In our recent episode about lessons learned from my time in Germany, I was puzzled over the popularity of the caipirinha, the famed cachaca and sugar-fueled cocktail from Brazil. It's popular in a lot of countries outside Brazil, and it's a perfectly good drink, especially on a hot day. But it's enormous in Germany, popular to the point that German brewers are bottling caipirinha-flavored drinks.

For American readers, it's very similar to the popularity of the cosmopolitan a few years back. Both are especially popular with large groups of younger women. Both have two-syllable nicknames for quick ordering at the bar, cosmo and caipi. But while the American version can largely be traced to Sex and the City episodes, I'm not sure why the caipirinha has such a hold in a country so far from Brazil. My theory was a Brazilian football/soccer star on one of the big German teams popularized it. Not the case. I have put the question to bartenders, barflies and even a spirits consultant. No one had a good answer.

But then the other day, Nancy Isenson, a journalist here, walked up to me, swearing she knew exactly why the  caipirinha has made it big in Germany. And indeed, she told me a story that offers the most plausible theory yet. Now, cocktail history is always difficult. As our pal Rachel Maddow pointed out last time she was on Sporkful, accurate records aren't kept by people who are drunk and getting drunker. So if anyone can add detail to this or offer another explanation, I would love to hear it in the comments.

Imagine Berlin in the early 1990s, when the fall of the Wall dividing the city was still a fresh memory. Nancy was living in a squat in present-day Mitte, long before the former East Berlin area became the posh destination it is today. A couple Brazilians lived there too. One day they decided to turn the dingy basement into a bar.

And the only drink they served?  The caipirinha. Nancy isn't sure where they got the cachaca, which was unknown in city liquor stores at that time. The guys charged a whopping 12 marks, an unbelievable price at the time, especially considering that the "bar" (called Favela, of course) was a dark, dank, rat-infested dump in a then lifeless area of the city.  

Yet well-heeled tourists poured in and packed the joint night after night. Other bars and clubs noticed. And slowly,  the caipirinha crept on to the menu of bar after bar.

So that's the best explanation I have heard so far and it comes from a reliable source. Eaters, we now turn to you. Do you buy the story? Did you visit Favela and down a caipirinha before the building was demolished? Better still, do you have pictures of the long-gone Berlin squat? Or do you have a different explanation for the unlikely popularity of the caipi in Germany? Tell all - the comment section awaits you. /mark

Photo: Flickr CC / nany mata