[May] Pina Colada Cocktail Review 2025
Pina Colada Cocktail Review: The piña colada is a tropical drink known for being smooth, creamy, and sweet.
It’s usually made by mixing white rum, coconut cream, and fresh pineapple juice.
You can shake it or blend it with ice to make it cold and refreshing.
It’s often decorated with a slice of pineapple, a red cherry, or both to make it look fun and colorful.
This drink originally came from Puerto Rico and has become popular all around the world.
It gives you a taste of the islands in every sip. Some people like to change it up by adding different kinds of rum, fresh fruits, or even spices.
Whether you’re by the pool, at the beach, or at a party, the piña colada is a favorite drink that makes you feel relaxed and reminds you of a tropical vacation.
Also, check out the Detailed Negroni Cocktail Review 2025.
Pina Colada Cocktail Ingredients List
White rum
Crushed ice
Pineapple juice
Pineapple slice (for garnish)
Maraschino cherry (for garnish)
Pina Colada Cocktail Preparation
The Piña Colada is a famous tropical drink that has changed in many ways over time. One of the first known recipes comes from a book by José L. Díaz de Villegas. It talks about Monchito’s original version, which used 85 grams of coconut cream, 170 grams of pineapple juice, and 43 grams of white rum. These were blended with crushed ice and served with a piece of pineapple or a cherry.
Today, the International Bartenders Association gives a standard recipe: 5 cl of white rum, 3 cl of coconut cream, and 5 cl of pineapple juice. These are blended with crushed ice until smooth and served cold. Some people make it even simpler by just mixing the ingredients over ice in a glass.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, another version uses 1 oz of heavy cream, 6 oz of frozen pineapple juice, 1 oz of coconut cream, and 2 oz of rum. It’s blended and served in a 12-ounce glass with a cherry and a piece of pineapple.
Many other versions of the Piña Colada exist. People like to play around with the amount of each ingredient, the type of rum, and how it’s served. Some popular twists include frozen styles like the Lava Flow or Miami Vice, which mix a strawberry daiquiri with a Piña Colada. There’s also the Scotsman Colada, which uses Scotch instead of rum, and the Tepache Colada from Santurce, Puerto Rico, made with gold rum, tepache (a pineapple drink), and coconut cream.
These different styles show how flexible the Piña Colada is. From its Caribbean roots, it has become a fun and creative tropical drink enjoyed around the world.
Pina Colada Cocktail Culture
In the United States, people who love Piña Coladas celebrate National Piña Colada Day every year on July 10.
This day honors the sweet and creamy tropical drink. The Piña Colada became very popular in 1979 after Rupert Holmes released his famous song “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).”
The song talked about enjoying the drink and dreaming of a fun escape, which helped make it a big part of pop culture.
Years later, in 2023, the drink became popular again during the Eurovision contest.
Finnish rapper Käärijä sang about drinking Piña Coladas in his fun and lively song “Cha Cha Cha.”
The lyrics showed the drink as a way to relax and enjoy life after a hard week, followed by dancing and having fun.
This performance made many people in Finland interested in the drink again. It showed how music can still shape what people like to drink.
Whether it’s served at beach bars or mentioned in songs, the Piña Colada is still a favorite. Its mix of coconut and pineapple reminds people of fun, relaxation, and happy times.
Pina Colada Cocktail History
The origin of the piña colada, Puerto Rico’s beloved national drink, is steeped in rich history and folklore.
The earliest tale dates back to the 19th century, when Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresí is said to have boosted his crew’s spirits by serving them a concoction of coconut, pineapple, and white rum—an early version of what we now know as the piña colada.
After Cofresí’s death in 1825, the recipe vanished. The drink reappeared in various forms throughout the 20th century: in 1922, Travel magazine described it as a blend of sugar, lime, ice, pineapple juice, and Bacardi rum; by 1924, National Geographic noted a chilled pineapple beverage called “piña fría” in Puerto Rico.
In 1950, The New York Times referenced a piña colada from Cuba made with rum, pineapple, and coconut milk.
The cocktail’s modern identity began to take shape in 1954 when Professor Ramón López Irizarry of the University of Puerto Rico developed Coco López, a sweet coconut cream that became essential to the recipe.
Around the same time, Ramón “Monchito” Marrero, a bartender at San Juan’s Caribe Hilton Hotel, reportedly crafted the first modern piña colada using Irizarry’s product, a version he believed captured Puerto Rico’s essence.
Another Hilton bartender, Ricardo García, also claimed to have created it a year earlier, in 1953.
Later, Barrachina restaurant in San Juan asserted that Spanish bartender Don Ramón Portas Mingot invented the drink in 1963.
Despite these conflicting accounts, the drink’s significance is undeniable; it was officially declared Puerto Rico’s national drink in 1978 and continues to be celebrated globally as a symbol of tropical indulgence and island culture.
