Strawberry & Basil Caipirinha

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (34 ratings)

Serve in a Highball (max 10oz/300ml)

Ingredients:
12 fresh Lime (fresh) chopped
3 barspoon Powdered sugar (white sugar ground in mortar and pestle)
3 fresh Strawberries (hulled, small & ripe)
3 fresh Basil leaves
2 oz Cachaça from freezer
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Highball (max 10oz/300ml) glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of stirrer (spoon, wooden lolly stick or stick cut from sugar cane).
  3. Cut lime in half (from pole to pole) and then slice one of the halves into eight 3-4mm thick half-moon shaped segments and drop into the base of a robust rocks glass.
  4. Add 3 bar spoons powdered sugar [or 15ml (½oz) sugar syrup 2:1] and MUDDLE.
  5. Add strawberries and basil, and MUDDLE some more.
  6. When sure fruit juice is fully extracted and the sugar dissolved, transfer the muddled fruit and sugar into serving glass (preferably a 30cl / 10oz highball glass).
  7. POUR cachaça (stored in the freezer) into the rocks glass (used to muddle) and swirl to rinse glass before pouring cachaça into serving glass. STIR to combine all ingredients.
  8. Fill glass with ice. (If using large ice cubes, crack (rather than crush) four to five large ice cubes using an ICE TAPPER and drop into serving glass.)
  9. STIR before topping with more ice.
  10. Garnish with stirrer and serve without a straw.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 5/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 4/10
Cocktail of the day:

12th June 2025 is International Cachaça Day

Review:

Succulent ripe strawberries are delicious in a Caipirinha but so much better with basil.

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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8th April 2024 at 15:02
Tried this with blueberry gin instead of cachaca and blackcurrant syrup instead of sugar. So good! Thanks!
27th January 2024 at 20:20
This is a superb drink and elevates a regular caipirinha into something else. I used cachaca 51 which is pretty rough but the basil and strawberry really stand up to it. Try it
David Porter’s Avatar David Porter
17th September 2022 at 19:31
Yep but now thinking 10ml Framboise rather than 15:)
Complicated business this cocktail making
David Porter’s Avatar David Porter
16th September 2022 at 19:58
You (Difford) would probably stick with the full 60ml of Cachaça?
David Porter’s Avatar David Porter
16th September 2022 at 19:55
Strangely was experimenting with a Strawberry caipirinha before I saw this recipe. I used 4 Strawberries which I agree is probably too much, however substituted 15ml of framboise for 10ml of the cachaça; to balance this I put in 2 or three spots of good balsamic vinegar (like you do with bitters). Worked well as just gave a sweet but sour edge. Think it would work WITH the basil as well. Give it a go and tell me what you think?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
17th September 2022 at 09:55
So perhaps a “Strawberry Basil Caipirinha”. Just to check, your recipe? ½ fresh Lime, 3 fresh Strawberries, 3 fresh Basil leaves, 15ml Framboise, 1.25ml Balsamic vinegar, 60ml Cachaça
Florian Ruf’s Avatar Florian Ruf
13th August 2022 at 13:10
By making this nice summerly cocktail I had an interesting experience. Doing two cocktails side by side one of them was significantly better than the other. It seems that slight deviations can make a big difference