Cocktail du jour: The Caipirinha

The warm summer sun and clear blue skies make me crave beachy cocktails.  Though I've never been to Rio, I have tasted plenty of limey and delicious caipirinhas (pronounced:kai-pee-reen-ya). Cue the bossa nova tunes, throw on your swimsuit and sarong...here's the scoop on these sweet and tart libations.  You'll be on Copacabana in no time!

Like a Brazilian version of a true daiquiri, these refreshing drinks are so simple to make and easy to sip.  Made with cachaça, a form of sugar-cane derived rum native to Brazil, the caipirinha is the perfect complement to a summer evening.

How to:

2 fl. oz. Cachaça
Half a lime, quartered
2 tsp. "raw" or turbinado sugar

 
Place lime wedges and sugar in a glass. With a muddler press down and twist the limes to release the juice (and the oils from the peel). Add crushed ice, then cachaça and stir.   

A few of these cocktails (well, actually one is pretty darn strong, my friends) and you'll be shakin' your boom boom like the girl from Ipanema.  Cheers (or for those of you who are fluent in Portuguese: A sia saide!).