Coquito is king: A tour of South Florida's diaspora communities through holiday drinks

Gabriel Urrutia beams when he talks about everything South Florida. 

The Miami native, author of Miami Sips & Eats and adjunct professor at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality cannot contain his excitement, leaning forward in his chair and smiling with his eyes, when he describes the ubiquity of one our area’s holiday beverages.

“I was just at Joe Stone Crab, and they actually released like, the first coquito I think in their 113 year history,” he says. “So it just goes to show you how the coquito has captured the hearts and minds of like, South Floridians all over.”

Ah, yes, the title of most recognizable, most available and most embraced of all of the wintertime drinks has to be Puerto Rico’s coquito, its very name (Spanish for “little coconut”) spotlighting the ingredient that Urrutia thinks speaks especially to South Florida. 

He describes Miami and coconut as “best friends in a class”; it’s no wonder we’ve made coquito “our thing.” But beyond the ingredient list, it’s the way we drink coquito–and so many more of the diaspora’s holiday beverages–that tells our region’s unique immigration story. 

From the recipes to the serving of these drinks, the experience of coquito, Jamaican sorrel, Haitian cremas, Venezuelan ponche crema and more is a practice in community, forming, establishing and reaffirming bonds across cultures that give South Florida its unique identity. 

So, for bragging rights: how many of these drinks have you heard of? How many have you tried? And finally, consider–how South Florida are you?

Sorrel

What makes it special? Its color and texture. It's the only drink on this list not reminiscent of an eggnog.

We’ll kick things off with the drink that stands apart, the colorful concoction that hails from Jamaica and whose main ingredient gives it its name (and hue): sorrel. 

This holiday brew, made from the outer part of the hibiscus flower (which was typically harvested around the winter time, according to seriouseats.com), is sweet-tart, gingery and slightly cinnamon-y. 

“It’s so cool,” Urrutia says. “You can enjoy it kind of like in a soda. You can enjoy it in a tea. But during the holidays, again, that beautiful way of just maybe adding a little bit of spirit to the actual sorrel, and you get this beautiful, almost kind of floral, fruity liqueur.” 

Rum is the base spirit of this pinkish, reddish drink.

Cremas

What makes it special? Lime juice, and that you can have it whenever it strikes your fancy.

The creamy, rummy beverage enjoyed around the holidays in Haiti has made its way to South Florida folks, and Kasa Champet in Pembroke Pines is one of the places serving it up. 

Jody Julmice, who co-owns the restaurant with her mother, says they’ve been selling the holiday staple by the bottle and by the glass. 

“When you're with family and you open up that bottle of cremas, everybody automatically knows that it's gonna be good. You know, I've never had a bad cremas before, because it's just made with so much love and intention,” Julmice says. 

She explains that cremas recipes, like those for coquito, are passed on from generation to generation.

“A lot of Haitians make it different ways,” Julmice says. “There's no true perfect cremas, because everybody adds their own little twist to it, but for the most part, it's still the same flavor, and it's something that any Haitian can recognize once they taste it.”

What’s that instantly recognizable flavor you ask? 

“You’re gonna taste the rum upon impact,” Julmice says. “As soon as it touches your lips, you're gonna taste the rum. It's really, really good. Some of the main ingredients would be evaporated milk, condensed milk, coconut cream, some nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla extract, almond extract, lime juice, and then either that Barbancourt rum or that Clairin.”

But the way cremas is shared, passed around for guests to enjoy in an intimate setting, is what Julmice says makes it “really special.”

"The thing is, is you can drink cremas throughout the day, right? We can have it in our coffee. We can have it during dinner, we can have it as a dessert too. So it's really fun to just share that with family," she says.

Ponche crema

What makes it special? It's the holiday drink brought over by South Florida's latest wave of immigrants.

Another decadent holiday beverage making its way to South Florida is ponche crema, a drink “becoming a lot more popular with a lot more of our Venezuelan friends coming in here, and… bringing their own versions of it,” Urrutia says. 

