Recipe
Here’s how to make a classic piña colada: the sophisticated, grown up version of this tropical drink!
Ingredients
1 ½ cups frozen pineapple
1 ½ cups ice
5 ounces (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons) aged rum
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cream of coconut (not coconut cream; see notes*)
4 ounces (½ cup) pineapple juice
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lime juice
For the garnish: cocktail cherry
Instructions
Blend pineapple and ice until chunky. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve garnished with a cocktail cherry and drink umbrellas.
Classic Piña Colada
When it comes to frozen cocktails, the piña colada is iconic. It’s got those 1990’s chain restaurant vibes, and it’s hard to find a resort that doesn’t have on on the menu. But did you know it’s actually a classic cocktail invented in the 1950’s? Unfortunately many restaurant versions and bottled mixes stray from the essence of the real thing. What ingredients are really in this tropical frozen mixed drink? Here’s how to make a piña colada…the classic way!
Piña colada ingredients
The piña colada is a popular classic cocktail invented in Puerto Rico made with pineapple juice, rum, and coconut, served blended or with crushed ice. The name means “strained pineapple” in Spanish. The original drink was invented in San Juan in 1954 by a bartender named Ramón “Monchito” Marrero. It became an instant favorite and was declared the official drink of Puerto Rico in 1978.
This drink is on the list of International Bartender Association’s IBA official cocktails, which means it has an official definition. Our spin on the classic has two additional ingredients. The piña colada ingredients are:
Rum
Cream of coconut (not coconut cream)
Pineapple juice
Ice
Frozen pineapple
Lime juice
The IBA definition of a piña colada is the first three ingredients. Lime juice is traditionally added by many bartenders to add even more tangy flavor. We added frozen pineapple here to enhance the frozen texture and heighten the pineapple flavor.
Cream of coconut vs coconut cream
Here’s an important note about the piña colada ingredients: buy cream of coconut, not coconut cream. What’s the difference between these similar sounding products? A lot. Here’s what to know about cream of coconut vs coconut cream:
Coconut cream is made from chilling coconut milk and then skimming off the layer of cream that floats to the top. It is very thick and tastes like coconut, but is not sweetened. It’s typically sold in cans next to the coconut milk.
Cream of coconut is coconut cream with lots of sugar added. It’s used to sweeten tropical drinks like a classic piña colada and is sold in handy squeeze bottles. Cream of coconut is easy to find online or at your local liquor store. A popular brand is Coco Real. More popular coconut cocktails use this ingredient, too: try the Painkiller, Chi Chi, Coconut Martini or Bushwacker.
Aged rum gives the best flavor to a piña colada
Many piña colada recipes call for white rum, or both white rum and aged rum. But want to have the best flavor in your piña colada? Make it with just aged rum! Here’s why:
Aged rum is also known as golden rum, amber rum, or añejo rum (meaning “aged”). Aging gives it a complex flavor, more like a Cognac. It has undertones of vanilla, coconut, almond, citrus, or caramel. The aged rum we used here was Brugal Añejo Rum.
White rum is more straightforward in flavor, with less nuance. It gives more of a classic rum “burn” to this piña colada. But it tastes great and you can use it if that’s all you have on hand!
Source: (https://www.acouplecooks.com/pina-colada/)
