A thick, creamy coconut drink blended from fresh coconut flesh, milk, and sweetened condensed milk over crushed ice, dusted with cinnamon. The icy roadside refreshment Venezuelans reach for on the way to the beach.
A coastal Venezuelan drink generally held to have originated in the coconut-rich east — most often Margarita Island, though Cumaná and Puerto La Cruz (Anzoátegui) also claim it. Its name comes straight from coco (coconut). The most authentic Margarita version is just fresh coconut pulp, coconut water, sugar and ice blended to a slushy granizado, with no milk; the version with milk, condensed milk and cinnamon is a later central-and-western coastal elaboration (around Morrocoy, Falcón state) and is considered distinct from the milk-free Margarita original. The drink spread west along the coast and became most famous at the beach stands of Macuto, in Vargas state, where a vendor called "El Rey de la Cocada" is especially renowned.
Thick and frosty, it floods the mouth with sweet, milky coconut and tiny tender shreds of fresh flesh. The cinnamon adds a warm, spicy perfume against the cold. It drinks somewhere between a milkshake and a slushie, tropical and indulgent on a hot afternoon.
Blending fresh coconut releases its fat and fiber, which thicken the drink and give it body, while condensed milk adds sugar and a creamy mouthfeel. Crushed ice both chills and aerates the mixture, whipping it into a frosty, semi-frozen texture.
Variations
Spiked with rum for an adult version, blended with coconut ice cream, made dairy-free with coconut milk only, flavored with a touch of vanilla
On the Palate
Where Cocada Venezolana sits in the Venezuelan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 12 min
- 14 min
Crack open a fresh coconut and scoop out the white flesh.
- 22 min
Chop the coconut flesh roughly and place it in a blender.
- 31 min
Add cold milk, sweetened condensed milk, and a little of the coconut water.
- 41 min
Blend on high until the coconut is fully broken down and the mixture is smooth.
Watch outBlend on high until you can't feel any coconut grit and it runs smooth — under-blended, the drink stays chalky and gritty on the tongue.
- 51 min
Add a generous handful of crushed ice and blend again until thick and frosty.
Watch outAdd the crushed ice and blend again just until thick, pale, and frosty — that whipped, semi-frozen slush is the texture you're after.
- 61 min
Taste and adjust sweetness with more condensed milk if desired.
- 71 min
Pour into tall glasses.
- 81 min
Dust with ground cinnamon and serve ice cold.
