Cocktail · Rum Cocktails

Caipirinha Recipe

Name: Caipirinha
Prep time: 3 min
Total time: 3 min
Yield: 1 drink
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: 60 ml Cachaça; 0.5 Lime; 2 tsp White sugar

Cachaça, lime and sugar. Brazil's national cocktail.

Cachaça

Base Spirit

~25%

Approx ABV

Easy

Difficulty

3 min

Prep Time

🥂 Rocks glass 🧊 Cracked or cubed Sharp, sweet, grassy

The Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail: fresh lime wedges muddled with sugar, topped with ice and cachaça, a Brazilian spirit distilled from fresh sugarcane juice. It is sharp, sweet, grassy and strong.

Ingredients

Makes

60 ml Cachaça
0.5 Lime Cut into 4 wedges
2 tsp White sugar

Garnish: None. The muddled lime stays in the glass

How to Make a Caipirinha

Cut half a lime into 4 wedges and remove the white central pith.
Put the wedges and sugar in a rocks glass.
Muddle firmly to release the juice and dissolve the sugar.
Fill the glass with cracked or cubed ice.
Pour in the cachaça and stir well from the bottom.

Best Bottles for a Caipirinha in India

Alternative

Bacardi White Rum

From ₹205 · ★ 7.2/10
No cachaça? White rum makes a Caipirissima

Budget

Old Monk White Rum

From ₹150 ·
A budget white rum for a Caipirissima

Alternative

Absolut Vodka

From ₹380 · ★ 7.8/10
Vodka makes a Caipiroska

Prices are the lowest listed India price and vary by state. Check each spirit page for the full state-wise table.

Tips for a Better Caipirinha

Cut out the white pith in the centre of the lime. It makes the drink bitter.
Use granulated or caster sugar, not syrup. The grains help extract oil from the lime skin as you muddle.
The drink is built and served in the same glass. Do not strain it.

About the Caipirinha

The Caipirinha comes from the state of São Paulo. One common account traces it to a folk remedy used around the time of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, a mix of cachaça, lime, garlic and honey. With the garlic removed and sugar in place of honey, it became a drink. Other historians link it to landowners around Piracicaba in the 19th century. The name is a diminutive of caipira, a word for someone from the countryside.

Cachaça itself dates to the 1500s and is distilled from fermented fresh sugarcane juice, not from molasses like most rum. That gives it a grassy, vegetal flavour.

Brazilian law has defined the Caipirinha since 2003 as a drink of cachaça, lime and sugar. It is an IBA official cocktail and is especially popular in Portugal, Germany and across continental Europe, where cachaça is widely sold. Interest in cachaça has grown again in the mid-2020s.

Caipirinha Variations

Caipiroska: vodka in place of cachaça.
Caipirissima: white rum in place of cachaça.
Sakerinha: sake in place of cachaça.
Fruit Caipirinha: muddle strawberries, passion fruit or kiwi with the lime.
Mojito: the Cuban relative, with rum, mint and soda.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in a Caipirinha?

A Caipirinha is made with 60ml (2 oz) cachaça, half a lime and 2 tsp white sugar. It is served in a rocks glass.

How strong is a Caipirinha?

Made to this recipe, a Caipirinha is about 25% ABV and contains roughly 19 g of pure alcohol. That is about 1.4 US standard drinks, 1.9 Australian standard drinks or 2.4 UK units. It has around 170 calories per serving.

What is cachaça?

Cachaça, pronounced ka-SHAH-sa, is a Brazilian spirit distilled from fermented fresh sugarcane juice. It is usually bottled at 38 to 48% ABV.

What is the difference between cachaça and rum?

Most rum is made from molasses, a by-product of sugar refining. Cachaça is made from fresh sugarcane juice, so it tastes grassier and more vegetal.

How do you pronounce Caipirinha?

Kai-pee-REEN-ya.

What can you use instead of cachaça?

White rum makes a Caipirissima and vodka makes a Caipiroska. An unaged agricole rum is the closest match in flavour.

Drink responsibly. The legal drinking age in India varies by state, from 18 to 25. Alcohol content shown is an estimate and changes with ice, dilution and the strength of the bottle you use. We do not sell alcohol.

About the Author

Shivam Sharma

I am the founder and editor of The Spirit Atlas. With a deep appreciation for fine spirits, I built this platform to be the most helpful and honest spirits guide for Indian readers — covering everything from Scotch and Indian single malts to rum, gin and tequila, along with prices across every major Indian state. My goal is simple: to make the world of spirits a little more approachable for everyone.

Last updated: October 2026