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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Killer Drinks

One of the good features of visiting Brazil was being introduced to new drinks - so I can have an alternative to chocolate martinis! The winners so far were the caipirinha and a nice hot cup of chimarrão. I came home equipped to make both.

Walking around Gramado last Sunday it was interesting to note the number of people wandering the streets sipping chimarrão and carrying flasks of hot water to top it up. Despite fine illustrated instructions (and the Google translation is most amusing) my first attempt at chimarrão was significantly bitter and strong compared with the ones kindly offered to me in Porto Alegre, probably because the water was too warm. Chimarrão is made with mate leaves (which seem to include a good deal of powder) and I think the skill of getting it suitably positioned in the cuia may take time to develop. Drinking mate tea is not a new experience but the use of the leather cup (cuia) and the metal straw with built-in straining filter (the bomba) brings a new dimension to things!

The kick delivered by the caipirinhas I drank last week was also memorable. The caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil and I kept being asked if I liked it. Fortunately I did - it's like a mojito with no mint, made either with cachaça (a fairly raw spirit made from cane sugar, the hillbilly descendent of rum) or vodka (in wchich case it's called a caipiroska). The recipe on the kit I was given by the kind folks at Sun Brazil is pretty relaxed - crush a lime (cut into 8) into sugar in the bottom of a short glass, top the glass of with cachaça and add three ice-cubes. Watch for reports of progress on this one too :-)

posted at 9:43 PM (UK) | |