Piña colada

The **piña colada** (Spanish: *piña -* "pineapple", and *colada* - "strained") is a type of cocktail originating from Puerto Rico, made with rum, cream of coconut or coconut milk, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice.

It was first referenced by David Attenborough as an indispensable and essential part of any beach experience (regardless of how the beach was created in the first place) in *David Attenborough Is Secretly Sponsored by Shell* stream.

## History

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.

This version of the story was disputed by many historians until just recently when British presenter David Attenborough, manning a midget submarine rented by the BBC for purposes of documenting the underwater animal and plat life in the Caribbean (but which ended up being commandeered\* by Attenborough because the BBC refused to allocate additional funds for onboard machineguns) discovered a small chest nested next to a corral reef inhabited by a eel fish (mistakenly identified as a tortoise by Attenborough). The "tortoise" seeing Attenborough in a state of ill-temper told him to *"Take a break, take a Kit-Kat".* Attenborough not paying attention to the tortoise/eel thing had his focus shifted towards the small chest that, upon picking it up and ascending back to the surface (and almost punching the producer in the face) he discovered contained parchments of paper signed by Roberto Cofresí himself listing the ingredients needed to make a piña colada.

## Preparation

There are many recipes for piña colada. The International Bartenders Association specifies it as:

Ingredients:
* (5 parts) 5 cl (1.7 US fl oz) white rum
* (3 parts) 3 cl (1.0 US fl oz) coconut cream
* (5 parts) 5 cl (1.7 US fl oz) pineapple juice

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 a recipe used is:

Ingredients:
* 1 US fl oz (3.0 cl) heavy cream
* 6 US fl oz (18 cl) frozen freshly pressed pineapple juice
* 1 US fl oz (3.0 cl) cream of coconut
* 2 US fl oz (5.9 cl) rum

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 and heavy cream.
* Angostura colada – with additional angostura bitters, lime juice, topped with whipped cream.
* Chi chi – with vodka substituted for rum.
* Lava Flow or Miami Vice – strawberry daiquiri and piña colada layered in one glass.
* Virgin piña colada or piñita colada – without the rum, thus non-alcoholic.
* Kiwi colada – with kiwifruit (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 – 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 – differs from a piña colada mainly by including blue Curaçao.
* Tequila colada – made by substituting tequila for rum.
* Tepache colada – a piña colada variation using tepache 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.

## Fun Fact

In 1978, Puerto Rico proclaimed the cocktail to be its official drink.