Many visitors with an inkling will be under the impression that the drink most often served in "Brazilian" bars outside of Brazil, the caipirinha, is the drink of choice here. After years of nights at Sounds of Brazil (or S.O.B.'s) in New York City I certainly had that impression. And I was almost disappointed to find that the most common alcoholic beverage served here is beer. But then that's not such a bad thing.

Brazilian beer is (or should be anyway) served ice-cold (bem gelada). And it goes down well on those hot, starlit nights; or those long hot afternoons on the beach. And if it's Carnival, it can even go down well on those brilliantly lit mornings.

The two big national brands are Brahma and Antarctica. Brahma, in this context, has nothing to do with India by the way. The name is an acronym having to do with its German origins. Though Brahma is the bigger seller, in the estimation of most people who ever stop to think about it Antarctica is generally thought to be superior. I'm of that opinion, though if the Brahma is good and cold I have no qualms about drinking it. If anybody tries to sell you Schincariol run the other way. It's terrible. And if they have the temerity to try to sell you Dias D'Avila, hit them with a chair. I'm surprised that they even have the courage to call it beer.

If you spend anytime hanging out in Pelourinho, and most vistors do, watch out for the cravinho. Cravinho, or cravo, is made by soaking clove (cravo) in cachaça (the standard Brazilian sugar-cane based alcohol) and sweetening it with sugar. It's cheap, delicious, and deadly. It takes very little to knock one for a big loop, so remember that as you're going "Mmmm..." and thinking about heading over for another one.

Another drink served at the little stands in Pelourinho (and which can be found at all the festas as well) is the capeta. A capeta is, literally, a devil. A good capeta is made with chocolate, ground peanuts, condensed milk, vodka (usually cheap, but you can ask for Smirnoff or Orloff and hope that that's actually what's in the bottle), and guaraná. Guaraná is a powder derived from ground seeds and it's an upper, kind of like coffee. Capetas make good Carnival drinks.

Getting back to the caipirinha (the name means little hillbilly, by the way), it is basically a daiquiri except that the rum is replaced by cachaça, the standard Brazilian sugarcane-based rocket fuel. And unlike the United States, where "mix" is used to provide the lime-flavor, real crushed limes and sugar are used here (presumably as in the original daiquiris).

A note about cachaça: The standard brand one sees served in the U.S. and Europe is "Pitu" (prawn, hence the logo). Pitu is just about the worst cachaça available in Brazil; it goes for about a buck a bottle, literally. A step up is "51", "A good idea!" according to their advertising. I don't know about that, but it's a better one than Pitu.

The best cachaça is reputed to come from the state of Minas Gerais, and a lot of barzinhos serve cachaça brewed in the interior of Bahia, in the pequenas cidades (small towns) or on the roça ("out in the sticks" is the best way I can think of to translate it), and this cachaça is commonly poured from unmarked glass bottles or even big plastic jugs. It is quite often, in great contrast to appearances, of very good quality (though you can't depend on that).

A very popular variation on the caipirinha is the caipiroska, which is a caipirinha with the cachaça substituted by vodka. And with Brazil's surfeit of tropical fruits, there are numerous variations on this theme, wherein other fruits take the place of lime (or limão).

Cafezinho in Praça da Piedade

What is this contraption? It's a cafezinho cart. "Cafezinho" is "little coffee", and Brazilians tend to be fond of their cafezinhos, generally taken several times throughout the day. These particular cafezinhos come to you!

The thermoses hold black coffee with sugar (preto, or puro), coffee with milk and sugar (com leite e açucar), and hot chocolate (Nescau). Cigarettes (cigarros) can also be bought, and sometimes chewing gum and candy as well. Most of these carts also carry their own ambience via a jammin' radio or tape player. Price for a coffee? Thirty centavos is the going rate.