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Recipe in Brazil: Ice-Cubes, white fine sugar, Cachaça, squeezed lemon
Recipe in Germany / Europe: Crashed ice, coarse brown sugar, Cachaça, squeezed lemon.
The difference is enormous. Made in the Brazilian way the Caipirinha is sweet and strong, made in the European way it is less strong, crispy and sour.
The use of brown sugar in Europe must give the cachaça a taste of sugarcane. Industrially produced cachaça often doesn't have it. The problem is that brown sugar can be made of beta and it doesn't have taste of sigarcane either. And it dissolves slower than white sugar so the drink becomes sweet when it's almost finished.
Source: German Wikipedia.
It's a good question, maybe an answer is on the fact the white sugar in Europe is not producted with cane but beet or other source. In Brazil white sugar used in caipirinha is made with cane.
Infact there is a big difference when used brown sugar. Crushed ice is not a good option because it dissolve too fast and the caipirinha became a lemon juice.
