cocktail_pitu

The Rum Howler Blog

(A Website for Spirited Reviews)

Pitú Cachaca

a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)

Posted on July 25, 2013

Cachaca is a spirit similar to (but not quite the same as) rum. The roots of Cachaca predate the distillation of rum stretching back almost 500 years to the early sixteenth century when Portuguese colonists brought cuttings of sugar cane to Brazil. The spirit they created is distilled from the fermented juice of sugar cane. Its popularity in Brazil is enormous as Wikipedia quotes 2007 figures which state 1.5 billion liters of Cachaca are consumed annually in Brazil. The Brazilian consumption alone is high enough that if Cachaca were considered its own spirits category (as perhaps it should be), it would be the ninth largest spirits category in the world.

Pitú Cachaca (which according to the label on the back of my bottle is pronounced Petee-too Kah-sha-sah) is produced by Engarrafamento Pitu Ltda., an eight decade old family run company located within Pernambuco, in northeast Brazil. Their Cachaca is made from the juice of newly harvested sugar cane which is milled to extract the juice, then filtered and fermented before undergoing distillation with the final product rested in marrying tanks to soothe the flavour before bottling.

(I was provided with a sample bottle of the Pitú Cachaca by PMA Canada who are the local importers of the Spirit here in Alberta.)

In the Bottle 4/5

In Brazil, (and in a growing number of places throughout the world) this spirit is recognized by the red Pitú on the label. This creature is sometimes mistaken for a lobster, but it is actually a shrimp-like crustacean which is found in certain Brazilian rivers. One of those Brazilian streams, the Riacho Pitú flows near the production facilities of Pitú Cachaca, and the company chose to name the spirit after the nearby river, and the crustacean which dwells in that stream has become the symbol of their Cachaca.

Pitú is an authentic Brazilian spirit which arrives in the tall clear bottle shown to the left. The back label of the bottle tells us that Cachaca is the Spirit of Brazil, and also provides a recipe for Brazil’s National Cocktail, the Caipirinha.

Note: The spirit is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

In the Glass 8/10

The Cachaca is clear in the glass, and when I tilt and twirl that glass I see that it deposits a light oily film on the inside. The crest of that oily film gives up a multitude of small legs which crawl back down into the spirit quite slowly. The nose is very interesting. Pitú has a warm musty vegetal aroma filled with earthy notes of autumn garden fruits such as broiled squash and oven baked zucchini. Some grassy notes invade the senses as does a light impression of cane syrup and grilled pineapple. As the glass sits, a light building up of white pepper and citrus zest develops in the breezes above the glass as well.

In the Mouth 48.5/60

The initial entry is lightly spicy as I taste white pepper with citrus undertones. Very quickly the musty earthiness of the Pitú Cachaca kicks in as the vegetal flavours remind me of grilled pineapple, sautéed mushrooms and baked butternut squash which are all tainted with dabs of earthy lowland agave. If I stretch my imagination, I believe I taste hints of lemon grass and a small ripple of mint running through the spirit as well.

(Note: I understand the spirit does not contain any agave in its distillation, But there is a very real agave-like flavour that I taste.)

For the uninitiated, this is a rather strange experience as these unfamiliar flavours do not settle easily into a paradigm of cane flavour that is familiar to the average rum enthusiast. I remind myself that this is a different beast than rum, and to be fair, the Cachaca spirit it is not meant to be sipped neat from the glencairn glass as I have just done. Pitú Cachaca is spirit taken directly from the still which is meant to be consumed in a mixed cocktail with fresh fruit. The cocktail of choice in Brazil is the aforementioned Caipirinha, and if I am to get to the bottom of things then I must make some Brazilian style cocktails, and I begin with the Caipirinha!

Once I mix my cocktail, I understand more clearly why this bar drink is the National Cocktail of Brazil. The fresh lime and sugar work wonderfully with the musty vegetal flavours of the Pitú Cachaca, and the result is a warm earthy cocktail full of funky goodness. I can see why everyone in Brazil is crazy over this. Of course I mix a few other cocktails following the Brazilian tradition of mixing fresh fruit and sugar with the Cachaca. I find the spirit remarkably easy to mix with, and you can find the results of my experimentation down below.

In the Throat 12/15

The finish is lightly spicy with more white pepper and citrus zest apparent in the exit than in the delivery. The spice fades quickly however, and I am left with lasting impressions of warm earthy flavours of balsam, baked zucchini, and grilled pineapples. As I indicated earlier, this spirit is not a sipping spirit, however this Cachaca has enough character such that these warm punky flavours easily push through the cocktails I built.

The Afterburn 8/10

Pitú Cachaca is a very different flavour experience. The spirit has a much richer taste profile than I was anticipating, and this flavour appeals to strongly in the cocktail format. My score reflects its strong cocktail character.

If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Cane Spirit Reviews.

Suggested Recipe

Amazing Tickle

(An Arctic Wolf Cocktail)

1 oz Orange Juice

2 teaspoons crystal sugar

Cut the half lemon into four wedges

Squeeze by hand into an old-fashioned glass the juice from the two largest wedges

Place the other two wedges into the glass

Add 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 oz of orange juice

Muddle (mash the ingredients together using a muddler or a wooden spoon)

Add 1 3/4 oz Cachaca

Stir to dissolve the remaining sugar

Fill the glass with crushed ice

Serve with a straw

Cacharita

(a recipe suggested by the makers of Pitú Cachaca)

3/4 oz Triple Sec

3/4 oz fresh lemon juice

1 tsp sugar syrup (optional)

Splash of soda (optional)

Lemon slice for garnish

Chill a cocktail glass and rim the outside with coarse salt

Place the tequila, lime, Triple Sec, and sugar syrup into a metal shaker

Shake until the outside of the shaker frosts

Strain into the chilled cocktail glass

Add a splash of soda if desired

Garnish with Lemon Slice

And of course, I want everyone to remember that the aim of my blog is not to encourage you to drink more spirits … it is to encourage you to drink better spirits.

You may (loosely) interpret the scores as follows.

0-25 A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.

26-49 Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.

50 -59 You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.

60-69 Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.

70-74 Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky. Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.

75-79 You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.

80-84 We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)

85-89 Excellent for sipping or for mixing!

90-94 Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.

95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop

98+ I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal scale as follows:

70 – 79.5 Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)

80 – 89.5 Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)

90 – 95 Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)

95.5+ Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)

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I was introduced to Pitu in Recife (also known as the city of Pernambuco in Pernambuco state), Brazil in 1957.At that time it was a popular drink in the bars served srtaight in a shot glass along with an orange hog plum to clench your teeth on as the burning sets in.

