Not headed down to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival this year? No worries - you can still have a little taste of the Brazilian festival at home with the Caipirissima cocktail. The drink is a simple, but delicious, combination of rum, lime juice and sugar. It is a take on a cocktail called the Caipirinha, which is sometimes referred to as the national drink of Brazil and is made with a liquor called Cachaça, which is distilled from pure cane syrup.

Cachaça is just finding its way around the US and is not as easily accessible as it eventually might be, given the increasing popularity of Brazilian drinks, so the rum alternative makes getting the flavors of Brazil into your glass much easier for the time being. Use white rum, for a lighter flavor and a cleaner looking drink. You'll also need a muddle to get the full flavors out of the lime.

The recipe, after the jump, gives directions for making a martini-like cocktail, but you can simply muddle the lime and sugar at the bottom of a regular glass, top with ice, rum and lime juice, and drink it that way, too.

One of the most refreshing tropical drinks in my book is Brazil's national cocktail, the caipirinha, made from cachaça, fresh lime juice and sugar. I don't know about you, but whenever I've tasted the white spirit distilled from freshly pressed sugarcane I was always disappointed to find that it scarcely resembled a premium rum. Not that anyone said that cachaça was supposed to resemble a small-batch rum, but I always had my hopes. God knows a premium rum is a beautiful thing.

So I was quite intrigued to learn from our sister blog, Luxist, about the launch of Cabana Cachaça, a double-distilled premium cachaça. The makers of this small-batch cachaça say it has a citrus nose and a smooth, round finish. What sets it apart from other cachaças is that is double-distilled in pot stills as opposed to column stills.

Apparently the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition thinks its pretty good. Cabana Cachaça took a silver medal there. I've a feeling that once I taste I'll be having it straight up instead of mixed.

Like true coffee addicts, the guys over at Forbes have scoured the globe looking for the most expensive coffees in the world. And we're not talking about specialty coffee drinks, but about the beans themselves. Starting off the list at $160 per pound is Kopi Luwak, which we have already heard about, since the berries are digested by civets before the bean is extracted and brewed. This is followed by Hacienda La Esmeralda (Panama, $104/lb), Island of St. Helena Coffee Company ($79/lb), El Injerto (Guatemala, $25-50/lb), Fazenda Santa Ines (Brazil, $50/lb), Jamaica Blue Mountain ($49/lb), Los Planes (El Salvador, $40/lb), Kona ($34/lb), Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon ($24/lb), Yauco Selecto AA (Puerto Rico, $22/lb), Fazenda Sao Benedito (Brazil, $21/lb).

Keep in mind that many beans in supermarkets (and cafes) are "Blue Mountain-style" or "Kona-style" and do not necessarily contain all of the beans that the name suggests, which is why prices in some venues appear to be lower. The Starbucks blend is worth noting because it is part of the company's Black Apron line, a selection of frequently changing premium coffees. Premium, however, doesn't always mean better, especially because several of the prices given here are for the green beans, and a good or bad roast is vital to achieving a quality cup of coffee from high quality beans.

Greenpeace is targeting European McDonald's as a catalyst for the destruction of the rain forest half a world away.  According to a report entitled "Eating up the Amazon," the eco-watchdog organization says that the soybeans that European fast food restaurants use to feed their chickens are grown in illegally deforested areas of the rain forest.

In Brazil, soybean farming has become so profitable that ranchers are selling off their now-valuable pasture land to farmers. The reason that this is illegal, says the group, is that there are regulations in Brazil that require landowners to keep 80 percent of their land forested. Once the ranchers have sold their cleared pasture land, they simply clear new land. Selling of chunks of their property means that they are keeping themselves under the 80 percent margin set by the government, but it does mean that the rain forest is getting smaller. There is also talk of ranchers and farmers using near-slave labor to harvest and tend the crops and an insinuation that the fast food companies might be simply turning away from the problem, if not outright promoting it.

A New Zealand company is using some unusual tactics to grab customers' attention. The Brazil cafe commissioned a company to create specialty branded trash cans to promote their coffees. The trash cans are shaped like coffee cups, complete with protective sleeve and stir stick, and shout "Coffee taste like crap?" insinuating that coffee drinkers should ditch their sub-par beverages and head for a Brazil location, to which the cans helpfully point the way. Located in a popular Auckland neighborhood with many independent cafes as well as corporate chains, the cans that were placed outside a Starbucks had their slogans removed by Starbucks employees who were unhappy about them. There is little doubt that the company wasn't a big fan, either.

[Image via Adrant]

Now that we know how foods gain acceptance, there are a few items poised to rise in the eyes of mainstream eaters in the upcoming year. Some of these are just making their way onto the plates of foodies, while others are already beginning to appear in widely available products. The popularity of all of these items is sure to rise over the coming 12 months.
Chimichurri is an Argentinean dipping sauce that has a spicy, intense flavor, though, like salsa, its ingredients and heat are highly customizable. Already a regular at high-end eateries, it is beginning to show up on mid-range menus, too.
Churrasco is a Brazilian style of barbeque in which fire grilled meats are both roasted on and served from a large skewer. The meal also usually includes tapas-like appetizers, which had gained tremendous popularity in the past few years.
Premium breads are fast making their way into homes across the country, with ordinary grocery stores carrying decent baguettes and fast food restaurants offering their sandwiches on ciabatta or artisan sourdoughs. There are whole chains of restaurants that have sprung up around artisan-style bread, indicating that it is only a matter of time before people can properly discern between French and focaccia.
Regional Mexican is developing the same way that knowledge of regional Italian developed over the past 40 years. Spices and dishes from the Yucatan and Oaxaca, including unusual spice rubs and moles, are fast gaining recognition as people begin to view Mexican food as having more than just meat, cheese and hard taco shells.
White Tea is high in antioxidants and has piggybacked into a larger recognition on the tailcoat of its well-known relative, green tea. Lacking the slightly grassy flavor of green tea, which skyrocketed into national sight after being widely publicized by Starbucks this year, white teas are being offered in increasing numbers by purveyors of tea.
Dulce de Leche is a creamy, caramel-like sauce made of sugar and condensed milk. Its rich taste and familiar appearance have led to a growing fondness for the treat, which has already appeared in many high end, but widely available ice creams.