Brazil: Beverages & Drinks

In complement to the posts related to Brazil Food Culture, I list a couple of beverages and drinks beyond cachaça and caipirinha to taste during your Brazilian trip. Beers in Brazil are not the best ones in my opinion, full of water except the craft beers, so I don’t go further except mentioning the brands of Brahma, Skol, Antarctica, Itaipava as some of the most popular if you’re curious to taste.

Guaraná

Guaraná is a fruit originally from the Amazon region, and the name for the beverage sweet like a cream soda made with this fruit consumed all over Brazil. The most popular guarana beverage is Guaraná Antarctica, found around the world following the Brazilian diaspora. If you travel to the south, especially to the state of Santa Catarina, you have to taste Guaraná Pureza, the best guarana beverage you will ever drink. And if you travel to the state of Maranhão, where you find the sand dune pools, taste the Guaraná Jesus.

Coffee

Brazilian coffee is one the best ones in the world, and you need to taste the homemade coffee prepared boiling water at a kettle (chaleira), then add the coffee into a coffee strainer (coador) in the coffee pot named ‘bule’. The smell of the coffee is amazing, something you will never feel with a coffee made from a machine.

Garapa

Garapa or caldo de cana is the sugar cane juice, made by squeezing sugar cane into a machine, also popular in other Latin American countries and India. It’s usually found at local markets and is one of the best drinks for a long day trip due to its nutritious value.

Cachaça

Cachaça is the sugarcane spirit that more or less remembers the rum. It’s a very strong spirit, with a burning smell, even sipping only a shot. There are many varieties according to the added ingredients and distillery processes. I prefer to use to prepare a caipirinha.

Caipirinha

Caipirinha is already familiar for many travelers, found at many of the bars around the world. The drink has an interesting story as it started as a medicine drink for flu, it helps to forget you’re sick, I guess. And there is also the vodka version, the caipiroska.

Quentão

After talking about cachaça and caipirinha, I remember about the quentão, a hot drink made either with cachaça or wine that is popular in traditional festivals such as the June Festival. Its taste is similar to the gluhwein that is present at many Christmas markets and festivals in Europe.

Chimarrão

If you are in southern Brazil, it’s not difficult to see locals drinking chimarrão, the name we give to the mate that is also popular in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. Consumed by the Guarani indigenous populations, it was largely adopted by the European immigrants who settled in this region. However, the yerba mate drunk in Brazil is greener and finer than the ones you see in Argentina and Uruguay.

If you are thinking about what to eat in Brazil, you find other articles describing a list of main course dishes, snacks & sandwiches, and sweets, fruits & desserts you can taste during your holiday.

Originally posted 2020-09-12 03:21:47.