We don’t see many cachacas in North America for comparison, but Pitu is an undistinguished supermarket brand in Brazil. There is a growing industry there in barrel aged, artisanal cachacas that would no doubt merit a higher score from Rum Howler. Let’s hope the Olympics and World Cup inspire some importers to bring them here.

I have a few other brands in the pipeline which hopefully will bring more context to the Cachaca reviews. My sense of the Brazilian marketplace is that it is literally flush with different brands and styles, with hundreds of small distilleries sprinkled throughout the cane growing areas. The challenge for anyone who reviews Cachaca is to try to gain a sense for what this spirit really is about given that only the tiniest fraction of brands is available outside of Brazil.

Top 5 Cachaca Cocktails

Brazil's exquisite rum makes more than just a good caipirinha

Text by Naren Young, photos by Steven Torres

C achaca ("ka-sha-sa"), the national spirit of Brazil, resembles rum but is made from the first pressing of fresh sugarcane juice instead of molasses. As such, cachaca has a rustic earthiness that makes for a wonderful base in many modern cocktails, the most famous of which is the Caipirinha.

Caipirinha de Uva

The Caipirinha ("kye-pur-een-yah") is Brazil's legendary cocktail and it's enjoyed all over the country. Uva is Portuguese for grape. Making this variation on the classic drink is even easier than saying the name: It's a simple mix of crushed lime, sugar, cachaca, ice, and semisweet wine (I prefer Gewürztraminer or Riesling), which adds a lovely grapey-ness and should appeal to wine lovers.

Cachaca is BFF with fresh herbs, and the citrus acids hold up against the sharp sherry wine vinegar.

This was once a popular breakfast staple in Israel. The lime and grape flavors make for perfect lunch partners with the watermelon.

Pearl Button

Bartender John Deragon created this simple and extremely refreshing highball at the New York speakeasy PDT in the East Village. Lillet, a light and fragrant fortified wine from France, gives the drink a lovely and elegant floral note, while the lime juice is the ultimate thirst-quencher.

This simple appetizer is brimming with pungent aromas of charred oregano, an herb that flourishes against the floral Lillet and earthy cachaca.

The high acid and citrus notes from the Limonata cut through the fattiness in the oil as well as the saltiness in the prosciutto. Ideal with a late brunch.

Sangria Blanco

This is my own summer variation on a classic Sangria. It's invigorating but much richer than any traditional version because I add semisweet white wine. This drink also has Pisco, a clear Peruvian brandy, and the gorgeous St. Germain elderflower liqueur, a product taking the cocktail world by storm. The recipe below is designed for a single serving, but it could easily be made in large quantities for a punch bowl.

Cabernet's fruitiness and mouth-puckering tannins always match a bloody steak; the wine's chalkiness also works with the creamy cheese.

What could be more regionally appropriate with Sangria than olives and cheese? The olives bring out the savory nature of the cucumber, sage, and thyme.

Try this instead of a Mimosa: It's a light and cooling sparkling cocktail, perfect for a long and lazy Sunday brunch or a balmy evening by the BBQ. Or both. Apple, lime, and mint don't often make it to the same cocktail shaker, but here the combo works. Add a quality bubbly (Cava would be nice), and you get a very balanced, complex drink.

The dry Champagne will cut through the saltiness of the Parmesan and the herbal notes in the pistou.

Champagne always works with seafood because it has enough acid to cut through the brininess and is a lovely foil to the richness of crab meat.

Bloody Carioca

Carioca is slang for a native of Rio de Janeiro, and this variation on the classic Bloody Mary cocktail uses Brazil's local hooch as a base. The cachaca gives it a bite, while the addition of passion fruit (a local favorite in Brazil) adds a touch of zing. Note: Too many Bloody Marys are overly thick; this recipe really thins it out and livens it up.

The sharpness of the raw onion and watercress stands up to the meaty sauces and spices in the drink.

The spice in the drink and the spice from the harissa paste work well together. Hell, you could even add some harissa to the cocktail.

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Cocktail pitu

VocГЄ Г© maior de 18 anos?

O verão é a estação mais esperada do ano.

Momento de muita alegria, mГєsica, festa e diversГЈo.

Dias de contemplar o nascer do sol, o pГґr do sol e tudo que existe entre eles.

O verГЈo Г© o espelho do espГ­rito Brasileiro.

E com PitГє, o seu verГЈo Г© eterno.

A PitГє Г© uma das empresas de bebidas mais tradicionais do Brasil. Sua sede estГЎ localizada em VitГіria de Santo AntГЈo, Pernambuco, no Nordeste do paГ­s, uma regiГЈo onde a alegria e o clima tropical sГЈo predominantes o ano inteiro.

No início de 1930, quando os fundadores da empresa começaram a produzir a Cachaça, havia um riacho de nome PITU que atravessava as plantações de cana de açúcar da região de Vitória de Santo Antão. Este nome era devido à existência de grande quantidade do crustáceo PITU na região. Assim, os fundadores da empresa decidiram homenagear o crustáceo, dando nome de PITÚ à sua Cachaça.

O rГіtulo atual da PitГє tem a mesma ideia artГ­stica apresentada por Henrique de Holanda, amigo da famГ­lia que desenvolveu o primeiro rГіtulo em 1944, apresentando a figura do camarГЈo e perpetuando o sГ­mbolo da empresa.

Fundada em 1938 pelas famílias Ferrer de Morais e Cândido Carneiro, o Engarrafamento Pitú Ltda conta com uma gestão familiar conduzida pela quarta e quinta geração das duas famílias. Isso fez com que o negócio atravessasse décadas e se transformasse em sinônimo de Cachaça no Brasil e no mundo.

Internacionalmente, a Pitú foi pioneira nas exportações. Na década de 70 já começou a exportar para o mercado europeu e na década de 80 para os EUA. Sendo hoje, presente em mais de 50 países e reconhecida como uma das marcas de cachaça mais consumida no mundo. Hoje a Pitú fabrica mais de 90 milhões de litros por ano, que se apresentam nas versões tradicional, perfeita para se consumir pura ou na caipirinha, como Pitú-cola, produto inovador e refrescante, e também na sua versão Premium, a PItú Gold e na sua versão mais nobre, a Pitú Vitoriosa, que é uma homenagem a sua cidade natal, Vitória de Santo Antão. A Pitú e líder no mercado Nordestino, no mercado Internacional e vice líder no mercado Nacional.

