Nothing can turn a family holiday into a group challenge like the sweet blended flavor of coquito. Sleeves get rolled up as bottles of rum fill the kitchen for the prized title of coquito connoisseur. Usually abuela or madrina grab the win but with the advent of the Coquito Master’s Contest in the New York Tri-State Area it’s now anyone’s game. Coquito may look like an ordinary eggnog recipe from the outside, but it’s the ingredients and style of the traditional Puerto Rican drink that make each batch unique. The annual event is where the “best of the best” set up shop and anxiously wait to be named the best. There are as many “Best Coquito Ever” labels as there are “Original Rays Pizza” joints in New York City, but there can only be one master.
The New York born and bred event has morphed many times since Debbie Quiñones, organizer and founder of the International Coquito Federation, started the friendly battle from her apartment in 2001. The night usually ended with the winner taking a Miss America-style walk around the room and offered major bragging rights. “Why not have coquito recognized as something to have on the stage? Why not culinary preservation?” Quiñones thought. With a degree in nutrition and restaurant management and recipes from her Puerto Rican family, she took to a local community center with the idea.
By 2008, what started with a dozen competitors grew to nearly 50 contenders claiming to be the best in the city while 700 attendees watched on. To accommodate the many participants, Quiñones implemented a “qualifiers round” that let locals compete against each other and two winners representing their community. Two semi-finalists from six qualifiers, determined by the crowd, then compete in the finals. The rules are strict: contestants can’t taste (therefore judge) other peoples’ drinks or lobby for themselves, all pitchers are uniform, tasting cups have gotten smaller and tasting time was capped. A fusion flavor category was recently added to recognize remixes like chocolate, ice cream flavor and pistachio coquitos. All the changes have been part of Quiñones vision to broaden what coquito represents. “It’s really evolved into something that is much more than just a tasting,” Quiñones says. “It’s about the approach to tasting and challenging the public to look at coquito with a different eye.”
Bronx qualifier and past competitor Jose Stevenson is up for the challenge. Thanks to his madrina Lily, Stevenson grew up learning a thing or two about the drink from his family’s go-to coquito concocter. A few years before she passed, he learned her recipe and was motivated to enter the competition. “I started making coquito exactly the way she told me then I started to experiment with certain variations of it,” Stevenson says of his recipe. “She had perfected it so I started reverting back to the original recipe as much as possible.” What’s his key ingredient? “As cliché as it may sound I would honestly say love,” Stevenson responds. ”If I make a batch that I rushed through, you can easily taste the difference.”
Qualifying rounds started in early November and end with the finals this Saturday, December 16th, in the Bronx at the Bronx Museum of Arts. Twelve qualifiers will be narrowed down to three through a public vote, and then judged by culinary experts. The coquito champion is rewarded with a trophy and the grand title of Coquito Master, a “damn good validation” according to Quiñones.
If you still need a fix, visit La Marqueta de Coquito where visitors can purchase coquitos from tri-state locals. During the Three Kings Day Bar Crawl, which has attracted over 600 people in years past, local El Barrio bars and restaurants like Amor Cubano, Grand Piattro d’Oro Restaurant and the East Harlem Café, will feature the coquitos for tasting and purchase. For details e-mail coquitomasters@gmail.com.
