The “National Cocktail of Brazil,” we fell in love with the Caipirinha via the good graces of our local Fogo de Chao restaurant.  It’s a relatively easy recipe, bounded largely by the proportions you use.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Cachaça (or, alternately, white rum — see notes)
• 1 Lime
• 2 tbsp Ultrafine (Baker’s) Sugar (or Simple Syrup equivalent) (see notes)
• Splash of Sprite (or similar lemon-lime soda).
• Crushed ice

Instructions

1. Take a lime, cut it in half lengthwise, remove the white pith in the center.
2. Cut the lime half in half lengthwise, then cut laterally into four smaller wedges.
3. Put lime wedges in a lowball (“rocks” or “old-fashioned”) glass
4. Add sugar.
5. Muddle the lime and sugar.  Get as much juice out of the limes as you can without squeezing the bitter oils out of the rind.
6. Fill the glass with crushed ice.
7. Fill the glass with cachaça (should be roughly 2 oz.).
8. Add a splash of Sprite
9. Mix well (ideally, use a larger glass or shaker over the top and shake well).
10. Garnish with lime slice (optional).

Notes

• It’s pronounced “cuy-per-een-ya.”
• Cachaça is a rum-like spirit from Brazil, also known as aguaridente. It is similar to rum (and is stocked in better liquor stores next to it), but is produced directly from cane juice rather than from molasses.  You can use white rum instead, but it’s not quite as good. (In theory you can also use vodka in this recipe, making it a “Caipiroska,” but that just sounds vile.)
• The amount of sugar is somewhat to taste.  Various recipes call for 1-3 tbsp. Simple syrup can be used, but part of the fun in a caipirinha is a bit of unmuddled sugar at the bottom of the glass.
• Some folks swear by lime slices instead of wedges.
• For refills, I add a half-lime (since there’s usually plenty of juice left in the remainders) and another tbsp of sugar (ditto), muddle in the existing glass, then follow the rest of the recipe (ice, liquor, Sprite).
• There are a lot of caipirinha recipes out there. This one is simple.