Pernambuco é um estado brasileiro culturalmente rico, considerado como terra da Cachaça e do Carnaval. A Cachaça pernambucana tem como sua maior representante a Pitú. O Carnaval pernambucano é referência de público grande e de festa animada, sendo representado pelo Galo da Madrugada, considerado o maior bloco de rua do planeta. Pernambuco tem orgulho de suas tradições e conserva a Cachaça e o Carnaval como duas grandes delas até hoje.

A PitГє Г© a marca lГ­der de vendas na regiГЈo Nordeste, a segunda no Brasil e a mais exportada.

Foi pioneira nas exportações. Na década de 70, começou a exportar para a Europa e, na década de 80, para a América do Norte.

Atualmente, está presente em mais de 50 países e é reconhecida como uma das marcas de Cachaça mais consumidas no mundo.

Segundo a publicação IWSR (International Wine and Spirit Research) , a Cachaça Pitú está entre as vinte maiores marcas de destilados no mundo.

SГЈo mais de 90 milhГµes de litros de PitГє produzidos todos os anos.

LГ­der absoluta na regiГЈo Nordeste.

PITU VITORIOSA - Gold Medal 2016

Gold Quality Award 2015

WSA Doble-Gold 2013

WSA Gold 2013

ISC – Gold 2013

WSC – Silver 2013

WSC – Gold 2013

TSB – Gold 2010

Site PitГє Brasil

Facebook PitГє Brasil

Site PitГє Internacional

Facebook PitГє Internacional

Site PitГє Europa

Av. ГЃurea Ferrer De Moraes, S/N

Vitória de Santo Antão – PE – Brasil 55607-010

fale conosco em

+55 81 3523 8000

©2014 Pitu Engarrafamento Ltda • Todos os direitos reservados.

Cachaca-based cocktail recipes

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend well, pour into a wine glass, and serve.

Blend with 1 cup of ice until smooth and pour into a wine glass.

Combine ingredients in a blender. Strain into a large highball glass over crushed ice, and serve.

Pour over crushed ice in a large highball glass. Stir, and serve.

Pour over crushed ice in a large highball glass. Stir, and serve.

Blend well and add crushed ice.

Combine ingredients in a blender. Strain into a large highball glass over crushed ice, and serve.

4 oz fresh chopped mangos

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend well, pour into a wine glass, and serve.

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend well, pour into a wine glass, and serve.

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wheel, and serve.

10 small, sliced mangos

Add small slices of mango to a hurricane glass. Pour the cachaca, banana liqueur and mango juice in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well, and strain into the glass. Add the Kahlua coffee liqueur. Garnish with a sliced banana and a cherry, and serve.

Muddle the sugar into the lime wedges in an old-fashioned glass. Fill the glass with ice cubes. Pour the cachaca into the glass. Stir well.

Blend ingredients together with crushed ice in a shaker or blender. Pour into a large highball glass over crushed ice, and serve.

Shake well over ice cubes in a shaker, and strain into a large highball glass. Fill with crushed ice, and serve.

Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Pour over crushed ice in a fancy glass.

Shake with ice. Strain.

Shake with ice and pour into a tumbler with crushed ice.

Shake cachaca and juice with ice, and pour into a collins glass. Add galliano, and serve.

Shake well over crushed ice in a shaker, and strain into a large highball glass over crushed ice. Serve.

AboutBrasil, your starting point in Brazil

The 10 Best Cocktails with Cachaça - Brazil's favourite liquor

cachaca cocktail

drink made of Cachaça

Preparation: Mix the cachaca and juice in a shot glass and serve straight. In some places the juice is replaced by a slice of cashew, which is placed on the tonque and swallowed together with a shot of Cachaça.

Preparation: First mix milk with the condensed milk until it blends. Add Cachaça and let it rest in the refrigerator. Add the cocoa licor right before serving.

cachaca, the Brazilian national spirit

Preparation: Mix the sugar and fruit slices in a mixing glass and squeeze to have juice, add ice, guava juice and Cachaça, mix again. Serve in a highball glass.

Preparation: Shake with ice and pour into a cocktail glass with crushed ice.

Preparation: Shake all ingredients well over ice cubes in a shaker. Serve in a highball glass, filled with crushed ice.

Preparation: mixing and serving in a shot glass

Preparartion: The sugar is first caramelized with the spices, ginger and the peels. This mixture is then boiled with water, approx. 10 minutes, then the Cachaça is added and boiled for approx. another 5 minutes. Serve in a mug.

Preparation: Blend all ingredients together with ice in a shaker or blender. Serve in a poco grande glass (or highball glass) over crushed ice and garnish with a pineapple wedge.

Preparation: Shake (or blend if using chunks of fresh fruits) all ingedients and serve over ice (in a highball, oldfashioned or martini glass).

Caipirinha

Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail

Preparation: Put the lime in an oldfashioned glass and add the sugar. Squeeze the limes with a muddler (called 'bastonete' or 'pilão'), so the juice mixes with the sugar. Then, fill up the glass with crushed ice and add the Cachaça. Serve the caipirinha with 2 short straws. Saúde !

Recipe for a Caipirinha Cocktail - the Famous Cachaca Drink From Brazil

Introduction: Recipe for a Caipirinha Cocktail - the Famous Cachaca Drink From Brazil

My version of the Caipirinha cocktail: delightfully refreshing and powerfully alcoholic drink based on cachaca.

Step 1: Some Information, Ingredient List and Required Tools

• a jigger for measuring (I cannot be held responsible for anyone "free handing")
• cachaca
• lime(s)
• teaspoon measure
• coarse sugar
• ice cubes
• muddler, aka pestle aka "mashing stick"
• short, wide glass(es) (Old Fashioned type)
• sharp knife and cutting board
• short straw(s)

Step 2: Rinse and Dry the Limes

Start by rinsing and drying the lime(s). (I'm not usually drinking alone so I wash several.)[[BR]]

Since you do not remove the rinds from the drink, the skin should be clean - at least peel the fruit stickers off![[BR]]

(BTW, I'm taking the photographs while Mrs. Caipirinha does the actual work here.)

Step 3: Remove Some of the Rind

Remove the thicker rind top and bottom ends and any unsightly blemishes.

Step 4: Pith Removal

Half the limes with a knife and cut a "V" groove to remove the center pithy part from each half. (You don't want her/him to complain their drink is full of pith!)

Step 5: Cut Into Small Pieces

Slice each lime half into 8 pieces

Step 6: Place Pieces in Glass

Depending on the size of the lime, its juiciness and your serving size, place 1/2 to all of the lime into a short, wide glass. I don't recommend a tall tumbler since you are going to "get a little rough" with the lime pieces soon and need room to mash.

