Caipirinha Recipe

Fresh, tart, and boozy, a caipirinha feels like the tropics in a glass.

By
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
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Updated August 19, 2024
Profile view of a caipirinha in a rocks glass. A halved lime is in the foreground nearby.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

  • Muddling the lime quarters with sugar expels juice while extracting some of the aromatic oils from the peel, resulting in a deeper and more vibrant lime flavor.

Think of the caipirinha as the daiquiri's Brazilian cousin.

The basic trio of ingredients is the same, with both drinks made with fresh lime, sugar and sugarcane-based spirit. But while the daiquiri uses rum as its base—typically of the light, crisp Cuban style—the caipirinha uses rum's Brazilian relative, cachaça, which has a somewhat more rustic aroma and flavor. And while the daiquiri opts for tarting up the drink using only the juice of the lime, the caipirinha throws the whole shebang into the mix.

A relative novelty only a decade ago, the caipirinha is now ubiquitous across the country, and is one of the most popular drinks worldwide.

August 2010

Recipe Details

Caipirinha Recipe

Prep 5 mins
Active 2 mins
Total 5 mins
Serves 1 serving

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces cachaça

  • 1/2 of a fresh lime, cut into quarters

  • 1 to 2 teaspoons superfine sugar

Directions

  1. Place the lime pieces and sugar in the cocktail shaker and crush with the muddler. Add cachaça and a handful of ice; shake well and pour, unstrained, into a rocks or old fashioned glass.

Special Equipment

Cocktail shaker, cocktail muddler

Read More

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
156Calories
0gFat
8gCarbs
0gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories156
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g0%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 2mg0%
Total Carbohydrate 8g3%
Dietary Fiber 0g1%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 14mg68%
Calcium 6mg0%
Iron 0mg0%
Potassium 54mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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