The Champagne Piña Colada That's Popping Off In London

If you like piña coladas — and getting caught in the rain, too — keep reading because there's an effervescent piña colada in overcast London that you may be very interested in.

The classic piña colada is hard not to love, with its perfect blend of fresh pineapple, sweet coconut cream, rum, and sometimes a little lime to freshen things up. You just hear the words piña colada and you're transported to vacation mode. You can almost smell the sea breeze in the air, feel the sand under your toes, and see the bulbous shape of the hurricane glass that holds the frozen cocktail.

The tasty tropical drink became so popular after its creation at hotel Caribe Hilton in 1954 that 20-some years later in 1978 it became the official drink of Puerto Rico. Fun fact: The hotel's original recipe includes an ounce of heavy cream — no wonder it was irresistible. Over 50 years later, a bar in London thought to put a bubbly twist on the classic. Allow us to introduce you to the Champagne Piña Colada.

Coupette is a relatively new French-inspired bar in London that opened its doors in 2017. It became a neighborhood favorite in no time, no doubt due to its award-winning cocktails, one of which is the Champagne Piña Colada (per its website). According to the menu, the cocktail consists of Bacardi Blend, Agricole Rhum which is a French style of rum made from distilled sugar cane juice, pineapple, coconut sorbet, and Moët & Chandon.

You may be wondering if the cocktail remains frozen like its ancestor, and the answer is yes. You also may be wondering if that stops people from ordering it year-round — even in cold, rainy London — and the answer is no. Coupette's bar manager Andrei Marcu tells Food & Wine that the cocktail is one of the bar's best-sellers no matter the time of year. "When you add Champagne to the mix, which adds a note of elegance," he says of the classic cocktail, "it's bound to be a hit with guests."

And it makes perfect sense why. Adding a citrusy, acidic element to the fresh and nutty notes of this tropical cocktail makes for a deliciously balanced combo, sure to taste as elegant as it looks.

Are bubbly cocktails your thing? You'll be happy to know that the crowd-pleasing Champagne Piña Colada isn't the only Champagne cocktail born in London. The Big Smoke is home to several tasty cocktails that feature fizz, some that you may order regularly and others you may have never heard of before.

One of London's popular bubbly cocktails is the Black Velvet, an Irish-influenced drink made of equal parts Guinness and Champagne, that's believed to have originated at one of London's oldest gentlemen's clubs all the way back in the 1860s (per Difford's Guide). Another is the Savoy Champagne Cocktail which Bar & Restaurant states was created at the London Savoy Hotel in the 1920s. This one's made up of an Angostura bitters-soaked sugar cube, Grand Marnier, cognac, and Champagne with an orange twist.

There are also some newer fizzy cocktail additions invented by legendary London mixologist Dick Bradsell. The Russian Spring Punch hails from the '80s and (unsurprisingly for a punch) includes a plethora of ingredients: vodka, raspberries, crème de framboise, Noir de Bourgogne cassis, simple syrup, lemon juice, and Champagne. And the Martini Royale, created in 2021, is an elegant mix of vodka and Noir de Bourgogne cassis topped off with some of that bubbly we all love.