When I went to Brazil in 2004, I quickly learned about the country’s national drink, the Caipirinha. At every bar and restaurant around town they were serving up the good stuff. Why do Brazilians like Caipirinhas so much? Not only does this drink taste really good, it’s also deceptively strong. The magical ingredients of sugar and lime go a long way to mask the strong taste of the Brazilian Cachaça rum too. Also, this drink served on the rocks is a refreshing way to cool off from the Brazilian heat.
Now that Brazilian Churascarias like Fogo de Chao have become popular in the States and are serving up Caipirinhas in a restaurant near you, I thought I would share this recipe, especially during the economic downturn. Why pay $8 for this delicious drink at Fogo de Chao when you can make all the drinks you want for roughly the cost of only 3 of these tasty drinks at a high dollar restaurant?
Caipirinha Ingredients:
- 1 part cachaca (Cachaça – a sugar cane rum) ***
- 1 part simple syrup (see our how to make simple syrup here)
- 1 regular sized lime or a few of key limes
- ice
- ***Note that Cachaça might be a little hard to find, you’ll probably have to go to a local specialty liquor store to pick some up.
Caipirinha mixing instructions:
- Pour the Cachaça in a glass over ice
- fully squeeze either one regular lime or a few key limes into the drink. Add a couple of lime slices to the glass.
- If the cachaca flavor is too strong, just add more lime and simple syrup
Check out the picture gallery below for a visual.
Happy Fooding!
-Peter
All photos courtesy of Peter Tsai Photography