Step 7: Add Coarse Sugar

Add 3 teaspoons of coarse sugar. Here I usually use 1 teaspoon of coarse (to aid grinding the limes) and 2 teaspoons of ordinary granular sugar (to hasten dissolving/sweetening - plus I'm cheap).

Step 8: Muddle (what a Great Word!)

Muddle, grind, pulverize, mash those lime pieces right in the glass with a "mashing stick". During the early days I used a "wooden thing in the drawer" that turned out to be a tart shell pastry shaper. Now, thanks to my daughter who returned from Germany with an official Pitu brand muddler, I can mash and muddle with the best of them. This wooden device has a nice handle and knurled bottom face.[[BR]]

What you find to mash with is obviously up to you but the purpose is to get the juice out of the lime pieces and at the same time release some of the sour citrus oil from the rind. Leave it all in the glass.

Step 9: Crushed Ice

Now you'll need finely crushed ice. For those schmucks that don't have an automatic machine (like me), here's what I find efficient: a thick plastic bag and a hammer.[[BR]]

Place 4 large ice cubes into a thick plastic bag. In Ontario, our milk comes in bags perfectly sized for this. Let the air out of the bag and on a flat surface, whack the ice/bag with a hammer to get very small ice pieces/water. The hammer held by the young lady is a meat tenderizer and the flat side works great.

Step 10: Add Ice to the Glass

Now simply pick up the bag and pour ice contents into the glass. You can avoid dumping half the ice on the counter by holding the bag's open end to form a smaller exit hole and shake the closed end.

Step 11: Add More Sugar and the Cachaça

Add a final teaspoon of coarse sugar and pour 1 to 2 ounces of cachaça over the ice

Step 12: Add a Straw and Stir

Serve with a short straw (bendy type or whatever you have, but a straw is important).[[BR]]

Step 13: The Environmentally Friendly Drink!

When you get to the bottom and begin making disgusting slurp noises, remove the straw and tip the glass up to get every last drop, toss the lime remnants into the composter and repeat!

Step 14: Cheers!

There are some who will balk at the complexity/time of preparation. To those I would say stick to your mass produced, artificially coloured and flavoured liquids where you simply "snap a cap". This drink is about standing around the kitchen, yacking, savouring its taste and is sibling to the "Slow Food" movement.

58 Comments

0nly had some Pitu [same as the brand you show] at the local grab. I have read about this drink an decided to give it a go. It is 'tart', but not too much to make it a deal breaker. The only 'raw' sugar I could find locally was a coarse grain Turbinado Cane Sugar and of course the garden variety limes. On the net have found where folks use lemons but don't think that lemons are the 'real deal'. any way thanks for the recipe and photos.

so a caipriniha can be made w/any fruit or liquor, and still be called a caipriniha unlike a marguerita has to have tequila, or some drinks have to have gin.like an authentic Martini, unless it is a vodka martini, a Harvey Wallbanger is orange juice and Galiano. made with vodka it is a screwdriver. or a brandy alexander should use brandy. or those drinks made w/rum that have different names depending on the mixers. what is in a name. as once stated "a rose by any other name is still a rose"

No, it must be made from cachaca. For example, when made with vodka it is called a "Caipiroska". I think any sour citrus can make up the fruit part though and there is always a discussion of what a lemon or lime actually describes and it depends on the country you are in.

I haven't had a chance to make the drink yet but wanted to say thanks. That is an outstanding shirt to instructable in.

I am doing New Years Eve. When trying this in Portugal it was made in a large jug and then poured. The lady in this article is well qualified to make this. Beware, the Brazilians drink this at carnival, We ended up skinny dipping in our villa, inhibitions are lowered, looking forward to New Years eve.

I am brazilan and speak a little english, but, i want help you , about the caipirinha, any fruit cítrica is poossible to make a caipirinha ok.

thanks my dears.

Although this traditional caipirinha recipe is pretty delicious and I do try it all the time, sometimes I get tired of lime. I have been mixing a lot of different variations of caipirinha lately. Using different liquors like vodka and even sake. I've also been testing out different types of fruits. I've found some nice recipes here: http://www.caipirinharecipes.com/category/caipirin.

I'm still looking for a good cachaça brand though, since pitu and 51 are really considered low grade in Brazil.

First drink happiness,second dancing samba,third speak portuguese,fourth dancing samba without music,fifth u come back to neighbours home. cachaca is a perfect apperitif

It is cool in summer.

1: Grinding is intended and the point of the muddling. Some people prefer it without grinding, but the original recipe calls for grinding (therefore coarse sugar).

I am really confused by you guys' exchange. You say that it isn't limes, but lemons, and then you say that it is actually persian limes.

Persian limes are the most common fruit sold as limes in North America, with key limes coming in second. It looks to me like that is a persian lime on the cutting board of the picture. Am I missing something?

Lime is Limão in english. Lemon is Lima in portuguese. This confusion is common. Lime is green, lemon is yellow. Limão é verde e lima é amarela.

Lime is lima in English. Lemon is limão in Portuguese. Your confusion is common. The source of the confusion is one single specific species, the Persian Lime, which in Portuguese is called a limão. Every other species of lime is called lima in Portuguese, every other species of limão is called lemon in English. Please do some research before spreading misconceptions.

Lalo, may be in Portugal, but in Brasil, Persian Lime is known in Brasil as Lima da Pérsia, Limão is green in Brasil and in english the green fruit is called lime. Please, look at my blog 1000caipirinhas.blogspot.com where you will see several videos from Youtube where people name those fruits accordingly. Thanks for noting that in other portuguese speaking places there can be differences.

I'm Brazilian, I've never set foot in Portugal. Persian lime is known in Brazil as limão taiti. I've never heard of “lima da Pérsia”. The fact that you have a blog doesn't mean you have facts. again, please do some research before you spread misconceptions.

Espero que tenha gostado do meu comentário colocado abaixo onde consegui tirar suas dúvidas sobre as diferenças entre lima da persia, limão taití, e lima. Um abraço!

Não vejo comentário abaixo, e eu não tenho dúvida nenhuma pra tirar, não sei de onde você tirou essa “informação” toda.

Na verdade também é conhecido por limão siciliano. Nomes populares. quem sabe

It's also known as sicilian lemon. Popular names. who knows.

Actually man, The lemons make the drink wayy too bitter. The best way to do it would be to peel off a lime, then slice it and crush it with a pestle. And the real one uses limes, but in brazil, we call them "Limão" and what you guys call lemons we call "Lima".

