Caipirinha
A Caipirinha is 60ml of cachaça poured over one lime cut into eight pieces and muddled firmly with four teaspoons of caster sugar for 20 to 30 seconds, in a rocks glass filled with crushed ice and stirred briefly. About 2.4 UK units. The measures match the IBA’s. It is Brazil’s national drink, declared part of Brazilian cultural heritage in 2003. Nobody recorded who first made it. The usual credit goes to farmers in the São Paulo countryside in the nineteenth century, and the name is the diminutive of caipira, a word for country people from that state. Cachaça is what makes it. It is made from fresh sugarcane juice, where most rum starts from molasses, and it brings a grassy, green edge that the lime and sugar frame rather than cover.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: None; serve with a short straw
Ingredients
60ml
Unaged cachaça, here taken at 40% ABV. Its grassy, vegetal edge is the drink; an aged one brings wood that fights the fresh lime.
1
One whole ripe lime, cut into eight pieces and muddled in the glass with the sugar. The oil from the peel matters as much as the juice.
4 teaspoons
Fine white sugar, added straight onto the lime before muddling. The crystals scour the peel and draw out its oil, which a syrup cannot do. The IBA specifies white cane sugar.
Instructions
Cut a lime into eight pieces and place them in a rocks glass.
Add four teaspoons of caster sugar over the lime.
Muddle firmly for 20 to 30 seconds, pressing and twisting, until the lime has released its juice and the sugar has begun to dissolve.
Fill the glass with crushed ice.
Pour the cachaça over the ice.
Stir briefly and serve with a short straw.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; caster sugar for the IBA’s white cane sugar, crushed ice for cracked, and the lime muddled firmly; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Muddle firmly for 20 to 30 seconds. You are pressing oil from the peel as well as juice from the flesh, so press and twist rather than grind. Too little and the drink is thin; grind the pith and it turns bitter. Use caster sugar, not syrup. The crystals scour the peel and draw out its oil, and a little undissolved sugar at the bottom of the glass is how the drink is meant to look. Choose a ripe lime, heavy for its size with a little give. A hard lime yields less juice and less oil.
Behind the Caipirinha
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
Nobody recorded who made the first Caipirinha. It is usually credited to landowning farmers around Piracicaba, in the São Paulo countryside, in the nineteenth century. Another story links it to a remedy of lemon, garlic and honey given to flu patients around 1918. Neither is documented.
What is on record is more recent. The Caipirinha was declared part of Brazil’s cultural heritage in 2003, and in 2019 it was recognised as intangible heritage of Rio de Janeiro.
What Cachaça Is
Cachaça is a Brazilian spirit made from fresh sugarcane juice, fermented and distilled. Most rum begins with molasses, the syrup left after sugar is refined, which is why cachaça tastes greener and grassier. Unaged cachaça is the one for a Caipirinha; aged in wood it picks up vanilla and spice that fight the fresh lime.
The Lime and the Sugar
One whole lime, cut into eight pieces. Smaller pieces give the muddler more surfaces to press, and the oil from the peel matters as much as the juice. A ripe lime, heavy for its size with a little give, yields more of both.
Four teaspoons of caster sugar go straight onto the lime. The crystals scour the peel as you press and dissolve slowly into the juice; a little left at the bottom of the glass is normal. Limes vary, so taste and adjust the sugar on the second drink.
Muddling and Ice
Press firmly for 20 to 30 seconds, pressing and twisting rather than grinding, until the lime has softened and the sugar has begun to wet. Ground pith is bitter, and once it is in the drink it stays there.
Then crushed ice, to the top of the glass. It chills the drink quickly and melts into it as it settles, softening the cachaça, and a brief stir brings the sugar and lime up through the ice.
The IBA and Ours
The Caipirinha at the IBA and in our glass
Cachaça
- IBA
- 60ml
- Ours
- 60ml, unaged
Lime
- IBA
- One, cut into small wedges
- Ours
- One, cut into eight pieces
Sugar
- IBA
- Four teaspoons of white cane sugar
- Ours
- Four teaspoons of caster sugar
Muddling
- IBA
- Gently
- Ours
- Firmly, 20 to 30 seconds, press and twist
Ice
- IBA
- Cracked
- Ours
- Crushed
Glass
- IBA
- Double old fashioned
- Ours
- Rocks glass
Garnish
- IBA
- None
- Ours
- None; a short straw
| Element | IBA | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Cachaça | 60ml | 60ml, unaged |
| Lime | One, cut into small wedges | One, cut into eight pieces |
| Sugar | Four teaspoons of white cane sugar | Four teaspoons of caster sugar |
| Muddling | Gently | Firmly, 20 to 30 seconds, press and twist |
| Ice | Cracked | Crushed |
| Glass | Double old fashioned | Rocks glass |
| Garnish | None | None; a short straw |
How to Serve It
In the glass it was built in, filled with crushed ice, with a short straw and no garnish beyond the muddled lime already in it.
For white rum, lime and sugar shaken and served up, make a Daiquiri; for the same with mint and soda, a Mojito.
Make it at home
The Spirit
CachaçaCachaça is Brazil's cane spirit, distilled from fermented fresh sugar cane juice instead of molasses, which gives it a grassy, green taste. Brazilian law reserves the name for spirit made in Brazil at 38 to 48% ABV with no more than six grams of sugar per litre. It is the base of the Caipirinha; our two recipes assume 40%.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Caipirinha?
Is cachaça the same as rum?
Can I use simple syrup instead of sugar?
What does cachaça taste like?
Does cachaça go bad once opened?
How long should I muddle a Caipirinha?
Crushed ice or cubes?
How strong is a Caipirinha?
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Mojito
A Mojito is 45ml of white rum, 20ml of fresh lime juice, two teaspoons of white cane sugar and six sprigs of mint, built in a highball. The mint is pressed gently with the sugar, the glass is filled with cubed ice, the rum and lime go in, and 75 to 100ml of chilled soda water tops it. About 1.8 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures. The IBA only says to top up with soda, so the 75 to 100ml is ours. Press the mint once or twice and stop. Torn leaves make the drink bitter and grassy, and that, more often than the rum, is why a Mojito disappoints. The sugar grains help: they bruise the surface of the leaf as you press, and the lime then carries the oil through the glass.
Daiquiri
A Daiquiri is 60ml white rum, 20ml fresh lime juice and two bar spoons of caster sugar. Stir the sugar into the rum and lime in the shaker until it dissolves, then add ice, shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain into a chilled coupe. About 2.4 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and its method dissolves the sugar first too. The name belongs to Daiquirí, an iron-mining district and beach near Santiago de Cuba. The drink is usually credited to Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer in Cuba around the Spanish-American War of 1898. Constantino Ribalaigua Vert later refined and popularised it in Havana at El Floridita. With three ingredients and no liqueur or bitters, the Daiquiri hides nothing. A flat rum, tired lime or undissolved sugar shows in the first sip.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026