can find it.
I've tried this with Pitu, but honestly, I prefer Janeiro, which I've bought here in Chicago at a Caribbean grocery. Whose idea was it to add mint to a caipirinha?? I'm a purist: just superfine sugar or syrup, limes, a muddler, some ice, and cachaca. Leave the squeezed lime sections in. And yeah, it really IS easy to have way too many of these on a balmy afternoon ... dangerous, but tasty!
Brazil, being consistently more temperate
best with brown sugar, has a "dirty" look, but tastes best..
The only types of cachaça that you should use for making caipirinha are the cheapo stuff - either Pitu or Pirassunuga 51. This company Leblon is trying to market itself as a more upscale version for mixing, but I'm not convinced that it's any better than the two I mentioned above. Anything aged or darker in color is made for sipping and appreciation of its subtle flavors, which get canceled out when you mix it, not to mention that you pay way more for it too.
We make these all the time. In the Boston area it's easy to find cachaça and a large liquor store will often have several brands to choose from. Out in the suburbs, though, we have struck out, so it depends where you are. Our favorite brand is 51, which we tried on the recommendation of a liquor store employee. He said that it was the most popular. It is delicious and it's the one we buy most often (about $17 around here). We have tried others with varying results. In our opinion 21 runs a close second in taste and can be a bit cheaper.
We make these all the time. In the Boston area it's easy to find cachaça and a large liquor store will often have several brands to choose from. Out in the suburbs, though, we have struck out, so it depends where you are. Our favorite brand is 51, which we tried on the recommendation of a liquor store employee. He said that it was the most popular. It is delicious and it's the one we buy most often (about $17 around here). We have tried others with varying results. In our opinion 21 runs a close second in taste and can be a bit cheaper.
Bevmo actually had about seven different kinds of cachaca -- I'm going to have to figure out how to do that fancy 'c' -- ranging in price from 13.99 to 25.99. I had no idea which one to choose so went for a mid-range priced one called Ypioca Crystal. Any suggestions on which brands are best? And yes, it sure would be nice to pay Brazilian prices.
I have also never seen one without the lime pieces left in the glass. The most depressing thing about this drink is that the bottle of cachaça that will cost you about $20 here in the states costs only about $1.75 in Brazil. The second most depressing thing is that there are a lot of cachaças to choose from in Brazil, but you will be lucky if you find 3 to choose between here.
Well, that's quite the spirit... just like martinis, some shake it, some stir it... I prefer mine shaked.
But Rob, I don't know the size of key limes, but they look not very different from our limão galego (Citrus aurantifolia), and I think 4 limes for one glass is too much (it usually takes one lime for each drink, sometimes less). I suggest that you remove the white core frome the lime, because it gets too bitter. The idea is to macerate the limes with sugar, so as to release the aromatic juices from pulp and peel, then add the cachaça and ice. And yes,we keep the lemon pieces in the glass, because it's tastier and that's the way a caipirinha looks like. BTW, "caipirinha" is a female, so the name e means a little country girl!
Another variation (I love it: persian limes and vodka).
I was just in Rio de Janeiro last week, and delighted to have the opportunity to explore caiprinhas in situ, as it were. In the bars and restaurants where I tried them, the limes were always left in. Naturally I brought some cachaca back with me and tried making them myself for the first time with friends last night, and seemed to do pretty well -- they are so simple. And it's so easy to adjust for different needs for sour or sweet.
I drank these all through Southern Portugal last summer and was thrilled to find the recipe here. They always had lots of the lime in the glass (like the one in the video). I'm running out to go and find some Cachaca right now -- hope it's easily found!
The lime should be left in the glass so it keeps releasing juice as you drink.
The video is pretty acurate, kamem01, minus the shaking, usually we just stir it with a spoon. The only thing missing there is samba in the background...
There's a BYO Brazilian restaurant in northeast Philly called Picanha Brazilian Grill. Last time we were there, we brought along our own bottle of Cachaça and a bag of limes. We gave both to the waitress who brought them to the kitchen where they mixed perfect Caipirinhas for us. Problem was, they kept the refills coming. Whew! That's one mighty powerful drink!
Something very, very interesting on how do make a nice caipirinha:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc...
And actually it looks like very different from the pictures. :o)
This is one of my (and my husband's) favorite summer drinks. Mmmm...
It's the only drink I indulge in really..love it..when I have some mint I use it for a Mojito but it's hard to come by mint on our island.
I find simple syrup works well for caipirinhas and mojitos. I do the muddling and build the drink right in a double old-fashioned glass which fits into the tin of the Boston shaker.
A wonderful variation is to add half of a seedless jalapeno pepper to the mix.
I can't wait to try it!
It helps if you use super-fine granulated sugar as you get a smoother more syrupy texture in the muddling. The sugar they use in Brazil normally seems quite a lot finer than our typical table sugar here in Canada.