Fill one rocks glass half way up with crushed ice.
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway up with crushed ice. Add the rum, orgeat, curaçao, lime juice, and simple syrup to the cocktail shaker.
Shake vigorously and then pour the mai tai into the rocks glass. Dump ice from shaker into the class.
Garnish with one spent lime shell and a sprig of ming.
RECIPE TIPS
Rum. I used a quality aged Hawaiian rum.
Orange curaçao. Orange curaçoa is an orange liqueur. If you have trouble finding it you can use Grand Marnier.
Fresh lime juice. Freshly squeezed lime juice is the only juice in a traditional mai tai cocktail. Gently juice the halved limes so that you get no pith. (reserve these for garnishing)
Orgeat syrup. [or・zhaat] is a blended almond syrup. There is no substitute. **I like to use ½ ounce orgeat syrup and leave out the simple syrup altogether.
Rich demerara simple syrup. Made with 1 cup of water and 2 cups of demerara sugar.
Spent lime shells. Save the lime shell halves from juicing to garnish this cocktail.
Mint sprigs.
Tropical cocktails are shaken with crushed ice and then served over more crushed ice.To do this properly a double old-fashioned glass should be filled about two-thirds of the way with crushed ice. You will also be adding the ice from the cocktail shaker as opposed to straining the cocktail