Caipirinha Cocktail Recipe
Brazil's national cocktail: cachaça muddled with lime and sugar over ice.
- Category: Contemporary Classics
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 25%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Cachaça60 ml (2 oz)
- Lime (cut in wedges)1 piece
- Sugar2 tsp
How to Make It
- Muddle lime wedges and sugar in a rocks glass.
- Fill with crushed ice.
- Add cachaça and stir well.
- Serve with a straw.
Garnish
Lime wedge
What it tastes like
The citrus acidity leads and it drinks cool and easy.
The technique
Muddling. Fruit, herbs or sugar get pressed at the bottom of the glass. With leaves like mint the goal is to press, not to shred: two or three pushes is plenty, more releases chlorophyll and turns the drink grassy and bitter. Sugar and firm fruit, on the other hand, really do get crushed.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Sugar
- Granulated sugar. It dissolves badly in a cold drink, so either muddle it with a few drops of water first or turn it into syrup to begin with.
The Story
Originated in São Paulo state, evolving from a folk remedy in the early 1900s.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Caipirinha mixed?
- It is muddled and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Caipirinha?
- Roughly 25% ABV as served — a spirit-strength drink — sipped slowly, and it wants a glass of water beside it.
- Can a Caipirinha be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Caipirinha hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.