Caipirinha () is

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's national cocktail, made with

cachaça ''Cachaça'' () is a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as ''pinga'', ''caninha'', and other names, it is the most popular spirit among distilled alcoholic beverages in Brazil.Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os n ...

( sugarcane hard liquor), sugar, and

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

. The drink is prepared by mixing the fruit and the sugar together, then adding the liquor. This can be made in a single large glass to be shared among people, or in a larger jar, from which it is served in individual glasses.

History

Although the origin of the drink is unknown, one account says it came about around 1918 in the region of Alentejo in Portugal, with a popular recipe made with

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

, garlic, and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

, indicated for patients with the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

. Another account is that Caipirinha is based on

Poncha Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from the island of Madeira, made with aguardente de cana (distilled alcohol made from sugar cane juice), honey, sugar, and either orange juice or lemon juice. Some varieties include other fruit juices. ...

, an alcoholic drink from Madeira,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The main ingredient is ''

aguardente (Spanish), or (Portuguese) ( eu, pattar; ca, aiguardent; gl, augardente), is a generic term for alcoholic beverages that contain between 29% and 60% alcohol by volume (ABV). It originates in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) and in I ...

de cana'', which is made from sugar cane. Sugar cane production was switched from Madeira to Brazil by the Portuguese as they needed more land to plant it on. Before this people in Madeira had already created ''aguardente de cana'', which was the ancestor to

. Today, it is still used as a tonic for the common cold. Commonly, practitioners add some

distilled spirits Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard l ...

to home remedies to expedite the therapeutic effect. Aguardente was commonly used. "Until one day, someone decided to remove the garlic and honey. Then added a few tablespoons of sugar to reduce the acidity of the lime. The ice came next, to ward off the heat," explains Carlos Lima, executive director of IBRAC (Brazilian Institute of Cachaça). According to historians, the caipirinha was invented by landowning farmers in the region of

Piracicaba Piracicaba ( or ) is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population is 407,252 (2020) in an area of 1378.07 km². It is at an elevation of 547 m above sea level. Name The place name comes from a word in the Tupi langua ...

, the interior of the

State of São Paulo State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

during the 19th century as a local drink for 'high standard' events and parties (parties at Barão de Serra Negra palace), a reflection of the strong sugarcane culture in the region. Original recipe use a kind of Lemon called "galeguinho", a small yellow/green lemon very common in São Paulo countryside houses backyards. Currently it is made with a bigger green lemon called Tahiti lemon, a specie of lemon more spread around the country markets. The caipirinha is the strongest national cocktail of Brazil,. and is imbibed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. Once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink became 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. The

International Bartenders Association The International Bartenders Association (IBA), founded on 24 February 1951 in the saloon of the Grand Hotel in Torquay, England, is an international organisation established in order to represent the best bartenders in the world. An annual e ...

designated it as one of its Official Cocktails, as a Contemporary Classic.

Name

The word ''caipirinha'' is the diminutive of the word ''

caipira A Caipira () is an ethnic group native to Paulistânia, cultural area in Brazil, the term "''caipira''", of origin in the Paulista General language, probably influenced by the terms "''kai'pira''", "''ka'apir''", "''ka'a pora''" or "''kopira'' ...

'', which in

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...

refers to someone from the countryside (specifically, someone from the rural parts of south-central Brazil), similar to

US English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

'' hillbilly'' or the Lowland Scots ''

teuchter ''Teuchter'' () is a Lowland Scots word commonly used to describe a Scottish Highlander, in particular a Gaelic-speaking Highlander. Like most such cultural epithets, it can be seen as offensive, but is often seen as amusing by the speaker. The ...

''. ''Caipira'' is a two-gender noun. The diminutive mostly-refers to the drink, in which case it is a feminine noun.

Variations

*Although

Brazilian law The law of Brazil is based on statutes and, partly and more recently, a mechanism called ''súmulas vinculantes''. It derives mainly from the civil law systems of European countries, particularly Portugal, the Napoleonic Code and the Germanic l ...

(Decree 6.871 based on Normative Ruling 55, from Oct. 31, 2008) as well as the International Bartenders Association (IBA) 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 with the fruit's 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 The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus '' Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwi ...

passion fruit ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy ...

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

, mango, cajá (Spondias mombin fruit), and caju (cashew fruit).

Derivations

There are many derivations of caipirinha in which other spirits are substituted for cachaça. Some include: *

Caipiroska Caipiroska or caipivodka is a cocktail that is similar to a caipirinha, but prepared with vodka instead of cachaça ''Cachaça'' () is a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as ''pinga'', ''caninha'', and other nam ...

is the usual alternative, made with vodka * Sakerinha is a variant made with

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

* Caipinheger is another variation made using

Steinhäger Steinhäger is a type of German gin, a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. The name is derived from the Westphalian municipality of Steinhagen, the only place where it is permitted to be produced. For centuries, local distilleries sold sc ...

. * Caipirão is another

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

variation made using

Licor Beirão Licor Beirão, commonly simply known as Beirão, is a Portuguese liqueur from the Beira region of Portugal. Originating in the 19th century, it is the most consumed alcoholic spirit in Portugal. Production began in the 19th century in Lous� ...

instead of cachaça; the liquor is very sweet, so no sugar is used. * A variation from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

is made using

Campari Campari () is an Italian alcoholic liqueur, considered an apéritif (20.5%, 21%, 24%, 25%, or 28.5% ABV, depending on the country where it is sold), obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit (including chinotto and cascarilla) in alcohol a ...

instead of cachaça. * Caipirissima is the alternative made with

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

References

External links