Mai Tai Iba Recipe

The name "Mai Tai" comes from the Tahitian "Maita'i", which literally means something is "Good". This great summer cocktail has sadly been erroded by too many beach bars using cheap rum & excessive pineapple juice. The Mai Tai IBA cocktail recipe here is closest to the straight-forward Trader Vic's original recipe rather than the more complex Dan the Beachcomber Mai Tai Swizzle recipe.

Our Rating: 5
Difficulty: Medium
Character: Boozey Fruity
Occasions: On The Beach In Tahiti Summer
Preparation Time: 3 min

Mai Tai IBA Ingredients

Ingredients	Amount	Unit
White Rum	1.3	shots
Dark Rum	0.65	shot
Orange Curaćao	0.5	shot
Orgeat syrup	0.5	shot
Fresh Lime Juice	0.3	shot

Garnish with a pineabble spear, mint leaves & lime peel.

How to Make a Mai Tai IBA

Build all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice & shake vigorously.

Strain the mixture into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice.

Garnish with a spear of pineapple, mint leaves & lime peel. Serve with a straw.

Fun Facts About the Mai Tai IBA

Orgeat is actually pronounced “or-zhat”, with an optional the hard "t". Orgeat originated as crushed barley & water that after emulsification served as a substitute for milk in times before refrigeration. Eventually, people began introducing almonds & removing the barley to bring us closer to the Orgeat we know today, which contains sugar & orange water.
There are two rival claimants to the creation of the Mai Tai (i) Don Beach at Don the Beachcomber Restaurant in Hollywood in the 1930s, & (ii) "Trader" Vic in the 1940s.
Trader Vic's story goes that he first presented the shaken mix of Jamaican Rum, Orange Curaćao, Orgeat & Lime to two Tahitian friends whom on tasting said "Maita'i roa ae" meaning "Out of this world".