Modern Classics: Piña Colada

Yes I like Piña Coladas / And getting caught in the rain
I’m not much into health food / I am into champagne — Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

I secretly adore Piña Coladas and will usually order one if I see them on the menu. Bida Manda, an amazing Laotian restaurant in Raleigh, has one of the freshest Piña Coladas, which is served over ice and garnished with a tiny umbrella. The basic recipe for a Piña Colada contains rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream. I combined a couple of different recipes to include lime juice and Angostura bitters, which help balance out the slightly artificial sweetness from the cream of coconut.

Before starting, here are some tips and tricks on making a delicious Piña Colada:

• Use canned coconut cream or cream of coconut. It’s difficult to find fresh coconuts and extracting coconut meat to make a cocktail is not worth it.
• Cream of coconut (used below) is pre-sweetened, but you can also skim the cream off of the top of full-fat coconut milk and add simple syrup to taste.
• Store leftover cream of coconut in a mason jar and keep in the fridge.
• For the pineapple juice, you can either use cold-pressed pineapple juice or blend chunks of pineapples and strain through a sieve.
• Pour leftover pineapple juice into an ice mold and keep in the freezer for later use.
• Order tiny umbrellas online! I combed through 4 different stores and couldn’t find any for today’s post.
• The recipe below can also be shaken and served over ice.

Piña Colada Recipe (1 serving)

• 2 oz. aged rum
• 1.5 oz. cream of coconut (recommend Coco López brand)
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 0.5 oz. lime juice
• 8 oz. ice cubes
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• Optional: Wedge of fresh pineapple for garnish

Equipment

• Blender
• Jigger
• Citrus press
• Wine glass

Directions

1. Crush the ice cubes in a blender until the ice looks like tiny pebbles
2. Use the citrus press to juice the lime and add the juice directly in the blender
3. Add pineapple juice, cream of coconut, rum, and Angostura bitters into the blender
4. Blend on the smoothie setting until the ingredients come together into a thick smoothie-like consistency
5. Pour the mixture into a wine glass
6. To garnish, add a pineapple wedge and serve with a straw

Cheers!