A simple, refreshing Brazilian cocktail with just three ingredients: cachaca, sugar, and limes.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

Great cocktails are often built with a small set of simple ingredients.

Just rum, sugar, and limes will give you a classicDaiquiri.

Two Brazilian caipirinha cocktails and a cutting board with limes and a muddler.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

A Caipirinha is as simple to make as the short ingredient list suggests.

However, its taste is more complex than you would imagine.

Are you looking for a refreshing cocktail to relax away the summer heat?

A rocks glass with a Brazilian caipirinha inside.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

Youve found your match!

What’s a Caipirinha?

This cocktail is refreshingly sweet, tart, and the cachaca adds somewhat grassy and herbaceous flavor notes.

Side view of a sweet and puckery cocktail in a double rocks glass.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

Caipirinha Origins

There are some theories out there about how the Caipirinha was created.

One story suggests it was concocted for its medicinal properties.

Another claims that it was simply a drink enjoyed by locals for parties.

Quartering limes to make a sweet and puckery cocktail

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

So, Whats Cachaca?

Brazil wants you to know that cachaca is NOT rum, as a lot of folks assume.

Cachaca must be made from Brazilian sugarcane.

Quartered limes and sugar in a rocks glass set on a cutting board to make a lime caipirinha

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

Some may be funkier while others will taste more like the wood they are aged in.

In Brazil, there are over 3,000 cachaca distilleries.

However, only a fraction of those bottles are offered here in the United States.

Muddling limes and sugar in a rocks glass to make a lime caipirinha cocktail.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

In 2013, the U.S. officially recognized cachaca as its own category of liquor and not simply another rum.

Weve seen a surge of different cachaca brands being imported.

How To Make Caipirinha

The order of how you make the caipirinha is important.

Muddling limes and sugar in a rocks glass to make a lime caipirinha cocktail.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

Start by muddling the sugar and quartered limes.

Then, add some crushed ice on top.

Pour in the cachaca last.

Adding ice and cachaça to a rocks glass to make a Brazilian caipirinha.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

The crushed ice will melt when the cachaca is poured over it, diluting the drink properly.

This is important since this cocktail is not shaken.

Tips and Tricks for Making Caipirinha

Ingredients and technique matter when making a simple cocktail.

Brazilian caipirinha with a lime on a cutting board behind it.

Simply Recipes / Elana Lepkowski

Heres a few tips and tricks to making your Caipirinha taste great.

Quarter the lime lengthwise.

Place the quartered lime in a double rocks glass and sprinkle in the sugar.

Muddle the limes and sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the limes have been fully released their juices.

Fill the glass with crushed ice and pour the cachaca over the ice.

Gently stir to combine and serve.