The kitchen fills with the smell of burnt sugar, ginger and clove long before the cachaça goes in. Served in a mug with a slice of orange, it is sweet, sharp with ginger and warming right to the fingertips.
300 g
sugar for caramelising
17 oz
water
23¾ oz
cachaça unagede.g. Ypióca · Leblon · Sagatiba · Velho Barreiro · Pitú
30 g
ginger sliced and lightly crushed
1
orange peel from one orange, plus slices for serving
1
lime sliced
1
apple sliced
6
whole cloves
2
cinnamon stick
1
star anise (optional)
Garnish: Orange slice and cinnamon stick · Ice: Served up, no ice
Quentão
Sweet and caramelly with a sharp ginger heat, warm clove and cinnamon, and a gentle cachaça warmth. Moderately strong when served hot.
Quentão is the classic hot drink of the Festas Juninas, the June festivals held across Brazil around the feast days of Saint Anthony, Saint John and Saint Peter. They fall in the southern hemisphere winter, and bonfires, corn dishes, square dances and hot drinks belong to them. The name comes from quente, Portuguese for hot, and means something like the big hot one.
The base is almost always the same: sugar caramelised in a pot, then simmered with water, fresh ginger, cloves, cinnamon and citrus peel, before cachaça is added. In southern Brazil, especially in Rio Grande do Sul, the name is also used for a version based on red wine, closer to mulled wine. Every family has its own balance of sugar, spice and alcohol.
It comes from quente, Portuguese for hot, and roughly means the big hot one.
Traditionally during the Festas Juninas in June and July, the Brazilian winter festivals.
Yes, a light rum works, though cachaça gives the drink its grassy, typically Brazilian character.
The perfect sound
Spiced warmth around a bonfire in June.
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