Articel by Bastian Heuser, Aka Beuser, - bastian@traveling-mixologists.nettraveling-mixologists - barworkz barconsulting

PARTICULAR FINDINGS ABOUT THE CAIPIRINHAA TM ON THE QUEST FOR TRUTH

Before I start I have yet one thing to say:The following words shall not be of any judging nature. It shall be a brief description (notmore and nothing less) of the way Brazilian bartenders (from the districts of Sao Pauloand Rio de Janeiro) prepare and serve this little and lovely piece of refreshment....In the last 4 weeks of my travels I have had a lot of Caipirinhas.I have had them at little beach huts in the sizzling sun, I have had them in 5 star hotelsoverlooking the sheer madness of Sao Paulo, I have had them in all kinds of restaurantsand bars and I even had one in a greasy diner on the highway from Rio to Sao Paulo.Every single one of them tasted better and pleased my palate more than pretty muchanything I have been served under the name of `Caipirinha` in the whole of Europe.I asked myself: Why? What is the difference? And although I now do have a definiteopinion on this drink, I want to leave it to you to judge and discuss the ´best way` (ifthere is such thing)...I just hope my ´insight-informations´ will help! We shall start wheremost (if not all) drinks start out at: the simple choice of

1. Ingredients

The limes being used in Brazil are not much different from the ones we get (persianlimes) but they thend to be a bit bigger and juicier.(For the use of other fruits see 2.) The sugar though is much different. Here one useswhite cane sugar of an amorph structure (not crystalized) which hardly costs anythingbut still seems to be unvariably expensive in European countries and not of real interestfor export. This sugar is superfine and dissolves almost instantly when brought incontact with liquids. The third ingredient is the choice of ´pinga´ (Cachaca). Most bars Ivisited used either ´Cachaca 51´, ´Ypioca´ or ´Velho Barreiro´ only a handful used otherCachaca. The mentioned ones are available for roughly 2-3 ? per litre and display whatwe call ´pouring brands´ nonetheless there is always the possibility of an upgrade. (Ishall get back to this later)

2. Ordering

When ordering a Caipirinha in Brazil, in most cases you will be asked for your choice of´pinga´ but in all cases you will be asked for your choice of fruit. For Brazilians aCaipirinha is not limited solely on the lime but can be made with pineapple, mango,passionfruit, kiwi, papaya, etc. And they will not add these fruit to the lime but substituteit for the lime which in general will make a far sweeter drink.But Brazilians do have a much sweeter palate than we do and I must say that these´Fruit Caipirinhas´ can be a welcome refreshment on a hot afternoon.Talking about sweetness: in a lot of restaurants and bars you will even be asked if youwould prefer your Caipirinha with artificial sweetener instead of sugar...something thatwas totally new for me. Especcially the well-heeled (and well-proportioned) crowds ofRio seemed to prefer this way to cut down on one´s daily calory-intake.(What do you think about this? Is this something we should start to think about under theaspects of ´customer service´ or any other given aspects?)

3. Preparation

Now we shall take a look at the preparation of the most popular kind of Caipirinha: the´Caipirinha con Limao´ In most of the places I visited, the bartender would cut off theends of the lime, slice it in half and cut out the inner white pith. Then he would slice thehalfs lengthwise and cut them in thin slices. These will then be muddled under theaddition of 3-4 bsp of mentioned sugar in the guests´ glass. Some only take half a limewhich seemed to be a bit dependent on the size of the actual glass used (in that casethe sugar was reduced as well). Not one of my Caipirinhas was prepared with crushedor shaved ice. Only a handful contained cracked ice (in that case the ice was freshlycracked in the hand of the bartender using a muddle stick), most of them were preparedusing cubed ice. Every single one I had was shaken, mostly using a small plastic glasswhich fitted smugly over the guests´glass (kind of a speed shaker I guess). By the way:in general the glass that the drink is served in tends to be a bit smaller than we are usedto...nonetheless the amount of pinga is roughly the same (60ml). Straws are commonbut only to stir the drink up for the odd time or two not for actually sipping from it. You sipout of the glass. A nice thing I experienced a couple of times was the service of myCaipirinha with a small spoon, which somehow reminded me of Harry Johnson and JerryThomas...

4. Upgrades (´Pimping´)

I have mentioned the possibilities of upgrades earlier on.There are supposed to be about 3000 different brands of Cachaca available in Brazil...Ihave not quite had all of them but I had the odd one.I can therefore just give you a few examples of upgrades that I enjoyed in my Caipirinha,but be reminded: this is my personal taste, no judgement.Santo Grau, Minas Gerais • Germana, Minas Gerais • Espirito de Minas, Minas Gerais •Magnifique, Rio de Janeiro • Armazem Viera, Santa CatarinaThese Cachacas (in my personal view) will enhance the drinking experience of aproperly made Caipirinha...sipping them on its own is up to you (in fact this would be awhole new essay so I will not get into that at this point). Just to let you know: the mostpopular upgrade of a Caipirinha within the Brazilian community is....a Caipiroska!They love Vodka and especcially people who seem to be a bit on the wealthy side wouldnever order a Caipirinha. Caipiroska made with Lemons and artificial sweetener is moreoften their choice. Even a lot of bartenders I talked to choose this drink to be theirpersonal favourite....interesting, is it not?!