Pina Colada is said to be of Puerto Rican origin. Its creator was said to be Ramon Marrero who worked in Caribe Hilton's Beachcomer bar in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It has also been known that in the 1800s, a Puerto Rican pirate named Roberto Cofresi used a similar recipe to boost the morale of his men. This recipe included coconut, pineapple and white rum.

The concoction is quite simple. Roughly translated, Pina Colada means "strained pineapple".  This is sweet, rum-based cocktail with cream of coconut added.

Here's the most common recipe on how to make a pina colada. You would need the following ingredients:

1. 3 ounces light rum

2. 3 tablespoon coconut cream

3. 3 tablespoon crushed pineapples

4. Crushed ice

All of these ingredients can be found in your favorite grocer. 

If you can get fresh coconuts, the preparation of coconut cream is very simple. All you need to do is to extract the coconut milk by shredding the coconut meat and extracting using a blender or food processor. Once you have the meat finely shredded, you can easily extract the milk from the solids by hand with a little warm water added. Strain the meat to separate you coconut milk which you will be using to get the coconut cream. 

To extract the coconut cream, simply refrigerate the coconut milk and allow it to set. The coconut cream is the thick non-liquid part that separates and rises to the top of the coconut milk. You can then decant this part to a bowl to be used in your pina colada!

If you do not have fresh coconuts available, consider looking for a coconut cream mix, you may use this as a substitute for fresh coconut milk.

Now for the fun part, once you have the four ingredients ready, simply put all of them in an electric blender with two cups of crushed ice. Blend at high speed for a short length of time. You can serve this on any cocktail glass but a collins glass is preferred. Serve with a straw.

Other variants of pina colada includes:

1. Add grape fruit juice

2. Add orange juice

3. Add more rum; instead of just 3 ounces make it 4 to 5 ounces

4. Add sweetened or condensed milk

5. Try using different rum variations - you have the option to use the amber rum or the clear rum

6. Add Coco Lopez