Sauce: Strawberry Caipirinha
Cocktail: Strawberry Caipirinha
Ingredients: ½ of a Lime, 3 Strawberries, ½ Tablespoon of Sugar, 2oz. Cachaca
Directions: Cut the lime into four quarters. Remove the stems from the strawberry and cut into quarters. Place the limes, strawberries, and sugar in a cocktail shaker. Muddle all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker until you get lots of juice out of the lime pieces and break up the strawberry. Add Cachaca, ice, and shake well. Transfer the mixture to a rocks glass. Garnish with lime and strawberry.
Bartender Reaction: Long time readers of this website know Brazil holds a special place in my heart. They may even be thinking to themselves at this moment, “My God. Is he going to talk about Brazil again?” I am.
After finishing graduate school, I celebrated the milestone with a solo adventure to Rio de Janeiro. While the journey was challenging for numerous reasons, it was also one of the greatest travel experiences of my life. More than a decade later, the high of that experience is something I am still chasing.
The morning after I arrived at my hotel situated between Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, I walked outside into a world foreign to me hungry for adventure. I was nervous, but excited. I was an American fish out of water, but a simple walk along the beach seemed like a great opportunity to get the lay of the land. As I watched the majesty of Rio unfold before me, washed in sunlight, I pinched myself. A simple, but profound thought that has become familiar pulsed through my mind. I am just a kid from Frederick, Oklahoma.
With growing confidence, I sat down at a beachside restaurant. Now, I should mention here that I don’t speak a word of Portuguese. Before my trip, a dear friend of mine encouraged me to try a Caipirinha when I got to Brazil. Sitting in a white plastic chair on the beach, a waiter asked me what I wanted. Unsure of myself and what I was being asked, I blurted out, “Caipirinha.” A minute later, Brazil’s national drink was before me in an unassuming plastic cup. Taking that first drink, the world around me began to make a little more sense. My nerves began to ease, and this chosen journey of mine started to feel real.
Now, when I find myself longing for some exotic destination, I will reach into my liquor cabinet and make myself a Caipirinha. When I do, I find myself instantly transported back to a brief time when I escaped the bonds of the northern hemisphere and did something bold.
For this cocktail, I wanted to experiment with a variation of the traditional recipe, but I also didn’t want to stray too far. Stumbling around the internet, I found the recipe mentioned in the introduction.
For this home-cocktail-enthusiast, this recipe is still simple, but with the introduction of sweetness from the strawberries, it felt a little less hard than the traditional cocktail. Make no mistake, this is still a rum-forward drink. Cachaca still stands on center stage, but this variation feels more balanced and easier to drink.
I will probably drink Caipirinhas for the rest of my life. This recipe has motivated me to seek out other variations, but I will always return to the original. When life gets too busy or when travel cannot be satisfied immediately, Brazil’s official drink will always be there to deliver me to some distant shore, if only in my mind.
Be good to each other,
Nathan
As a member of the factory, you are taking a stand for human powered creation.
