Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix at World Market!

I was shopping at World Market today and lo and behold, they're selling Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix! Price is $4.99 a bottle. The manager said they just started carrying it. If sales are good they will keep it regularly stocked.

We have a World Market in Brookfield, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee). Go to http://www.worldmarket.com to see if there is a World Market near you.

Beats having to order this stuff online and pay shipping!

UPDATE:
Actually, we were experimenting with the mix this weekend and got some good results. The recipe on the bottle says that you should add 4 oz of the mix to 2 oz of rum. That's completely wrong. Instead, we mixed it half and half with the rum in crushed ice, added a little bit of fresh lime juice, and the taste wasn't bad. I normally mix my Mai Tais from scratch. However, if you don't have those extra ingredients on hand (i.e. orange curacao, orgeant syrup, simple syrup) the mix is a good stanby. Keep in mind that the TV restaurants use a non-consumer concentrated mix for their Mai Tais. I'm assuming it's the same formula.

[ Edited by: Tikinaut 2007-09-10 13:30 ]

I've seen it at the World Market in Germantown MD as well. Of course, the TV brand Mai Tai Mix doesn't taste anything like a Mai Tai, nor does it taste good period, regardless of what it wants to call itself, so I won't be buying any.

Just a theory, but it sounds like corporate TV might be launching a campaign to develop a South Seas theme within World Market. That makes sense. WM already sells bowls, baskets, decorations, etc. made in China, Thailand, Viet Nam, and I think the Phillippines. So it isn't much of a stretch to go more Pacific Island if they want. I'd welcome it. I'm in WM once or twice every other week. More South Seas stuff would bring me in more often. TV might have wanted to try more products in there, but WM probably agreed to let them get their foot in the door with their world famous Mai Tai and see how that does first.

I wish they'd start carrying TV and other brand syrups and get rid of the Torani line. But I'm sure they won't. Their syrups cater to the flavored coffee crowd and Torani seems to do well in that market. But when you turn toward mixology IMHO the product has to be of much better quality.

I agree that the mix doesn't always taste like a Mai Tai. Better just to make it from scratch using separate ingredients.

The TC Mai Tai Mix will make a palatable Mai Tai as long as you add the following to the mix:
Juice of one fresh lime
Orange Curacao
Orgeat
Simple syrup

Shake with lots of ice and pour into a double Old Fashioned glass and garnish with a mint sprig.

Or . . . . if you want to be adventurous . . . leave out the TC Mix and just go with the other ingredients and use two good rums!

Ah, yes. The best part of TV's Mai Tai mix is the bottle, and that isn't anything special.

I think I would be less critical of somebody's Mai Tai mix if it wasn't TV's. I would not expect any company to make it right except TV and they don't. Plus, they have the audacity to claim that it's the original recipe. Just one glimpse of the ingredients on the bottle proves otherwise.

What's even worse is the complete TV mai tai in a bottle (i.e. rum et al). Mother in law brought some back from Hawaii and it was the worst thing I have ever tasted (and that's saying a lot). Don't do it!

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.

BTW, I had a housemate one time who was allergic to monosodium glutamate. He made a point of instructing everyone around him how to read grocery labels to do their best to avoid it. In addition to simply calling it out as "monosodium glutamate," he said that the ingredient called, "natural flavor" usually contains MSG or is completely MSG. Therefore, unless the FDA has done something about redefining that term, I'm guessing that the TV Mai Tai Mix contains MSG via its ingredient, "natural flavor."

Forgot to check my spelling...

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-08-22 10:46 ]

On 2007-08-22 08:33, The Gnomon wrote:
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.

BTW, I had a housemate one time who was allergic to monosodium glutamate. He made a point of instructing everyone around him how to read grocery labels to do their best to avoid it. In addition to simply calling it out as "monosodium glutamate," he said that the ingredient called, "natural flavor" usually contains MSG or is completely MSG. Therefore, unless the FDA has done something about redefining that term, I'm guessing that the TV Mai Tai Mix contains MSG via its ingredient, "natural flavor."

Forgot to check my spelling...

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-08-22 10:46 ]

Natural Flavor in Heinz ketchup (catsup...whatever) is "beef juice." Mmmm...beef juice (said in a Homer Simpson voice). Actually called their 1-800 number. Other companies are dumbfounded when you call their number ask WTF is natural flavor. They always promise to call back. At least the TV mai tai mix doesn't have Olestra!

On 2007-08-23 11:48, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

Natural Flavor in Heinz ketchup (catsup...whatever) is "beef juice." Mmmm...beef juice (said in a Homer Simpson voice). Actually called their 1-800 number. Other companies are dumbfounded when you call their number ask WTF is natural flavor. They always promise to call back. At least the TV mai tai mix doesn't have Olestra!

Ahh. Isn't Olestra the stuff in certain potato chips that come with a discount coupon for Depend products on the bag?

It looks like the USDA has redefined "natural flavor" to no longer include MSG. Supposedly, if something contains MSG in any form it has to say "monosodium glutamate" in the ingredients. Something tells me though that companies can find ways around that, as they used to in the past.

Another interesting thing I found out is that "natural flavor" does not have to conform to the type of product it is going into. That is, you can put beef juice into a fruit drink and call the beef juice "natural flavor." Manufacturers can put vegetable material in meat products and meat material in vegetable products under the moniker of "natural flavor" (as long as they've used it that way), so you could consume something that you think is 100% vegetable, while it might have meat material in it listed as "natural flavor."

The ketchup/catsup is a good example. Most people think of it as a completely vegetable product with spices. The fact that the beef juice is in compliance with the definition of "natural" and it is used for flavoring, it can be listed in the ingredients as "natural flavor."

