Cachaça (kah-SHA-sah), Brazil’s noble spirit, was invented nearly five hundred years ago, one hundred years before the founding of its Caribbean cousin, rum.

Here in the United States, cachaça is considered “Brazilian rum,” but don’t call it that in front of a Brazilian! Rum is distilled from molasses, while cachaça is a purer spirit, made from fresh cane juice, the purest product of sugar cane (molasses is the residue after the sugar crystals are extracted—read more about the levels of molasses).

The key ingredient in Brazil’s national cocktail, the Caipirinha (ky-puh-REEN-ya), cachaça is not only popular in its country of origin, and is the third most consumed spirit in the world (hmm—how much do they drink at Carnival, anyway?).

So, have a Caipirinha to celebrate the day as you chant the mantra: Cachaça is made from cane juice, rum from molasses. When you can no longer chant this quickly, you’ve had too many Capirihas—time to move on to the espresso bar.