Mai Tai

proseccoliving | Posted on July 26, 2026 |

This popular tropical cocktail will make you feel like you're at a luxury island resort-incorporating sweet tropical juices and a dark rum float.

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Prep Time 5

Servings: 1

Course: Cocktail, Drinks

Cuisine: Tropical

Shake the Base: Add the light rum, orange curaçao, lime juice, pineapple juice, orange juice, and orgeat syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Strain over Ice: Shake vigorously for 10–15 seconds, then strain the mixture into a tall hurricane or highball glass filled with fresh crushed ice.
Float the Dark Rum: Slowly pour the dark rum directly over the back of a bar spoon onto the top of the drink. It will create a distinct, dramatic dark layer floating at the surface.
Garnish: Skewer a pineapple wedge and a cherry on a cocktail pick, place it on the rim, and tuck in a fresh mint sprig.

💡 Pro Tips for the Perfect Serve

The Ice is Crucial: Always use crushed ice. It flash-chills the fruit juices, dilutes the high-proof sugars gently, and acts as a structural physical barrier to hold your dark rum float perfectly on top.
Wake Up Your Garnish: Before placing your mint sprig into the glass, slap it aggressively between your palms. This breaks the delicate veins on the leaves to release aromatic oils, enhancing the tropical experience with every sip.
Acid-Adjust Your Juices: Because pineapple juice is naturally much less acidic than lime juice (around 1% vs 6% acidity), adding a tiny pinch of food-grade citric acid directly into your pineapple juice balances out the sweetness, preventing the cocktail from tasting overly sugary or heavy.

🍹 Popular Variations & Riffs

Add Lilikoi Foam: Made famous on Maui, this variation tops the shaken juice and rum base with a luscious, velvety layer of passion fruit (lilikoi) honey foam made by whipping egg whites with passion fruit purée and syrup.
- Honey-Lilikoi Foam Ingredients
  - Passion Fruit Purée: 1 oz
  - Honey: 1/2 oz (or 1.5 oz honey syrup)
  - Simple Syrup: 1 oz
  - Egg Whites: 1 oz
  - Cold Water: 1.5 oz
- Make the foam: Blend the purée, honey, simple syrup, egg whites, and water using an immersion blender to create a light, creamy foam

The POG Mai Tai: Swap out the plain orange juice for POG (Pineapple Orange Guava) juice—a beloved Hawaiian juice blend—to add an authentic local depth of flavor.

The Bitter Sink: Instead of just floating dark rum, add a slow-poured teaspoon of grenadine down the inside edge of the glass so it settles at the very bottom (creating a sunrise gradient effect), and add a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters directly onto the ice before serving.

Let us know how it was!