The piña colada (; es, piña , "pineapple", and , "strained") is a

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely acr ...

made with

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

cream of coconut Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ...

, and

pineapple juice Pineapple juice is a liquid made from pressing the natural liquid from the pulp of the pineapple (a fruit from a tropical plant). Numerous pineapple varieties may be used to manufacture commercial pineapple juice, the most common of which are ...

, usually served either blended or shaken with ice. It may be garnished with either a pineapple wedge,

maraschino cherry A maraschino cherry ( ) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usua ...

, or both. There are two versions of the drink, both originating in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

Etymology

The name ''piña colada'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

) literally means "strained pineapple", a reference to the freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice used in the drink's preparation.

History

Piña Colada plate in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

The earliest known story states that in the 19th century, Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresí, to boost his crew's morale, gave them a beverage or cocktail that contained coconut, pineapple and white rum. This was what would be later known as the famous piña colada. With his death in 1825, the recipe for the piña colada was lost. Historian Haydée Reichard disputes this version of the story. In 1950, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that "Drinks in the West Indies range from Martinique's famous rum punch to Cuba's pina colada (rum, pineapple and coconut milk)." The

Caribe Hilton Hotel The Caribe Hilton is located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is owned by Park Hotels & Resorts and managed by Hilton Worldwide. History In early 1946, as part of the Puerto Rican industrialization effort known as Operation Bootstrap, the Puerto ...

claims Ramón "Monchito" Marrero created the Piña Colada in 1954 while a bartender at the hotel. According to this account, Marrero finally settled upon the recipe for the Piña Colada, which he felt captured the true nature and essence of Puerto Rico. The hotel was presented with a proclamation in 2004 by Puerto Rico Governor Sila M. Calderón celebrating the drink's 50th anniversary. Barrachina, a restaurant in Puerto Rico, says that "a traditional Spanish bartender Don Ramon Portas Mingot in 1963 created what became the world's famous drink: the Piña Colada." In 1978, Puerto Rico proclaimed the cocktail its official drink.

Preparation

As recounted by his friends in José L. Díaz de Villegas's book, the original Monchito recipe was to pour 85 grams of cream of coconut, 170 grams of pineapple juice and 43 grams of white rum into a

blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

or shaker with crushed ice, blend or shake very well until smooth, then pour into chilled glass and garnish with pineapple wedge and/or a maraschino cherry. There are many recipes for piña colada. The

International Bartenders Association The International Bartenders Association (IBA), founded on 24 February 1951 in the saloon of the Grand Hotel in Torquay, England, is an international organisation established in order to represent the best bartenders in the world. An annual e ...

specifies it is: ;Ingredients * (5 parts)

white rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

* (3 parts) coconut cream * (5 parts)

;Method Mix with crushed ice in blender until smooth, then pour into a chilled glass, garnish and serve. Alternately, the three main components can simply be added to a cocktail glass with ice cubes. In

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

the recipe is: ;Ingredients * heavy cream * frozen freshly pressed pineapple juice * cream of coconut *

;Method Freeze pineapple juice before use. In a blender, combine cream of coconut, frozen pineapple juice, heavy cream and rum. Pour in a desired 12-ounce container and use a cherry and fresh pineapple for a garnish.

Variations

Different proportions of the core ingredients, as well as different types of rum, may all be used in the piña colada. Frozen piña coladas are also served. Other named variations include: * Amaretto colada – with additional

amaretto Amaretto (Italian for "a little bitter") is a sweet Italian liqueur that originated in Saronno. Depending on the brand, it may be made from apricot kernels, bitter almonds, peach stones, or almonds, all of which are natural sources of the benz ...

and heavy cream. * Angostura colada – with additional

angostura bitters Angostura bitters () is a concentrated bitters (herbal alcoholic preparation) based on gentian, herbs, and spices, by House of Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago. It is typically used for flavouring beverages or, less often, food. The bitters we ...

, lime juice, topped with whipped cream. * Chi chi – with

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

substituted for rum. * Lava Flow or Miami Vice – strawberry

daiquiri The daiquiri (; es, daiquirí ) is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum, citrus juice (typically lime juice), and sugar or other sweetener. The daiquiri is one of the six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury's classic '' The Fine Ar ...

and piña colada layered in one glass. * Virgin piña colada or piñita colada – without the rum, thus non-alcoholic. * Kiwi colada – with

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwif ...

(fruit and syrup) in place of pineapple juice. * Soda colada – resembles original recipe but soda is used instead of coconut milk * Kahlua colada – substitute Kahlua (coffee liqueur) for rum. * Scotsman colada – substitute Scotch for rum. *

Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...

– a cocktail consisting of equal parts Malibu (flavored rum) and pineapple juice served over ice. In flavor it resembles a Piña Colada (due to the coconut flavor of Malibu rum). As it does not require cream of coconut, it is thus more easily prepared in bars that lack the specialty ingredients and blender that a Piña Colada would typically require. * Caribou Lou – 1 oz of Malibu rum, 1.5 oz of 151 Proof Rum, and 5 oz of Pineapple Juice. Very strong. *

Blue Hawaiian The Blue Hawaiian or Swimming Pool is a Piña Colada with an added splash of blue curaçao to give it an orange flavor. It is made with light rum (e.g. Pineapple Malibu rum or white rum), blue curaçao, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and l ...

– differs from a piña colada mainly by including

blue Curaçao Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...

. * Tequila colada – made by substituting

tequila Tequila (; ) is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ('' Los Altos de Jalisco'') of the central western Mexican s ...

for rum. * Tepache colada – a piña colada variation using

tepache Tepache is a fermented beverage made from the peel and the rind of pineapples, and is sweetened either with ''piloncillo'' or brown sugar, seasoned with powdered cinnamon, and served cold. Though tepache is fermented for several days, the result ...

developed by JungleBird in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Recipe calls for 1.5 oz Gold Rum, 2 o oz Tepache and 1.5 oz Coconut Cream.

In popular culture

In the United States, National Piña Colada Day is celebrated on 10 July. The band 10cc refer to the drink in the song "Dreadlock Holiday" (it is styled on the lyric sheet as "Sinking pena calarta")

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from liv ...

refer to a piña colada in the lyrics of their 1975 song " Bad Sneakers," from their album ''

Katy Lied ''Katy Lied'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released in 1975 by ABC Records. It was certified gold and peaked at No. 13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" charted at No. 37. The album was the first after t ...

'': "Bad sneakers and a piña colada, my friend." The cocktail gained worldwide fame after

Rupert Holmes David Goldstein (born February 24, 1947), better known as Rupert Holmes, is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and " Him" (1980). ...

released his 1979 song "

Escape (The Piña Colada Song) "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" is a song written and recorded by British-born American singer Rupert Holmes for his album '' Partners in Crime''. As the lead single for the album, the pop song was recommended by ''Billboard'' for radio broadca ...

", which became a popular hit around the world. Jazz and

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though som ...

player

Chuck Mangione Charles Frank Mangione ( ; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player, voice actor, trumpeter and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother ...

likewise released a tune titled "Piña Colada" on his 1979 album '' Fun and Games''. The cocktail serves as part of the title of the

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

song "

Two Piña Coladas "Two Piña Coladas" is a song recorded by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released in March 1998 as the third single from his album '' Sevens''. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1998. A concert version is availa ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pina colada Caribbean drinks Cocktails with coconut Cocktails with pineapple juice Cocktails with rum Creamy cocktails Fruity cocktails Puerto Rican cuisine Sweet cocktails Three-ingredient cocktails