Cachaça is a strong drink and is also known as the Brazilian rum. Like rum, it is made from sugar cane, but instead of molasses (a by-product of refined sugar cane), freshly squeezed sugar cane juice is used as the base. This makes the taste slightly different from rum, namely slightly sharper.

Just like a whiskey in Brazil, you have a variety of flavors depending on the aging time and barrels. The cachaça is also used as a base for liqueurs. The chachaça de jambu is an example of this.  

Cachaça is booming in Brazil. The Caipirinha is the cocktail of Brazil and every year huge amounts of cachaça are produced and consumed in Brazil. But a very small part of the production is exported to other countries.