The lemons make the drink as bitter as it's supposed to be, since the drink is made with lemons and not limes. If it's too bitter, you're not using the right amount of sugar, or cachaça, or not doing it correctly.

Lalo, you are correct, limão is not lime. But my point is to make sure people do not mistake lime and lemon, as in portuguese we use lime (Citrus latifolia (yu. tanaka) tanaka ) to make caipirinhas. And we usually use the word lima to name Citrus xlimon that is called lemon in english.

check these links:

Citrus xlimon (lima)

I absolutely love this drink, thanks for posting the instructions. :) I was also introduced to it in Germany!

You can look at 1000caipirinhas.blogspot.com to check for several recipes and variations on this drink. I hope you enjoy!

I wanted to pass along some information that first time caipirinha makers might find helpful.

If you want a lot of caipirinha recipes please, take a look at: 1000caipirinhas.blogspot.com this is a video colection of caipirinha recipes with several variations!

Yum. Thanks for the instructions, I want to make this and this a great tutorial! Have you tried it with brown sugar? That's the only way I've had it, and it is delicious.

Great idea! I was thinking of whether this would turn out OK with regular old granulated sugar (since I don't have the rough stuff right now, and live in Belgium, and am not sure how easy sugar-in-the-raw would be to get in a Belgian supermarket), but using brown is a fascinating alternative. Thanks! :)

If you still want to use coarse sugar, it is also called turbinado sugar.

In several places in Brazil caipirinha is made with brown sugar. But not the very raw one but the one we call demerara sugar. The taste matches with the cachaça very well.

Very good recipe. Very complete and correct. I have a blog with a collection of videos in Youtube that teaches how to prepare a caipirinha or a variation on a caipirinha. You will find there that despite there is this standard as teached in this post above, there are several nice variations. I hope you check my blog and enjoy! Not only the serious recipes but also the crazy ones.

Where are the lemons?

Caipirinha can be made with Cachaça,Pinga, Aguardente, Vodka, Sake or Rum. I've done them with limes(lemons don't taste so good), Pineapples, Kiwii, Strawberries, Watermelons and, my favourite, Tropical mix(every juicy fruit you may happen to have in your fridge). Cheers from São Paulo-Brasil

Great instructable sounds like a great adult beverage, i will be face first on the floor this weekend because of these i am sure. Props for the cleav shots, your mrs. is a real looker.

I've been keen to try cachaca since seeing it on Thirsty Traveler. I find this recipe even more motivating, for some reason(s). @@ There goeth more of my hard-earned paycheque to the L.C.B.O. Maybe I should just work there. Perhaps they have employee discounts.

Certainly having a couple of drinking 'buddies' along makes any imbibing session much more enjoyable than a solitary pursuit. Sneaking up on a quarter century of marital bliss. Cheers.

Congratulations. How long have you been drinking caipirinhas? I'm curious about whether the type of beverage has any effect on the enjoyability of the imbibing session. Mrs. packrat, a drinker of wine most of the time, seems to just get mildly abusive, then falls asleep. I've ordered a bottle of Pitu, and will conduct a highly scientific study.

I recommend less cleavage.

Cleavage (among other things) paid my way through college, and has helped me pay for a few cars. The amount of cleavage featured here is just right. I have not been able to find Cachaca or a trendy muddle (or is it muddler?). But I made this drink with both white rum and white tequilla and both turned out just fine, although I went with a little less sugar. I do most of my muddling with a miniture Louisville Slugger souvenir bat (I have a few, but usually use my Rico Carty autographed version, on which I've filed a few criss-cross slits into the handle end for extra crushing prowess) and it works very well for virtually all muddling tasks. I use this same device for crushing mint when I make mint juleps. Where does one find Cachaca?

Check http://www.deltatranslator.com/cachaca.htm#names for just some of the ways of calling it. And as for finding it, should you ever come to Brazil, you'll find it just around EVERY corner. Just in my state, Minas Gerais (where the most famous ones come from) there are over 1.000 brands. Can you afford it? Well, try Germana, by far the best, the problem is it can cost from US$60 to US$100 a bottle, but believe you me, it flies you to heaven (it can also fly you to deepest hell, if not careful)

Viva la difference!

Really? I recommend more.

HELP GUYS. Am having party for 50 and want to serve Caipirinhas to start with. Any ideas. I don't mind slaving over glasses in the kitchen but for 50! Not sure that would be clever as what an earth would happen to the food in the meantime! Any advice gratefully appreciated. Thanks in hope!

Obrigada for advice!! My Viking husband and I spent 2 months in Brasil this year and landed up in Buzios where we spent many a day and night enjoying this wonderful drink! We are now in Cape Town so thought I would definitely intoduce it to the natives here. they make something similar, but not as good!!

I have heard you can make pitchers instead of individual glasses. I have not done this but: I have made Caipirinhas to travel and one piece of advice I would give you is to remove most of the lime rinds leaving a couple for looks only since while you want some bitterness, leaving the rinds in too long makes the drink unbearable. Maybe you could mix all except the ice in the pitcher and pour it over crushed ice in a glass??

12 leaves of fresh mint

1/5 spoon (soup) of sugar or the taste you choose

Juice of half lemon

Cachaça Gabriela Silver to complete (30 ml)

Put the sugar and the leaves of mint at the glass and crush them until you have a little juice. Add the rushed ice to almost complete the cup. After that, add the juice of the half lemon and finally the Cachaça Gabriela Silver. Mix the drink with a spoon until it becomes a green color.

Really nice! You really get what Caipirinha is about: having your buddies anxiously hanging around the kitchen while you work your magic. Very good think you mentioned about removing the white center part - it makes your drink get bitter. Oh, and you're right about getting rid of what's left in the glass - some lazy people have the nasty habit of simply pouring some more cachaça on it and think they have another round ready. Yeah, right. I'd just change one thing: I'm a little on the James Bond side - I like it shaken, not stirred. Cheers from Brazil.

Recipe of Caipirinha Gabriela

- 1 Tablespoon of sugar

- 4-6 cl of Cachaça Gabriela

Hello everyone. We are a Brazilian Trade company and we offer Brazilian Spirit known as Cachaça or Aguardente that we are introducing in the international market and they are being much appreciated in Europe. If you are interested in those goods, please feel free to contact us at brazil-trade@hotmail.com We will send you the goods description and the price list. We can send you some samples to check the quality out. Cheers.

Nice! Have you tried with Vodka instead of Cachaca? It's called Caipivodka (It's just as lethal as with cachaca) ;) Actually you can make caipirinha with all kinds of fruits, pinaple, kiwi fruit, strawberry, cashew fruit, tangerine, passion fruit, even grapes, just to name a few. Cheers from RJ - BR

Cachaça Is Finally Living Up to Its Decade of Hype

Frostbite Cocktail: Cachaça beyond the caipirinha

Pity the caipirinha.

