It's {Eco} Cocktail Time: Cheers to Cachaça!

Label designs by three artists: (left to right- Holly Wales, Milos Tchais, Jonathan Chadwick)

The Caipirinha - is the designated cocktail of Brazil! It has simple ingredients: Cachaça, limes, superfine sugar and crushed ice.

The primary ingredient is Cachaça, pronounced "KA SHA SA", the most popular distilled spirit in Brazil. Cachaça is often thought to be similar to rum, but rum is usually produced using molasses and Cachaça is produced using cane sugar juice.

Most of the Cachaça on the market is produced in Brazil. And we've found one that is organic and quite possibly has some of the best bottle graphics on tap anywhere. Abelha. Call us graphic-holics- but graphics reign!

What's special about Abelha? It's organic... no artificial chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used at any stage in the production. Also the fields of sugar cane aren’t burnt prior to harvest. This is common practice in the production of non-organic Cachaça and leads to major air pollution problems in sugar cane producing regions of Brazil.

Label illustration by Holly Wales

Abelha is distilled in "small batches", which means it is produced in a number of batches, instead of as a continuous process. This results in better control of the distillate. It is produced by smaller farms all around Brazil. The cachaça has more flavors, different scents like flowers, bananas, cut-grass, and is generally warmer on the tongue.

Label concept illustration by Jonathan Chadwick

The Caipirinha is the toast of the town this summer... so grab a "rocks" glass and chill with Brazilian flair and this week's eco coquetel -

Saude´!

The Caipirinha Recipe

Recipe and photo via irohner @ hubpages.com

Ingredients:

Cachaça*
Limes
Superfine sugar [organic if such a thing exists!]
Crushed ice
"Rocks" or "Old-Fashioned" glass
A pestle (from a mortar and pestle -- or something similar) for the muddling

Preparation:

1. Cut the ends off of the lime and discard.
2. Cut the lime in half lengthwise and cut out the white pith in the middle.
3. Cut the lime in half, and cut one half of the lime into four wedges and place in the glass. If your lime is small, you will need to add more lime to the glass.
4. Add one to three tablespoons of sugar. The amount of sugar depends on your personal taste as well as the size of the lime you are using.
5. Use the pestle to "muddle" the limes and sugar together. Basically, you want to crush the limes so that they mix in well with the sugar. Be careful not to break the skin of the lime. When you've gotten all of the juice out of the lime, you're done.
6. Pack crushed ice in the glass all the way to the top.
7. Add cachaça all the way to the top of the glass. (It's really only about 2 oz.)
8. Use a larger glass or bottom of a cocktail shaker and put it over the top of your drink. Shake very well for at least 15 seconds.
9. Garnish with a wedge of lime.
10. Drink...and enjoy the best Caipirinha!

* Note: The U.S. is the only country in the world which makes the Brazilians label their Cachaça as "Brazilian Rum"