Classics Series: Caipirinha
To continue Rum Week 2017, we’ll be making a caipirinha (pronounced kai-pee-reen-ya), which is Brazil’s national cocktail. This simple but potent drink is made with cachaça (pronounced ka-shah-suh), lime, and sugar. Cachaça is a clear rum made from fermented sugar cane juice and has a unique fresh pepper flavor. Although most recipes have similar ratios of ingredients, there are multiple ways of preparing the drink depending on your preference.
Classic Caipirinha Recipe (1 serving)
- 2 oz. cachaça
- 2 tsp. white sugar
- Half a lime, cut into quarters
Equipment
- Cocktail shaker
- Jigger
- Muddler
- Teaspoon measure
- Old fashioned glass, stored in the freezer
Directions
The 3 methods I tried were:
- Built with regular ice – This is the most common method, which involves muddling sugar and lime in a glass, adding the ice, and finishing with the cachaça. The drink starts as spirit forward and it takes 5-10 minutes before the drink hits the right balance in temperature and flavor.
- Built with crushed ice – Using the same method as above, but with crushed ice. The crushed ice waters down the drink too much, so it’s hard to taste the flavors.
- Lightly shaken (preferred) – This is my preferred method, which involves muddling the sugar and lime directly in the shaker, adding the cachaça and ice, and gently shaking a few times. The resulting flavor is what you’ll get with the first method, but without having to wait.
- Cut the limes in half lengthwise (hotdog style) and remove the white pith
- Cut the lime half into quarters and add to the shaker
- Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and vigorously muddle the lime and sugar
- Add the cachaça
- Add 2-3 handfuls of ice into the container and seal the shaker
- Shake gently 5-10 times and pour everything into the glass
- To garnish, cut a lime wedge and place on the edge of the glass
Cheers!
