The piña colada is a popular tropical drink made with rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream. The recipe can vary, but it is typically blended with ice and garnished with fruit. Its origins are unclear, but it is now the official drink of Puerto Rico.
Perhaps some cocktail recipes define a tropical drink as a piña colada, a mixed drink made with rum, ice, pineapple juice and coconut cream. This refreshing cocktail rivals the frozen daiquiri in popularity among drinkers vacationing in exotic ports and Caribbean-style resorts. A well-blended drink combines the sweetness of pineapple and coconut with the sugary undertones of rum in a chilled slurry of crushed ice.
A typical piña colada recipe calls for a pour of 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of rum, which can be light, dark, golden, or coconut-infused. The next ingredient is a generous supply of strained pineapple juice or the blended pulp of chopped pineapple. Some bartenders with access to fresh pineapples can blend freshly cut sections as well. The name piña colada literally means “dried pineapple”.
The next ingredient is a controversial issue among bartenders. Some recipes call for coconut milk, a thin liquid extracted from coconut meat, while others call for cream of coconut, a thicker, processed coconut product available at many grocery stores. If using coconut milk, some recipes suggest adding condensed milk as a thickener and stabilizer. The cream of coconut should be thick enough to survive the mixing process without separating.
All of these ingredients, along with a supply of cubed ice, are placed in a blender and blended until smooth. The finished drink is then poured into a large glass and garnished with fruit such as cherries and sectioned pineapple. A variation that uses vodka instead of rum is known as a Chi-Chi, and a carefully combined daiquiri/piña colada cocktail is called the Miami Vice.
The origins of the drink are shrouded in mystery. The pineapple juice itself can be served strained or unrestricted, just as orange juice is strained for the pulp. This soft drink would have been referred to as a piña colada on its own by local residents. The first recipe for an alcoholic drink called a piña colada appeared in the early 1920s, but it bears little resemblance to the modern frozen cocktail. Numerous nightclubs and bars in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean locations claim to have invented the first modern version, but these claims have been difficult to verify.
The pina colada is now the official drink of Puerto Rico.
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