The humble three-ingredient cocktail has had a lot on its plate. Not only must the lime-and-sugar bomb stand as Brazil’s national drink—a boozy emissary to the world for 200 million people—but for the past 10 years or so, it’s been the lone champion of the sad cachaça bandwagon.

Despite the caipirinha’s best intentions, cachaça just doesn’t seem to catch on.

It’s grassy, citrusy, bold, if you’re being nice. Funky, swampy firewater, if your palate says não. A relative of rum distilled from raw sugarcane juice instead of molasses, cachaça (ka-SHA-sa) turned out to be as hard for the U.S. market to love as it is to pronounce.

“It has a lot more body than a lot of people are used to,” explained Gates Otsuji, regional Chef de Bar for the Standard Hotels in New York, during a cocktail tasting. “Spirits like vodka and gin have a more streamlined flavor, and cachaça really has ‘texture’ to it.”

Though, finally, it looks like the fetch of the booze world may be happening.

The one-two punch of the 2014 World Cup and current Rio Olympics has kept it on the global radar. Meanwhile, consumer tastes have gotten more adventurous in the embrace of all things “artisanal” and “authentic.”

The cachaça-based Love Amid the Frostbite, a frozen passion fruit riff on the caipirinha, has been the bestselling summer cocktail at NYC's Le Bain nightclub. Otsuji says he goes through about four cases of Leblon in a weekend making it.

First Profits

Leblon, the No.1 cachaça brand in the U.S., posted its first profit a year and half ago, after 11 hard years of carving out a premium market from practically nothing. Bacardi acquired the brand for an undisclosed amount in July 2015.

“It’s a long incremental haul—a classic 10- to 15-percent growth business,” said Steve Luttmann, founder and chief executive of Leblon, during an interview at Tales of the Cocktail, an annual cocktail conference held in New Orleans. “New country. New category. New drink. Now it’s a 100,000 case [1.2 million bottle] category.” It wasn’t even recognized as a distinct class of spirit by U.S. importers until 2013, when Leblon spearheaded an industry movement.

Industrial Stills

If consumers had encountered it in, say, a churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse) or while traveling, it was likely with the mass-produced industrial varieties Pitú or Cachaça 51. Luttmann calls those the Brazilian equivalent of Georgi vodka; in other words, “crap.”

“Cachaça lost its way for a long time,” said Luttmann. “It was associated with everything that was wrong with Brazil, with poverty.” The wealthy turned outward to vodka and whiskey, anything not Brazilian. But, he adds, a new generation is once again embracing the local.

It’s the third most-consumed spirit in the world, after vodka and soju. With more than 5,000 micro-distillers in Brazil alone, cachaça is a spirit tailor-made for Generation Craft. And like the most sought-after craft micro-brews, the good stuff requires dedication to track down: only 1 percent of bottlings ever make it out of the country.

“One of the great things about cachaça is that each kind is different. There's no one definable flavor,” said the Standard’s Otsuji.

Production Rules

In terms of government regulation that define the spirit, cachaça must have an alcohol content of 38 percent to 48 percent. Otherwise, it's "pretty much the Wild West," said Otsuji. "It’s got to be Brazilian. It’s got to be made from sugarcane juice, fresh pressed. You can age it in any kind of wood for as long as you want. Or keep it un-aged."

And it can be made anywhere in Brazil, so terroir is a big factor. “There's just so much diversity, it really represents the culture that it comes from,” said Otsuji.

Henry & June cocktail with basil and fresh strawberries. Aged cachaça "fills in the spaces" of the spices our sense memory associates with the taste of strawberries (think baked goods) and amps up the flavor in a big way, according to Otsuji.

On the flip side, for bartenders and bar owners, this massive diversity can be a challenge, which may explain its slow acceptance.

“It can be a little intimidating when you think every bottle will be different,” explained Otsuji. “You won’t find one bottle that will handle any flavor you want to throw at it, but that’s kind of what we got used to working with gin.”

How to Mix It

Otsuji characterizes the French oak-matured Leblon as clean and citrusy, herby basil and oregano over lime, and barely a hint of burnt sugar. Another brand, aged in native Brazilian amburana wood, presents rich cinnamon and vanilla tones.  

Since cachaça has its own flavor and texture, Otsuji cautions that whatever you use to mix it must also have enough body and texture on its own to hold up and complement it: red grape, mango, and pineapple, for instance, flavors that have a lot of heft to them.

“Lime is a rather thin flavor—it’s the sugar you’re adding to it that gives it the body,” he explained of caipirinha, which is why bartenders mixing with cheaper cachaças pile it on.  

Avuá Prata, rested in stainless steel, and Amburana wood-aged cachaça bottles.

Market Growth

According to beverage market analysts IWSR, 73.5 million cases of cachaça were consumed in Brazil in 2015, with an uptick of about 15 percent in the premium sector over the past five years. The U.S. market grew from 64,000 cases in 2011 to 88,000 cases in 2015, starting from just 4,000 cases (48,000 bottles) in 2004.

“We’re now entering a time that consumers are ready for flavor,” said Peter Nevenglosky, co-founder of Avuá Cachaça, from his New York office. They’re ready to embrace cachaça’s herbaceous funk in subtler ways and shed the flavor-masking sugar-hangovers of the caipirinha. “People are bored with the idea of taking it there.”

Avuá’s strategy cribs a page from Scotch: numbered limited-release batches tied to specific cane fields and growing seasons, aged in one of Brazil’s 28 different hardwoods such as amburana and tapinhoã. Competitor Novo Fogo takes a similar tact with single-barrel oak releases and a dual-cask Tanager expression finished in Brazilian zebrawood; tropical fruit, cinnamon bark, and holiday spice notes follow.

Leblon, for its part, has a two-year-aged Reserva Especial with wisps of honey and caramel.

Craft Strategy

These are sipping cachaças equally at home at a top shelf cocktail bar. Nevenglosky’s favorite drink: amburana-barreled neat, with a light saison beer on the side, or mixed into an old fashioned with a dash of orange bitters.

This craft strategy is one he readily admits wouldn’t have been possible 10 years ago, before Leblon blazed the trail. Or before the current tiki resurgence shone a light on sugarcane spirits beyond Bacardi and Captain Morgan, like similarly earthy Rhum Agricole from Martinique. Or the work of other challenging spirits broadened consumer curiosity. Or before the World Cup and the Olympics bump—which led him to surpass last year's sales by this July.

