Name: Mai Tai (Difford's recipe)
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Aged rum (6-10yr); 30 ml Pineapple rum; 15 ml Orange Curaçao; 22.5 ml Lime juice; 7.5 ml Orgeat syrup; 7.5 ml Amaretto liqueur; 7.5 ml Falernum liqueur; 2.5 ml White crème de menthe; 2 dash Absinthe; 2 drop Saline solution 4:1

Mai Tai (Difford's recipe)
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Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 oz	Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years
1 oz	Pineapple rum
¹⁄₂ oz	Orange Curaçao liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Almond (Orgeat) Syrup
¹⁄₄ oz	Disaronno amaretto
¹⁄₄ oz	Difford's Falernum liqueur
¹⁄₁₂ oz	Giffard Menthe Pastille white crème de menthe
2 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe
2 drop	Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of half lime shell, mint sprigs and fruit stick (skewered pineapple cubes and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry).
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into glass filled with crushed ice.
Garnish with lime shell, mint sprigs bouquet and fruit stick.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Orgeat (almond) sugar syrup (2:1) - Nuts

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

I love Daiquiris and this is basically a classic Daiquiri with a few bells and whistles: orange curaçao, lime juice, almond syrup, amaretto, falernum, white crème de menthe, and absinthe. A whopping ten ingredients but it's more an OTT than a "simple is beautiful" cocktail.

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Variant:

Mai Tai (Trader Vic's)
Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's)
Tia Mia
Bitter Mai Tai
Well-oiled Mai Tai

History:

My adaptation of Victor Bergeron's (AKA Trader Vic) original 1944 Mai Tai cocktail.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of Mai Tai (Difford's recipe) contains 271 calories

Alcohol content:

1.8 standard drinks
20.58% alc./vol. (20.58° proof)
25.3 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 18 comments for Mai Tai (Difford's recipe).
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Gareth Hives

15th June at 21:11

Love this version, I'd probably still go with the original if I had to choose but this really works. I vibed off the original slightly differently and swapped the sugar syrup for Monin green tea syrup to make the Mai Chai - https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/36108/mai-chai

John CARR

13th October 2024 at 13:09

Clearly a few afficiandos not happy with this but, given the vexed nature of the origins of the drink historically and politically, good to maintain a focus on the creative and evolutionary nature of the beverage and avoid the prescriptive imo. Room for loads of experimentation here. Very drinkable indeed 😊

Avery Garnett

30th August 2024 at 19:01

Ooh, no. This ain't it chief. Sorry. The OTT nature of a Mai Tai is to flex on your selection of rums, not to add random liqueurs (creme de menthe? really?) you find. The complete lack of any jamaican rum to begin with should disqualify it.

Mark Messingham

13th September 2024 at 20:01

Avery, I think you’ll find that Appleton Estate 8 Reserve is a Single Estate Jamaica Rum.
Personally I don’t add the Crème de menthe as I don’t have any, but use the rest of the ingredients. So far I’ve not had any complaints.

2 replies

Simon Sedgley

6th July 2024 at 10:23

To those commenters here not happy with the inclusion of white creme de menthe, we used, instead, Acqua Bianca. We thought it worked a treat.

Mark

26th May 2024 at 00:11

Subbed amaretto with an increased portion of orgeat and substituted crème de menthe for fernet. Omitted the absinthe since I don’t have it, still incredibly good cocktail, complex and tasty.

Daniel Hetherwick

12th May 2024 at 10:07

Much for sophisticated cocktail compared to a regular menu item. This recipe would be perfect 5 if the type of rum was more specific. Pineapple rum ranges from sweet syrup to just a hint of pineapple. I think this version requires a more neutral rum like Plantation Pineapple Rum. Any sweetened rum will ruin this version.

Simon Difford

13th May 2024 at 09:04

If you click on the ingredient name, I link you to the rum.

Павло Топський

23rd March 2024 at 13:42

I like Mai tais, but this one was ruined for me by the crème de menthe, 2 mls of which completely overshadowed everything. Will need to try again without the menthe and absinthe

Lesley Davies

12th January 2024 at 22:13

Used 20ml Rockstar pineapple grenade rum with this recipe, omitted the creme de menthe. But turned out a beautiful tasting Mai Tai

Angela Hamilton

11th December 2023 at 03:21

I didn't have any pineapple rum, so I subbed Malibu. And subbed peppermint schnapps for the creme de menthe. It worked perfectly. Anyone know how I might batch this up? Would love to prepare some in advance for a party... but I'm not sure how to interpret the dashes and drops for a 25-person version, say.

Angela Hamilton

29th December 2023 at 00:34

Devised a possible answer to my own question in making this tonight. For a 12-serving batch, I did: 1 tablespoon of absinthe, 1/8th of a teaspoon of saline solution, and 9 oz of chilled water (for dilution). Tasted great in the test spoon — we will try it over ice this evening at a dinner party... hoping for happy friends. :)