Virgin Piña Colada

Cream of coconut, the sweetened kind sold in a can for exactly this. Coconut milk is thin and unsweetened and will give you a watery drink. Unsweetened coconut cream sits between the two and needs about 15 ml of sugar syrup to work. Shake the can hard before opening.

Coconut fat sets solid below roughly 24°C (76°F), so a cold can comes out in lumps and never emulsifies. Stand the tin in warm water for a few minutes and stir it smooth before measuring. Then blend or shake hard enough to force the fat and the juice together.

No. Shaking hard with ice and pouring over crushed gives a looser, colder drink that plenty of people prefer to the slushy version. Use the blender when you want it thick enough to stand a straw in, and use one cup of ice, not two, or it goes bland.

Sixty milliliters of white rum turns this into the full version without rebuilding anything else. A split of 45 ml white and 15 ml aged gives more depth. Add it before you shake or blend, not after, or the alcohol sits on top and hits you in the first sip.

A classic Virgin Piña Colada calls for 90 ml (3 oz) Pineapple juice, 60 ml (2 oz) Coconut cream. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

Nothing — the Virgin Piña Colada is completely alcohol-free, which makes it a great mocktail for drivers, kids and anyone skipping alcohol.

A Virgin Piña Colada is stirred, not shaken. It contains no citrus juice, so stirring keeps it crystal clear and silky instead of cloudy and aerated.