ThirstyforKnowledge

An encyclopedia of drinks — mixed, poured, brewed and whisked

No. 046 Cocktails · Rum

Mai Tai

Two rums, orange curaçao, orgeat and fresh lime shaken and poured over ice: the tiki benchmark.

A Mai Tai over ice with lime
A Mai Tai Photo: Achim Schleuning (E-Mail: comander02_de@yahoo.de), CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Recipe card

ml oz

Makes 1 drink · about 5 min to make

Ingredients

Ounces are US fluid ounces (29.57 ml), rounded.

Method

  1. Add all the ingredients to a shaker with ice.
  2. Shake and pour into a double rocks glass or a highball glass.
  3. Garnish with a pineapple spear, mint leaves and lime peel.
Glass
Double rocks glass or highball glass
Garnish
Pineapple spear, mint leaves and lime peel
Technique
Shaken
Difficulty
Takes practice

Printable recipe card Quantities as given in the IBA's official specification.

About the Mai Tai

Nutty orgeat (almond syrup), orange curaçao and fresh lime frame two contrasting rums. The IBA shakes it and pours everything, ice included, into a double rocks or highball glass.

The IBA notes that the Martinique rum Trader Vic used was a molasses rum rather than an agricole rhum.

Background

The Mai Tai is one of the characteristic cocktails of tiki culture.

Tags: tiki rum almond

Sources

  1. IBA — Mai-Tai (official specification)
  2. Wikipedia — Mai Tai

Checked when this entry was written. Links open the original source in a new tab.