At the Table

A Cuban Spin on the Classic Mai Tai

By: Hannah Lee Leidy

Make Mine a Mai Tai

A darling of beach bars and tiki menus, the mai tai is celebrating its seventy-fifth birthday this month. The simple citrus-and-almond tipple was first slung at Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California, as a means to highlight its star ingredient: aged Jamaican rum. (We won’t mention the bastardized grenadine- and juice-filled versions so often billed under the same name.)

Although the mai tai originated nearly 3,000 miles from his native Cuba, mixology master Julio Cabrera sees a place for it in the island’s cocktail canon; tropical is tropical, no matter what ocean you’re on. For Cabrera, the proprietor of Miami’s new Cafe La Trova, that means slipping fresh banana into his homemade orgeat—along with a hint of coffee, which always plays well with rum—for a mai tai ripe for celebrating the next seventy-five years.

Julio Cabrera’s La Trova Mai Tai

Date Published: 07.15.19
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About The Author

Hannah Lee Leidy

Hannah Lee Leidy is a food writer and editor based in the Carolinas. She is currently the digital content editor for Our State magazine, a position she came into following her time at The Local Palate. Her contributions have appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit, Epicurious, Culture, and Eater. She’s spent time working in restaurants in both front and back of house positions, doing everything from burning gateaux to expediting to shaking a Manhattan (don’t worry, this only happened once). An avid curd nerd, her favorite beat is reporting on boutique cheese makers; she’ll sniff out every creamery near and far whenever traveling. When not parenting a Bernese mountain pup named Ava, you’ll find her running or working on her lamination technique.

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