This is the classic Brazilian summer cocktail, best served from a hut on Copacabana beach surrounded by sunshine and muscled boys in sungas – the Brazilian speedo. In Brazil the caiprinha is a fun drink, not an SATC style aspirational cocktail, and so it should be drunk with that attitude. It’s made up of cachaca – a kind of Brazilian rum - muddled with sugar and lime. This takes the edge off the liquor, but only slightly! The guys at Sagatiba very kindly sent us over a bottle of their Velha Cachaca, which is an aged version of the spirit, and it went down very smoothly indeed. This can be drunk neat, as you would with a whiskey or brandy, but is perfect for cocktails too. We all started with caiprinhas but then also added a splash of Guarana. This is Brazil’s most popular soft drink and comes from the guarana berry; very sweet and fizzy. If you put a soft drink into the cachaca/lime mix, it turns into more of a batida, but quite delicious too!
CAIPIRINHA X 1
25ml cachaca (Sagatiba Velha)
1 lime
2 dessert spoonfuls of sugar
Ice
Quarter the limes and put into a strong glass. Add the sugar. Crush the limes with a ‘muddler’ and see the sugar dissolve into the lime juice. Add the cachaca. Stir and then add the ice. The best way to serve is actually to pour over crushed ice but as I was limited to blocks, I used the method just mentioned.
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