Quentão Cocktail Recipe
Cachaça simmered with ginger, citrus peel and spices — Brazil's winter festival drink, served steaming.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Irish coffee mug
- ABV: 11%
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep time: ~4 min
Ingredients
- Cachaça60 ml (2 oz)
- Cold water120 ml (4.1 oz)
- Simple syrup30 ml (1 oz)
- Ginger juice20 ml (0.7 oz)
- Cinnamon stick1 piece
- Cloves4 piece
How to Make It
- Simmer the water, syrup, ginger juice and spices for ten minutes with a strip of orange peel.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cachaça.
- Strain into warm mugs.
- Garnish with a fresh strip of orange peel.
Garnish
Orange peel
What it tastes like
The sweetness is pronounced and there is a spiced warmth to it.
The technique
Built in the glass. Ice goes into the serving glass, the ingredients go on top, and you stir once if at all. Anything carbonated goes in LAST and never gets stirred; every turn of the spoon costs you bubbles. Fill the glass to the rim with ice: less ice melts faster, not slower.
Glass and ice
A handled, thick-walled Irish coffee mug. Built for hot drinks: the handle protects your hand and the thick glass holds the heat. Warming it with hot water first noticeably changes the first sip.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Cold water
- Seeing it in a recipe is not a mistake: in spirit-forward drinks, measuring the dilution instead of leaving it to the ice is what makes the result repeatable.
- Simple syrup
- One part sugar to one part water, stirred until it dissolves — no need to boil it. Keeps a month in the fridge. No syrup? Use the same amount of honey, loosened with a little water.
- Cinnamon stick
- A cinnamon stick is aroma, not decoration: it steeps in a hot drink, and in a cold one it is rubbed along the rim to leave its scent.
The Story
Poured at the Festas Juninas every June, which fall in the Brazilian winter — the drink exists because the nights are actually cold there.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Quentão mixed?
- It is built in the glass and served in an Irish coffee mug.
- How strong is a Quentão?
- Roughly 11% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Quentão 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 Quentão hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.