In other words: If cachaça can’t break out now, maybe it never will.

“If I look at mezcal and Del Maguey getting the category to where it is, that’s the inspiration I see cachaça going,” said Nevenglosky.

The Caipirinha Recipe: The National Drink of Brazil

• 3 mins
• Prep: 3 mins,
• Cook: 0 mins
• Yield: 1 serving

Every distilled spirit has its signature cocktail: tequila has the margarita, gin the martini, and rum the mojito. When it comes to cachaça, the must-have drink is the caipirinha.

The caipirinha (pronounced kai-purr-REEN-yah) is the national drink of Brazil. It is the most popular cocktail in the South American country and everyone has their own way of making it. Today, it is a hit worldwide and should be on the list of every home and pro bartender.

The basic recipe is incredibly simple, requiring just three ingredients. It's made in a similar way to the old-fashioned and mojito: a simple fruit and sugar muddle topped with a shot of liquor. The liquor of choice here is cachaça, the Brazillian take on rum that distills fresh sugar cane juice rather than molasses.

With the sweetened lime and cachaça mix, you will have one of the most refreshing cocktails you can mix up. If you're new to cachaça or have a new bottle to try out, this is the one cocktail you need. Plus, as you'll see, it can serve as inspiration for many other tasty drinks.

What You'll Need

• 1/2 lime
• 1/2 to 2 teaspoons sugar, to taste
• 2 ounces
• cachaça

How to Make It

1. Cut half of a lime into small wedges.
2. Place the lime and sugar into an old-fashioned glass and muddle well.
3. Add a few ice cubes.
4. Top the drink with cachaça.
5. Stir well.

About That Sugar

While you can use the same white cane sugar you bake with, you'll find that superfine sugar tends to be a better choice for cocktails. That's because the finer crystals are easier to dissolve and this is particularly useful in a cocktail like a caipirinha which doesn't have a lot of liquid or hard core mixing.

Don't worry about hunting down a specialty sugar, either. It's very easy to transform your ordinary kitchen sugar into superfine sugar if you have a food processor or blender.

You will also notice that the recipe recommends anywhere from 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of sugar. This range allows you to customize the cocktail's sweetness to your particular taste and the cachaça you're pouring at the moment.

Some cachaças are sweeter than others and quite a few are aged, so there are times when less sugar creates a better drink. Experiment on your own and find that perfect balance for you.

How Strong Is the Caipirinha

Much like other liquor-only muddled cocktails, there is not much in the caipirinha to dilute the drink. If we factor in a little lime juice and a slight amount of ice dilution, we can estimate that your caipirinha will be around 30 percent ABV (60 proof).

That's slightly lower than the bottling strength of the average 80-proof cachaça. Of course, it will be stronger with a higher proof liquor. Keep this in mind because it may be a great tasting drink, but it is certainly not a weak one.

Put a Twist on the Caipirinha

The most popular cocktails frequently act as a base that we can twist, turn, and manipulate to create fun and exciting new drinks. The caipirinha is no exception and the bar can become our playground with this simple formula.

One of the easiest ways to adapt the drink is to shake it then serve it up to create a caipirini. Add a little extra flavor to that and mix up a spiced pear caipirini, which is fabulous for autumn and winter.

If you want to take the lime-cachaça mix and transform it into a summer treat, consider turning it into a frozen ice pop.

Returning to the original recipe, if you have a fruit that can handle the muddler you can add it to the caipirinha. It's a perfect drink for the season's best produce and an entirely new experience every time.

For example, in the heat of summer toss a few berries into the glass for a raspberry caipirinha or a lemon, lime and blue caipirinha. When you want something exotic, mix up the likes of the kumquat-ginger caipirinha. And, when the autumn leaves start to appear, bring in some apple, cinnamon, and sage for a pleasant homecoming caipirinha.

Let these recipes serve as inspiration. See what new fruits, herbs, and other ingredients are at the produce market and don't be afraid to accent it with a liqueur for extra flavor. The possibilities are endless with a great bottle of cachaça and a muddler in your hand, so have fun and see where your taste buds take you.

Cocktail pitu

Classic cocktails are the drinks that have stood the test of time. They are the blueprints on which all other cocktails are based.

Signature cocktails are created by top-flight bartenders as well as the staff of Supercall. Some are seasonal, some are whimsical. All are designed to wow your guests with mixocological magic.

Between the Classic cocktails you know and Signature drinks created by pros lie Standard Deviations: clever riffs on iconic recipes that'll expand your repertoire—without trying your patience.

• top spirits

Classic cocktails are the drinks that have stood the test of time. They are the blueprints on which all other cocktails are based.

Signature cocktails are created by top-flight bartenders as well as the staff of Supercall. Some are seasonal, some are whimsical. All are designed to wow your guests with mixocological magic.

Between the Classic cocktails you know and Signature drinks created by pros lie Standard Deviations: clever riffs on iconic recipes that'll expand your repertoire—without trying your patience.

• top spirits

In Brazil, omitting a Caipirinha from a cocktail menu i.

The French 75’s Caribbean cousin, this potent spritz.

In the 1970s, bars began catering to a new clientele: single.

London’s Garrick Club opened in 1831 as a place for.

The caçacha cocktail, the Caipirinha, has risen to global fame over the last few years thanks to an increased interest in and availability of caçhaca outside of Brazil. The cocktail’s name is derived from a Portuguese pejorative term used to describe working class folk—caipira—which loosely translates to “hillbilly.” But the people of Brazil take no umbrage with the name—they’re too busy enjoying the grassy, citrusy mix of caçhaca, lime and sugar, built directly into the glass. The drink’s history is murky, but most Brazilians agree that the Caipirinha got its start as a 19th century folk remedy for cholera and the Spanish flu (some traditionalists still swear by the cocktail as a cure-all). We’re not sure about the drink’s medical merits, but we can vouch for its undeniable thirst quenching properties.

The Essentials

Ingredients

• Muddle lime wedges and sugar at the bottom of a double old-fashioned glass.
• Add cachaça and top with ice.
• Stir lightly and serve.

There's a whole bunch of things you can do to the Caipirinha. There is an old Brazilian adage, which says that the worse the cachaça, the better the Caipirinha. But we love aged cachaça in a Caipirinha, with some demerara sugar in place of white sugar for a richer, warm flavor. Caipirinhas are also excellent canvases for seasonal fruit and produce. Try muddling plump, sweet-tart blackberries or mango chunks along with the lime, or add fresh ginger for a spicy kick.

