We Brazilians are often asked: How do you pronounce cachaça? What is it? How do you use cachaça?  So here is an article for y’all! Check it out:

 
Cachaça (you should pronounce it like KAH-SHA-SAH) is the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage here in Brazil and it is made exclusively in our country.

The liquor started to be popular somewhere between 1530 – 1550 among slaves and peasants during Brazil’s colonial period, where the sugarcane had been introduced to Brazil by our colonial motherland Portugal. The slaves back then would plant and harvest the sugarcane and with the leftovers they would ferment the sugar cane juice and boil it in order to create a more potent libation. According to one Brazilian law, a cachaça must have between 38% – 48% of alcohol in its composition and it must have a maximum of 6gr of sugar per liter, although sugary cachaça (cachaça adoçada) can have until 30gr of sugar.

Cachaça it’s similar to Run when it comes to its distillation: both can be unaged (white) and aged (gold). Its flavour depends of the type of the wood the barrel is made from. The biggest difference between Rum and Cachaça is that rum is made of molasses and cachaça is made of frensh sugar-cane and that’s why in some places cachaça is known as “Brazilian Rum”. The white cachaça is usually cheaper than gold cachaça because is commonly bottled right after distillation and this one is often used to prepare caipirinha and other drinks. The gold cachaça is aged up for 3 years and is meant to de drunk straight.

Brazilian people are known for being extremely creative in many situation and when it comes to cachaça Brazilians are very creative because there is over 2000 nicknames for it. Many of those names were created when cachaça was banned in Brazil. Some of the most unique nicknames are:  abre-coração (heart-opener), água-benta (holy water), bafo-de-tigre (tiger breath), andlimpa-olho (eye-wash). Some of the most famous brands are: Velho Barreiro, Pirassunga 51, Sagatiba, Pitu, Ypioca, Cachaça Havana and Cachaça Germana.

Now that you know more about our Cachaça, check it out our previous article about Caipirinha and dare yourself to prepare one.