1954 Invention · Official Drink of Puerto Rico
Piña Colada
Photo: El Nuevo Doge / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
It has official government status — Puerto Rico's legislature named it the island's national drink in 1978, and the San Juan hotel bar that claims to have invented it in 1954 still serves the original recipe today.
The piña colada blends rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice with ice into a thick, sweet, frothy drink, credited to bartender Ramón 'Monchito' Marrero at San Juan's Caribe Hilton in 1954. It's sold everywhere from beachfront kiosks to street bars across Puerto Rico, usually in a tall glass with a pineapple wedge.
Why it's made this way: Few street drinks anywhere have as documented an invention story or as official a status — Puerto Rico's own legislature formally named it the island's national drink.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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