Recommended Cachaças: Avuá, Novo Fogo, Pitú, Leblon

In Brazil, omitting a Caipirinha from a cocktail menu is tantamount to heresy. The three-ingredient drink made with cachaça, lime and sugar is the country’s national cocktail. But the ubiquitous drink wouldn’t truly be a classic without a inspiring a few important variations. The most popular is the Caipiroska—a drink made in the exact.

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© 2017 Thrillist Media Group, Inc, all rights reserved.

Brazilian cachaça cocktails for the World Cup

What better way to get in the World Cup spirit than with a Brazilian-style cachaça cocktail, asks Leah Hyslop

7:00AM BST 07 Jun 2014

The World Cup is upon us, and Brazilian-themed beverages are suddenly as sought-after by grown-ups as Wayne Rooney replica shirts are in the school playground. If you weren’t lucky enough to score tickets for Rio, why not create a little of that carnival atmosphere at home with some Brazilian-themed cocktails?

Unsurprisingly for a country where summer temperatures can reach 104F (40C), Brazilian cocktails are big on refreshment. Heavy use is made of the many tropical fruits that grow there, from passion fruit to pineapple, as well as sweet, thirst-quenching coconut water.

But the heart of the country’s drink scene is undoubtedly cachaça, a spirit that has been made there since the 16th century, and is to the Brazilians what whisky is to the Scots. Like rum, it is a product of sugar cane, but usually from fermented sugar cane juice, rather than dark and sticky molasses.

“Cachaça is by volume the third-most consumed spirit in the world,” says David Ponté, the co-owner of the Brazilian restaurant group Cabana. “It’s an affordable alcohol that you can mix with everything, but nobody seems to know about it – except the Brazilians, who guard the drink carefully. I hope this summer will see a great explosion of it.”

Cachaça comes alive in Brazil’s national drink, the caipirinha, a mouth-puckering, sharp-sour-sweet concoction of cachaça, lime and sugar that is both incredibly drinkable and incredibly potent. (Supposedly, the legendary Brazilian footballer Manoel Dos Santos, better known as Garrincha, used to drink them straight after breakfast; but I’d advise against following his example on match days – you probably won’t make it to half time).

Related Articles

For those who like their drinks a little softer round the edges, there’s the batida, a mix of cachaça and fresh fruit that is often made creamier with condensed or coconut milk or, in winter, the marvellous quentão, Brazil’s equivalent of mulled wine, a steaming cup of cachaça with spices and citrus.

Not all cachaças are created equal. There are thousands of brands available in Brazil, “from litre-for-a-buck bottles that will kill you to high-quality aged ones”, says Ponté. Few are exported, however, and those that are can be at the rougher, mass-manufactured end of the scale. But some decent brands are now available in the UK, such as Velho Barreiro Cachaça, which is sold in Waitrose, or Leblon, which is available from specialist drinks websites such as masterofmalt.com. The South American bar and restaurant chain Las Iguanas even makes its own cachaça on a private sugar cane plantation near Rio, which you can buy from its website (Magnífica Cachaça, £21/litre: lasiguanas.co.uk/shop).

Some of the more “artisanal” cachaças are good enough to be sipped neat, but bear in mind, in Brazil it is traditional to spill a few drops “for the saints” before enjoying. Spare them a splash, and maybe the spirit-loving holy ones will kindly carry England to a World Cup victory.

A tribute to the World Cup and a take on Sangria: a red wine punch with an added slug of cachaça. It’s great for sharing and for celebrating with, so enjoy it with friends over a long evening in the sun.

225ml orange juice

110ml lemon juice

100ml simple sugar syrup (made by heating equal quantities of sugar and water over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved)

1 orange, sliced

A handful of mint leaves

Fill a large jug with ice cubes, then add the cachaça, orange and lemon juice and sugar syrup. Give the mixture a stir, then pour in the red wine. If you like, pour the red wine over the back of a tablespoon to create distinct layers within the jug. Garnish with the orange and lemon slices and mint leaves and serve immediately.

From Cabana: The Cookbook by David Ponte, Lizzy Barber & Jamie Barber (Quadrille, £18.99).

The caipirinha is Brazil’s national drink. Artesian’s head bartender Alex Kratena likes using big and pungent cachacas which produce refreshing caipirinhas with a long finish.

Makes one cocktail

20ml sugar syrup

Cut the lime into pieces and muddle inside a small tumbler. Pour the cachaça and sugar syrup over the lime and add ice. Stir the contents with a spoon or swizzle stick and top up with more ice. Place a medium-sized straw in the glass and garnish with a lime wheel and sugar cube. This way your guest can utilise the garnish to sweeten up the drink.

Passion fruit, sugar, cachaça and Benedictine, churned with ice and served long: an utterly refreshing cocktail.

Makes one cocktail

1 passion fruit

10ml passion fruit syrup

To make the passion fruit syrup, heat the pulp of 10 passion fruits in one litre of simple syrup. Strain.

Churn all the ingredients with a highball glass half-filled with crushed ice. Top with fresh ice and garnish with a passion fruit slice and a large mint sprig.

A sultry, earthy cocktail made with a combination of beetroot, cachaca, lemon and spices – delicious.

Makes one cocktail

½ cooked beetroot, chopped into small pieces

2tsp ginger syrup (you can buy this, but could also use the syrup from a jar of stem ginger)

16ml Velvet Falernum

16ml lemon juice

Pinch of Cayenne pepper

Muddle the beetroot with the sugar in a shaker, then add the rest of the ingredients. Shake hard with ice, then double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Drink this and you’ll be instantly transported to Copacabana beach. The combination of rum, cachaça, strawberries and coconut can’t help but give you that holiday feeling, even if you’re in rainy England in July.

50ml coconut cream

50ml lemon juice

50ml simple sugar syrup

90ml pineapple juice

180ml coconut water

100g strawberries, pureed with a little honey or sugar to taste

1 orange, sliced

Pour all the ingredients except the orange and lemon slices into a large jug and stir well. Fill with ice cubes and stir again. Top with lemon and orange slices.

From Cabana: The Cookbook by David Ponte, Lizzy Barber & Jamie Barber (Quadrille, £18.99).

20ml chai tea syrup (double strength tea mixed with equal parts sugar)

1 large orange slice, in chunks

1 lemon wheel, chopped in half

Muddle the fresh fruit with the chai tea syrup in a rocks glass.

Add the cachaça and some crushed ice and mix to chill and dilute.

Top with more crushed ice. Garnish with two orange wedges and sprinkle with cinnamon.

From Ypióca cachaça

Cachaça: World Cup spirit in a glass

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