The Original Pina Colada

Ramon “Monchito” Marrero Perez knows a thing or two about piña coladas. The bar in San Juan where he works serves more than three hundred of these tropical refreshers a day. Perez claims to have invented the piña colada on a steamy summer day in 1954. Actually, according to Webster’s, the term piña colada first appeared in print in 1923. Rum and pineapple juice had been a popular Puerto Rican cocktail for decades (if not centuries). Perez’s innovation lay in adding coconut cream for