It’s created with a mix of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and (unlike coquito) egg yolks. As for the spirit, there’s options as far as brands go.

“Venezuela also has a very strong rum culture, right? So you're going to be using some of those amazing rums that are in Venezuela to be able to create the ponche crema,” Urrutia says. 

Now, importantly, this milky punch is also a staple in the Dominican Republic, where Urrutia highlights it would be made with the island’s famed Brugal Rum. 

“I love the diversity of it. It's really, really cool to see rums from different countries [and a] twist on ingredients,” he says.

Cola de mono

What makes it special? Its funky name, base spirit and twists on the typical creamy punches.

From its name to its ingredients, Chile’s cola de mono, which translates to "monkey's tail," is its own thing. 

Urrutia, who is half Chilean, says this holiday drink, though perhaps not as prevalent as the others in South Florida, is especially worth mentioning because it demonstrates how our diaspora communities have hung on to their roots–and why we’re better for it. 

“Cola de mono actually doesn't use cream… they actually use whole milk,” Urrutia starts.That makes it less creamy, more watery, and potentially “more attractive to somebody that maybe doesn't want something that's decadent.”

And its base spirit is not the rum we’ve become accustomed to seeing in this report. It’s pisco, the white liquor made from grape juice also frequently associated with Peru.

But two other ingredients also set this special punch apart: cloves and instant coffee.

"So that coffee, that Chilean pisco–really different flavors. But of course, the beautiful spices and that creaminess... really give you that holiday hug inside," Urrutia says.

Crema de vie

What makes it special? It comes from one of the most emblematic South Florida communities, and the name shows off its flair.

Despite belonging to one of the largest diaspora communities in South Florida, this brew may be lesser known.

Yes, crema de vie is the traditional, Cuban holiday drink. As for why a French phrase literally translating to “cream of life” would name this beverage, well, Urrutia, who is also half Cuban, thinks it’s more about attitude than history. 

“We like the finer things in life, that’s the beauty of that,” he says. 

This punch is prepared with sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, sugar, water, vanilla, rum and (again, unlike coquito) egg yolks.

Coquito

What makes it special? Known far and wide, it's South Florida's answer to eggnog. It's the one you're most likely to have tasted, even if you're not Puerto Rican.

Finally, we arrive back where we started, at the drink that is painstakingly brewed, lovingly gifted and carefully poured out at South Florida homes, offices (including our newsroom) and events over the holidays. To Puerto Rico, we must offer a hearty "thank you" for coquito.

Urrutia feels we must give credit where it's due. Here, coquito is king.

"You have that kind of like, 'Oh, I think the Puerto Ricans are right on this one,'" he says of South Florida's holiday drinking culture. "What I really love about it: it's not so much like I'm gonna go to my bar for my favorite coquito."

Instead, because coquito is meant to be shared socially, it means someone had to learn a recipe, bottle it either in a special container or back in the rum bottle used to make it (which itself is a casual yet vulnerable move), present it to the host, perhaps even reach into their fridge to keep it cool for a few hours before finally opening it for all to enjoy.

Then you'll likely talk about it, discuss and compare (somewhat competitively) recipes.

"The spirit of hospitality is in that bottle," Urrutia says. "You created it. You you put labor into it. You created this historical cocktail. Could be, you know, generational. It could come from, you know, family members, or even a recipe you found online, but the fact that you put all that effort... so you can just go and pop it open in and serve, right? That's wow."

By this point, the ingredients of the eggless coquito shouldn't surprise you: evaporated milk, coconut cream, sweet condensed milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and rum blend together to create a dessert-y drink. It's intimate and indulgent.

"So bringing a bottle [of any spirit] and just sitting it on the counter is cool. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that," Urrutia nods. "But bringing a bottle [of coquito] that we're going to drink in a couple hours is even cooler. And that's what makes eggnog, crema de vie, coquito, cola de mono, all that–so, so special."