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Cocktail stories: Champagne Piña Colada, Coupette
This creamy, frozen serve from London bar Coupette hits the sweet spot for lovers of luxury and beach life.
*This feature was originally published in the September 2021 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
The Champagne Piña Colada was created in anticipation of London bar Coupette opening its doors in 2017, and despite the esteemed venue refreshing its menu once a year, the team “just can’t get rid of” the serve – “it’s very popular,” says bar manager Andrei Marcu.
He explains that the cocktail is the “perfect balance” between sweet, sour and fruity notes – as well as being vegan.
The recipe includes frozen coconut sorbet, as a means to keep the temperature “as low as possible”, while ensuring it retains its fragrant, creamy smoothness. “It’s a very refined drink – very minimalistic in terms of flavours.
“At the same time, it’s a very ‘beach vibes’ drink. If I’m at the seaside and I have someone making frozen Champagne Piña Coladas around me, I will live next to that stall.”
The creamy serve is “always going to be a best seller”, Marcu affirms. “Once we find the balance of a drink, the best you can get out of that drink, we don’t play around with it,” he adds.
Flavour is a large focus of cocktail crafting at Coupette. The bar does not dress up drinks with garnishing or “exquisite glassware”, but rather always aims for flavour.
Various bartenders and consumers around the world have even replicated the drink –and Coupette welcomes this.
“We get tagged in posts of different bars worldwide making the drink. I gave masterclasses on Instagram, and we had many people making the drink and tagging us.”
He is happy with the cocktail’s success: “It’s pretty cool to see that it’s becoming a bit of a classic now. The more we learn from each other’s experiences – we will grow and build a better industry.”
Ingredients:
10ml Bacardi Heritage
10ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
5ml Trois Rivières Blanc
40ml Fresh pineapple juice
35ml House pineapple cordial
2 scoops Coconut sorbet
35ml Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial
Method:
Blend all ingredients with a scoop of crushed ice, then pour over Champagne. Garnish with dried coconut.
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