The Mai Tai is what tiki cocktails are supposed to taste like before the 1970s ruined them. Aged rum, white rum, orange curacao, orgeat, fresh lime. No pineapple juice. No grenadine. No little paper umbrella by default. Just five well-balanced ingredients shaken hard and poured over crushed ice.
It was invented at Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California, in 1944. Vic Bergeron mixed the drink for two friends from Tahiti, who reportedly took one sip and said ‘mai tai roa ae,’ which translates roughly to ‘out of this world, the best.’ Vic kept the name. The drink became the headline of every tiki bar from then onwards.
Then the 1970s happened. Bottled Mai Tai mix appeared, neon orange and tasting of corn syrup. Hotel chains started serving them with pineapple juice and grenadine and a paper umbrella. By 1985 most people thought a Mai Tai was a frozen orange slushie. The drink had been kidnapped from itself.
The original recipe survived in a few craft tiki bars (Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, Trader Vic’s still going) and has been making a comeback since the 2010s. Made properly, it is one of the great rum cocktails: complex, balanced, slightly nutty from the orgeat, just sweet enough.
Mai Tai Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 oz Aged rum dark Jamaican rum traditionally
- 1 oz White rum
- 1/2 oz Orange curacao or triple sec
- 1/2 oz Orgeat syrup almond syrup
- 1 oz Fresh lime juice
- Crushed ice
- Fresh mint sprig to garnish
- Lime shell reserved from juicing, for garnish
Instructions
- Combine both rums, orange curacao, orgeat, and fresh lime juice in a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake hard for 10 to 15 seconds.
- Strain into a double rocks glass or tiki mug filled with crushed ice.
- Place a spent lime shell upside-down in the drink. Tuck a fresh mint sprig into it. Slap the mint to release the oil before serving.
Nutrition
Notes
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- Real orgeat, not flavoured syrup. Orgeat is almond syrup with orange flower water. The cheap bottled stuff is just sweet-and-fake. Spend the money.
- Aged rum + white rum, not just one. The combination is what gives the drink its complexity. Single-rum Mai Tais are flat.
- Lime shell + mint slap. Reserve the spent lime half from juicing, drop it cup-side-down into the ice. Slap the mint between your palms before tucking it in. The aromatics make the drink.