Caipirinha

Caipirinha

IBA Official Cocktail
National cocktail of Brazil
Type	Cocktail
Primary alcohol by volume	Cachaça
Served	On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard garnish	sugar cane, lime(ingredient)
Standard drinkware	Old Fashioned glass
IBA specified ingredients*	5 cl cachaça Half a lime cut into 4 wedges 2 teaspoons brown 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.[1]

Caipirinha (Portuguese pronunciation: [kajpiˈɾĩj̃ɐ]) is Brazil's national cocktail, made with cachaça (pronounced: [kaˈʃasɐ]) (sugar cane hard liquor), sugar and lime.^[2] Cachaça is Brazil's most common distilled alcoholic beverage (also known as Pinga or Caninha). Although both rum and cachaça are made from sugarcane-derived products, specifically in cachaça, the alcohol results from the fermentation of fresh sugarcane juice that is afterwards distilled, while rum is usually made from by-products from refineries, such as molasses.^[3]

The drink is prepared by smashing the fruit and the sugar together, and adding the liquor. This can be made into a single glass, usually large, that can be shared amongst people, or into a larger jar, from where it is served in individual glasses.

History

Although the real origin of caipirinha as we know it today is unknown, according to one account it began around 1918 in the state of São Paulo with a popular recipe made with lime, garlic and honey, indicated for patients with the Spanish flu; Today it is still being used as a remedy for the common cold. As it was quite common to add some distilled spirits to home remedies in order to expedite the therapeutic effect, rum was commonly used. "Until one day someone decided to remove the garlic and honey. Then added a few tablespoons sugar to reduce the acidity of lime. The ice came next, to ward off the heat," explains Carlos Lima, executive director of IBRAC (Brazilian Institute of Cachaça).^[4][5]

Popularity

The caipirinha is the strongest national cocktail of Brazil,^[6] and is imbibed 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.^[7] The International Bartenders Association has designated it as one of their Official Cocktails.^[8]

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 or the Lowland Scots teuchter. 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

• Although Brazilian law (Brazilian decree 6.871, from 2009,^[9] based on Normative Ruling 55, from Oct. 31, 2008)^[10] as well as the International Bartenders Association (IBA)^[11] 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 followed by the fruits name (e.g. a passionfruit caipirinha, kiwifruit 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, kiwifruit, passion fruit, pineapple, lemon, grapes, mango, cajá (Spondias mombin fruit), and caju (cashew fruit).
• Caipisake (made with sake instead of cachaça) is also becoming increasingly popular, most commonly made with strawberries or kiwifruit.
• Caipiroska (made with vodka instead of cachaça). Very popular in Finland and Sweden. In Africa this version is also called "Dawa", Swahili for medicine.
• Global variations of the Caipirinha were created to celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil by replacing the sugar with a liqueur or ingredient from each nation's home country ^[12]

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, Caipiroshka or Caipirovka), 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.
• CaipirItaly is a variation from Italy. It's made using Campari instead of cachaça.
• Sakeirinha or Caipisakê is a version made with sake.
• Caipinheger is another variation made using Steinhäger.
• Caipirão is another Portuguese variation made using Licor Beirão instead of cachaça. Beirão liquor is very sweet, so no sugar is used.^[13]

See also

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

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caipirinha.

• Caipirinha at Wikibooks

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