My first memorable encounter with Caiprhinas came courtesy of a bartender I dated while living in Europe who ushered me into her little world behind the bar by treating me to a Caipirhina. The fusion of cachaça, made with fermented sugar cane juice and chunks of muddled lime worked wonders for my taste buds. That relationship lasted only a little longer than the contents of that glass did, but I was hooked - to Caipirhinas. My second encounter was not so pleasant, I walked to a bar in Jersey City and clearly asked the bartender for a Caipirhina to which he responded with an utter look of befuddlement. "What's in it?", he asked.
"I'm still amazed how challenging it is for people to say
caipirinha and
cachaça,"
says Steve Luttmann, the founder of Leblon Cachaça, one of the new
boutique brands that have been making inroads in the U.S. in recent
years. (Don't be one of those people. Say kye-peer-EEN-yah and
ka-SHAH-sa.) Luttmann cites a study by BuzzBack Market Research in New
York indicating that awareness in the U.S. of the
caipirinha among cocktail drinkers is 30%, compared with 85% for the mojito, the
caipirinha's closest cousin.
You're missing out, America. The drink comes with round
ice cubes mingled with shaggy slices of freshly muddled lime inside a
pear-colored liquid. A fat lime wheel served as garnish. The concoction
smells rich and earthy with overtones of burnt sweetness. The taste is a revelation: a silky mixture of sweet and sour, with bitter notes
balanced by an arresting freshness. It hits your tongue with smooth
precision and burns its way down your chest.
Read more about the Caipirhina here.