Caipirinha () is a Brazilian

cocktail A cocktail is a mixed drink, usually alcoholic beverage, alcoholic. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more liquor, spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, Shrub (drink), shrubs, and ...

, of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

origin, with

cachaça ''Cachaça'' () is a Liquor, distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as ''pinga'', ''caninha'', and other names, it is the most popular spirit in Brazil.Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os nomes da cachaça. São Pau ...

(

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

hard

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, lime, and ice. The drink is prepared by mixing the fruit and the sugar together, then adding the liquor. Known and consumed nationally and internationally, caipirinha is one of the most famous components of

Brazilian cuisine Brazilian cuisine is the set of cooking practices and traditions of Brazil, and is characterized by European cuisine, European, Amerindian, African tribes, African, and Asian (Levantine cuisine, Levantine, Japanese food, Japanese, and most rece ...

, being the most popular national recipe worldwide and often considered the best drink in the country and one of the best cocktails/drinks in the world, having reached third place in 2024, according to the specialized website '' TasteAtlas''. Due to its importance and popularity, the caipirinha was declared Brazilian Cultural Heritage in 2003; in 2019, it was considered Intangible Heritage of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, despite its origins in

Piracicaba Piracicaba ( ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality located in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of São Paulo (state), São Paulo state, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. It serves as the main city ...

, city of São Paulo state. It is part of the list of official cocktails of the International Bartenders Association (IBA).

History

Although the origin of the drink is unknown, there is a consensus in the academic community that Caipirinha was invented in the

interior of São Paulo The interior of São Paulo is an informal term to describe the zone that covers the entire area of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo outside the Greater São Paulo, Metropolitan Region and the coast of São Paulo. The interior stands ou ...

, Brazil, in 1918. Some accounts say it came about around 1918 in the region of

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

in Portugal, with a popular recipe made with

lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

, and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of 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 pl ...

, indicated for patients with the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

. Another account is that Caipirinha is based on Poncha, an alcoholic drink from

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The main ingredient is ''

aguardente (Portuguese language, Portuguese) or (Spanish language, Spanish) (; ; ) is a type of distilled alcoholic spirit that contains between 29% and 60% alcohol by volume (ABV). It is a somewhat generic term that can refer to liquors made from vario ...

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 ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. While the w ...

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

, the interior of the

State of São Paulo State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 recipes 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 a Tahiti lemon, a species of lemon more widespread in 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 designated it as one of its Official Cocktails, as a Contemporary Classic.

Name

The word ''caipirinha'' is the

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of the word Caipira, which refers to a people from the state of São Paulo. "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 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 variant of caipirinha, consisting of cachaça, crushed fresh fruits (either singly or in combination), and crushed ice. Fresh fruits used to create caipifrutas include

tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...

, lime,

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

, passion fruit,

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, 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 culti ...

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 approximately 8,0 ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

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

Around the world

Many variations of the drink are known. In some regions,

brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

is used instead of refined sugar. Even in Brazil, variants with artificial sweeteners or a wide variety of fruits can be found. Furthermore, cachaça is sometimes replaced by

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

(

caipiroska Caipiroska or caipivodka is a cocktail that is similar to a caipirinha, but prepared with vodka instead of cachaça. It is a popular cocktail in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It is also sometimes known as caipirodka. It has grown in ...

, trademark registered by

Smirnoff Smirnoff (; ) is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898), but its modern incarnation traces back to the ...

), Licor Beirão (known as caipirão),

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...

(caipiríssima, trademark registered by Bacardi), sake "Caipirinhas" (saquerinha) or wine (caipivinho) are also made. In

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, caipirinha is also prepared with

grog Grog is a term used for a variety of alcoholic beverages. Origin and history Popularization of rum and invention of grog Following Invasion of Jamaica, England's conquest of Jamaica in 1655, rum gradually replaced beer and brandy as the drink ...

, a strong local rum.

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. It is a popular cocktail in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It is also sometimes known as caipirodka. It has grown in ...

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

sake Sake, , or saki, 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 indeed any East Asi ...

* 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 s ...

. * Caipirão is another Portuguese variation made using Licor Beirão instead of cachaça; the liquor is very sweet, so no sugar is used. * A variation from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

is made using

Campari Campari () is an Italian alcoholic liqueur, considered an aperitif, apéritif of the ''bitter'' variety (and not an amaro) by Italians while considered an apéritif of the Amaro (liqueur), amaro variety by Americans, obtained from the infusion of ...

instead of cachaça. * Caipirissima is the alternative made with

In popular culture

The 2001

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian film '' A Samba for Sherlock'' fancifully depicts caipirinha as being invented by

Doctor Watson Dr. John H. Watson is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). "The Adventure of Shosc ...

as a tonic for

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

to combat the heat of

References

External links

* * {{Mint Brazilian alcoholic drinks Cuisine of São Paulo (state) Cocktails with rum Cold drinks Limes (fruit) Citrus cocktails Cocktails with cachaça Three-ingredient cocktails Sour cocktails Mixed drinks Mint drinks