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The Mai Tai is a classic Tiki drink made by mixing Rum, Orange Curacao, Lime Juice, and Orgeat Syrup.

It’s delicious, rich and totally tropical!

Click here to jump directly to the recipe.

Mai Tai cocktail - this article contains a mai tai recipe.

What’s in a Mai Tai?

The classic Mai Tai recipe is Golden Rum, Orange Curacao, Lime Juice, and Orgeat Syrup.

Which Rum Should I Use?

Ideally, it would be best if you used Golden Rum when making a Mai Tai.

What is Golden Rum?

Golden Rum (aka Amber Rum) are medium-bodied, aged Rum that get’s its dark colour from aging in wooden barrels.

Golden Rums tend to have more flavour and are stronger tasking than their lighter counterparts.

For Golden Rum, we recommend:

Cocktails with Golden Rum

White Rum

All Rum is made from fermenting and then distilling sugar cane molasses or sugar cane juice, but White Rum has an ageing process that makes the liquor clear.

Rum is usually aged for at least one year and the contained in which it is aged determines the colour it will be.

In Bourbon or Wooden casks, the Rum will become a dark brown colour, but in a stainless steel tanks the rum remains colourless.

White Rum is clear because it’s aged in a stainless steel tank.

Pretty cool, huh?

For White Rum, we recommend:

Should I use Orange Curacao or Orange Liqueur?

The original recipe calls for Orange Curacao, but in this day and age as orange Liqueur becomes more popular, I think it’s swapping the two is just fine.

What is Orange Curacao?

Orange Curcacao, is basically the “original” version of Blue Curacao. Meaning it’s made from the exact same ingredients and methods, except that it’s made to orange, rather than dued blue!

Orange Curacao is a liqueur flavoured with orange and the dried peel of the bitter orange laraha, a citrus fruit that’s grown on the Dutch island of Curacao

For Orange Curacao, we recommend:

What is Orange Liqueur?

For Orange Liqueur, we recommend Cointreau.

Cointreau is an orange-flavoured Triple Sec liqueur.

Cointreau was first sold in 1875 and has become a well-established popular brand ever since, selling around 13 million bottles a year in 150 different countries.

What is Orgeat Syrup?

Orgeat Syrup is a sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar, and rose or orange flower water.

It has a pronounced almond taste and is used to flavour many cocktails – especially Tiki cocktails.

For Orgeat Syrup, we recommend:

Is there a substitute for Orgeat Syrup?

Orgeat Syrup is great because it gives the drink a sweet, but nutty kick.

There isn’t a direct replacement that could get you both of those attributes and maintain the flavour of the cocktail.

If you were willing to sacrifice the nutty flavouring, then you could just use sugar syrup to get the sweetness, but my advice: go get the real thing. It really is worth it.

Maraschino Cherries

Maraschino Cherries are preserved, sweetened cherries that regularly used as a garnish in a variety of different cocktails.

In short, they can make a cocktail pop.

For Maraschino Cherries, we recommend:

What do you need to make a Mai Tai?

Now let’s take a look at the cocktail equipment you’ll need to make the drink.

Jigger

It’s important to get the mix of any cocktail right. The measurements are set for a reason – to specify a tried, tested, and tasty drink.

A jigger is going to help you get those perfect measurements – after all, it is what the pro’s use.

For a jigger, we recommend:

Cocktail Shaker

Cocktail shakers improve the taste of cocktails. It’s a fact.

There’s a reason that famed British spy James Bonds says “shaken, not stirred”. And that reason is: because it tastes better.

If you don’t already have a cocktail shaker set, you might want to check out our detailed Cocktail Shaker comparison article.

But to cut a long story short, here’s the cocktail shaker we recommend:

Old Fashioned Glass

Old Fashioned Glasses give a cocktail a classic, retro, yet elegant look.

If you’re making an old school cocktail, then this is the glass you absolutely need.

For Old Fashioned Glasses, we recommend:

Mai Tai Recipe

Now that we know what we need to make the drink, let’s get to the recipe.

Mai Tai cocktail recipe

Mai Tai

★ ★ ★ ★ ★(491 ratings)
Prep: 1 minMaking: 1 minTotal: 2 mins
Serving: 1 cocktail

Ingredients

Recipe

Who invented the Mai Tai?

The Mai Tai was invented by Victor J. Bergeron in 1944. He made it at his restaurant, Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California.

Why is a Mai Tai called a Mai Tai?

The name for the Mai Tai came from the Tahitian word maita’i, which basically meant ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

When to Serve a Mai Tai

A Mai Tai is an excellent summer Tiki drink, so it’s probably best to serve it at a summer party – any party.

But don’t let the weather turn you away from this amazing drink, turn the heating up, get an Tiki theme going and get making some Mai Tai’s!

Want More Cocktail Recipes?

Do you wanna try more classic cocktails? Or just something a little different? We’ve got you covered!

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Kris Barton Author
Cocktail connoisseur and season mixologist, Kris Barton has been making (and more importantly drinking) cocktails for most of his adult life. He's the author of all of these quick & easy cocktail recipes you'll want to drink over and over again.

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