Blueberry piña colada (pina colada – cocktail and mocktail)

Refreshing, with a kick (or not, if you prefer a mocktail), this blueberry pina colada is a bright twist on the classic cocktail. Plus there’s more than one way to make it, so pick your favorite!

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This cocktail came about a little by accident. I was looking at food holidays, as food bloggers do now and then (I can’t help but feel we might be the only ones, but that’s another story). Anyway, I discovered today was both piña colada day and pick blueberries day.

The blueberry part made me giggle a little – the fact it’s PICK blueberries day seemed a bit demanding. Especially since the whole month is dedicated to blueberries in general and tomorrow is blueberry muffin day as well. Seems a bit greedy to me, blueberries, I don’t think any other fruit gets that kind of attention.

Plus what if you can’t go picking that day? Will they all go rotten? Surely it depends where you are if that’s the best day? Although well coordinated to have blueberry muffin day the next day.

However despite all that completely pointless musing, it did give me the idea for this blueberry piña colada. I first made it as a mocktail, since I was expecting at the time, and made it more of a smoothie almost as you see above. 

Later, though, I decided to come back to it after having some of the classic piña coladas and so used the classic recipe as a base with the addition of blueberries. Both were delicious, but pretty different.

A creamy smoothie-like blueberry piña colada mocktail

This version uses:

• Coconut milk
• Frozen blueberries
• Pineapple (fresh or frozen)
• Ice
• A little honey

In the first mocktail version, I found it makes a nice change to what I often find fault in other mocktails. It’s not too watery, it isn’t fizzy, it’s not overly sweet and is verging into smoothie territory in consistency. All that to me makes for a wonderfully drinkable, refreshing summer’s drink. 

I definitely feel that you could add rum to this for a cocktail as well, but it is that bit more different from the classic set of ingredients, which my other version is closer to.

A bright blueberry twist on the classic piña colada cocktail

This version uses:

• Sweetened coconut cream
• Pineapple juice
• Blueberries
• Rum
• Ice

As the blueberry twist on the classic recipe, it has a much brighter blueberry color, as you can see. You can also definitely taste the kick, which I’m not so sure would be the case if you added rum to the first mocktail version I made. It also has a much more distinct pineapple flavor.

The one criticism I would have is the blueberries do tend to settle out of the drink a little, but it’s a minor flaw in an otherwise tasty and colorful drink. And potentially with a really good blender that may not happen. 

These two takes on a blueberry pina colada are both delicious in their own ways. And while the have the same basic components of pineapple, coconut and blueberry, as well as rum if alcoholic, they are pretty different. But so worth a try – which will you prefer?!

Looking for more summery drinks? Try these:

• Blueberry lemonade
• Frozen pineapple daiquiri
• Coconut watermelon agua fresca
• Plus get many more ideas in the drinks recipes archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline’s Cooking Amazon store. 

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