Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Soft drinks
All the usual brands of
soft drinks
are available in
Brazil, but outshining them all is a local variety,
guaraná
, a fizzy and very sweet drink made out of
Amazonian berries. An energy-loaded powder is
made from the same berries and sold in health stores
in the developed world - basically, the effect is like a
smooth release of caffeine without the jitters.
salads and vegetables, as well as rice, manioc and
potatoes. However, they are often only open during
the day, as are the occasional vegetarian restaurants
(usually described as
restaurante natural
) that can
be found in the larger cities. Otherwise, you're up
against one of the world's most carnivorous
cultures. At most restaurants - even
churrascarias
-
huge salads are available but, if you're a vegan,
always enquire whether eggs or cheese are
included. If you get fed up with rice, beans and
salad, there are always pizzerias around.
Beer
Beer
is mainly of the lager type, though craft beers
made in microbreweries are becoming increasingly
popular in the South, São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
Brazilians drink beer ice-cold, mostly in 600ml bottles
or cans: ask for a
cerveja
. Many places only serve beer
on draught - called
chopp
. The best brands are the
regional beers of Pará and Maranhão, Cerma and
Cerpa, the latter available in good restaurants nation-
wide and called a
cerpinha.
The best nationally
available beers are Antárctica, Bohêmia and Brahma.
Drinks
Coffee
is the great national drink, served strong, hot
and sweet in small cups and drunk quickly. However,
coffee is often a great disappointment in Brazil: most
of the good stuff is exported, and what's available
tends to come so stiff with sugar that it's almost
undrinkable unless you order an
espresso
. By far the
best coffee is found in São Paulo and points south.
You are never far from a
cafézinho
(as these small
cups of coffee are known;
café
refers to coffee in its
raw state). The best way to start your day is with
café
com leite
, hot milk with coffee added to taste. Decaf-
feinated coffee is almost impossible to find in
restaurants, and di
cult even in delicatessens.
Brazil's herbal teas are surprisingly good. Try
chá
mate
, a strong green infusion with a noticeable
caffeine hit, or one of the wide variety of herbal
teas, most notably that made from
guaraná
berries.
One highly recommended way to drink
mate
is
using the
chimarrão
, very common in Rio Grande
do Sul: a gourd filled with
chá mate
and boiling
water, sucked through a silver straw. You will need
some practice to avoid burning your lips, but once
you get used to it, it is a wonderfully refreshing way
to take
mate
.
Wine
Brazilian wine
(
vinho
) is mostly mediocre and
sweet, though some of the wines produced in areas
of Italian settlement in the South are pretty good,
while sparkling wines can be excellent. The most
reliable, widely available Brazilian label is Miolo, a
smallish producer whose wines are found in good
supermarkets throughout Brazil. Keep an eye out
for the wines of the Casa Valduga and Don
Laurindo, as well as the truly outstanding Villa
Francioni label, a fragrant white produced near São
Joaquim in the highlands of Santa Catarina.
Commercial wine production has recently started in
Bahia's São Francisco valley, with some surprisingly
good results: the Miolo Shiraz can be found in many
supermarkets. Despite the undoubted improve-
ment in the quality of Brazilian wines in recent
years, however, imported wines from Chile and
Argentina (or Europe) remain more reliable, though
even the cheapest bottles are around R$35-40.
Fruit drinks
The great variety of
fruit
in Brazil is put to excellent
use in
sucos
: fruit is popped into a liquidizer with
sugar and crushed ice to make a delicious drink.
Made with milk rather than water, it becomes a
vitamina
. Most
lanchonetes
and bars sell
sucos
and
vitaminas
, but for the full variety you should visit a
specialist
casa de sucos
, which are found in most
town centres. Widely available, and the best option
to quench a thirst, are
suco de maracujá
(passion
fruit) and
suco de limão
(lime). In the North and
Northeast, try
graviola
,
bacuri
and
cupuaçu
. Sugar
will always be added to a
suco
unless you ask for it
sem açúcar
or
natural
; some, notably
maracujá
and
limão
, are undrinkable without it.
ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
THE RULES
There are no
licensing laws
in Brazil, so
you can get a drink at any time of day or
night - though
driving
after consuming
even a small amount of alcohol is strictly
forbidden. Drinking is allowed in
public
places
(and on the beach), though it is
banned in many football stadiums.
O
cially, the
legal drinking age
in
Brazil is 18.
