Post #362111 by The Gnomon on Tue, Feb 19, 2008 7:28 AM

On 2007-08-22 08:33, The Gnomon wrote elsewhere:
While I was in WM the other day, I made note of the ingredients listed on the TV Mai Tai Mix bottle for those Mai Tai connoisseurs who would like to know what goes into "The Trader's original formula."

Here's what they say about the Mai Tai mix on their site:

Created half a century ago, but as bracingly contemporary as ever, this is The Trader's original formula - and the most requested tropical drink in the world. We've done our homework to recreate the famous Mai Tai of our restaurants, combining the flavors of oranges and almonds and formulating a mixture that stands up proudly to cubed or crushed ice.

Here's the list of the delectible ingredients from the label on the bottle:

Water, high fructose corn syrup, juice blend (water, citric acid, juice concentrate, malic acid, cellulose gum, vegetable gums, ascorbic acid, natural flavor, sodium benzoate (preservative)), natural and artificial flavor, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), xantham gum, caramel coloring.

Wow! So that's the original formula. I'm glad they did their homework.

It's pretty evident that corporate TV is now pursuing a strategy of improving the bottom line by cutting costs in everything they do at the expense of quality; quality being what got them to where they are in the first place.

Perhaps, their QA team failed to realize that the only fruit juice in a Mai Tai is lime.