How to Make the Perfect Caipirinha

Caipirinha (Kye-Pee-Reen-Ya!) is the traditional cocktail of Brazil, the drink that you will see on the table at every beach quiosque, being passed around any family Sunday churrasco, and the one that you will receive for free on any boat trip worth the name.

There are only three principal ingredients for a traditional caipirinha (four if you count crushed ice as an ingredient): freshly squeezed lime juice; white sugar; and cachaça (cash-ass-ah!), Brazil’s legendary sugar cane spirit. It is the easiest cocktail in the world to make, but also surprisingly easy to mess up. If you want to impress your Brazilian hosts and Brazilian friends, a good first step is to master the gentle art of making a good caipirinha.

If you want to practice on your own first, you can buy a socador de limão. This is the wooden mortar and pestle combination that is used to grind the juice out of the fresh limes. This needs to be done with a little care though. The lime juice takes the bite from the cachaça, while the sugar takes the tang from the lime juice.