I found this info in several places, one of the most comprehensive being here.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-08-27 08:52 ]

Yes we've all heard that Heinz ketchup natural flavor includes beef juice.
Other assumptions I have read stated that the natural flavor in Heinz ketchup is specifically beef blood.

Yet Heinz ketchup is labeled as Kosher.

Something here is clearly amiss.

On 2007-08-17 16:17, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:
What's even worse is the complete TV mai tai in a bottle (i.e. rum et al). Mother in law brought some back from Hawaii and it was the worst thing I have ever tasted (and that's saying a lot). Don't do it!

The worse part about it is it has very little rum.

[ Edited by: Joe Banks 2007-09-06 17:30 ]

On 2007-08-17 07:39, GentleHangman wrote:
...Or . . . . if you want to be adventurous . . . leave out the TC Mix and just go with the other ingredients and use two good rums!

Goober!

You made me laugh so hard my Trader Vics Mai-tai mix come out of my nose......

I hope the mix works better as a nasal cleanser than it does as a Mai Tai!

Actually, we were experimenting with the mix this weekend and got some good results. The recipe on the bottle says that you should add 4 oz of the mix to 2 oz of rum. That's completely wrong. Instead, we mixed it half and half with the rum in crushed ice, added a little bit of fresh lime juice, and the taste wasn't bad. I normally mix my Mai Tais from scratch. However, if you don't have those extra ingredients on hand (i.e. orange curacao, orgeant syrup, simple syrup) the mix is a good stanby. Keep in mind that the TV restaurants use a non-consumer concentrated mix for their Mai Tais. I'm assuming it's the same formula.

I've got an even better idea:

A couple weekends ago I had a birthday party (I turned 30 this past week) and I wanted to make Mai Tai's for my guests. Well, I wasn't going to take the time to mix up 20 drinks individually, at least not by measuring every ingredient for every drink. Instead, I pre-squeezed the limes about 2 hours ahead of time (20oz from 16 limes) and stored the juice in an empty Orgeat bottle. I then mixed the rums (I used 20oz of Pyrat XO & 20oz of Brugal), 10oz Curacao, 5oz orgeat, and 5oz rock candy syrup together in a separate container. For each drink I poured 3oz of the rum mixture, and one ounce of lime juice into the shaker with the crushed ice, shook and served normally with garnish. It worked VERY well, and produced extremely consistent drinks that tasted great!

I would think that if you wanted, you could keep a pre-mixed bottle of rum, Curacao, orgeat and SS in your fridge, and then just squeeze one ounce of lime juice to make yourself a Mai Tai.

As a side note, not all of the drinks got used that night, so I mixed the left over lime juice in with the rum. I had one drink the next day that tasted fine, but over the next couple days it definitely went downhill. I'm certain that this was due to the lime juice oxidizing. I'm thinking of making up a batch of rum mixture so that I can test my theory about being able to just leave them all together for a few months in the fridge, and still have it come out tasting fine. I'll let you all know what I find!

Chris

[ Edited by: Kona Chris 2007-09-16 23:40 ]

There's definitely some kind of marketing & distribution push going on: I spotted both the Mai Tai mix and KoKo Creme at World Market. And a few days before, I saw new bottles of TV Spiced Rum, TV Kona Coffee Liqueuer & 8 bottles of TV Macadamia Nut Liqueur at the tiny little "quicky" liquor store near the office, that I swung through to get some Cruzan Light.:^D None of the above had been on their shelves 3-4weeks prior.

[ Edited by: tin_omen 2007-09-25 21:41 ]

While I don't check out Drinks too much, I brought the TV mix from the website (two bottle, drank one) wish I saw this post before, but I like the drink. Maybe not a "real" Mai Tai, but drinks just fine. I think I will stock up some. The mix keeps right??

"Real Lime" 100% lime juice

ingredients:
Lime juice from concentrated, sodium benzoate, lime oil, sodium metabisulfate.

On 2007-09-25 19:22, tin_omen wrote:
There's definitely some kind of marketing & distribution push going on: I spotted both the Mai Tai mix and KoKo Creme at World Market. And a few days before, I saw new bottles of TV Spiced Rum, TV Kona Coffee Liqueuer & 8 bottles of TV Macadamia Nut Liqueur at the tiny little "quicky" liquor store near the office, that I swung through to get some Cruzan Light.:^D None of the above had been on their shelves 3-4weeks prior.

Here in North TX I've seen Trader Vic's Mai Tai mix, margarita mix, spiced rum and vanilla rum. I tried a bottle of the vanilla rum...nothing special.

If I absolutely had to . . . meaning there was no other option . . . or somebody was aiming a pointed stick at me . . . and I HAD to use bottled lime juice then I would only use Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Juice . . . use it for drinks for that day and what's left I'd throw out. Once opened . . . it loses it's 'fresh taste'. Of course, if you would like to eliminate the sodium benzoate and the sodium metabisulfate, all you have to do is squeeze a REAL LIME.

I've had some luck by rebottling Nellie & Joes (the only key lime juice I've found worth using). Once it's exposed to the air long enough it starts to deteriorate, of course. I can never seem to use up a whole bottle of Nellie and Joe's at one time, so I used to end up pouring half or more down the drain. Naturally, using bottled lime juice is a last resort in the absence of real limes.

So...right off the bat, before using any juice from a new bottle at all, I decant all of the juice into a few small tight seal, stoppered bottles till they overflow, then seal them. Having them overflow keeps out the air after the stopper is placed in and juice squirts out. That limits the exposure to the air to the time spent filling the bottles.

If done right, they can last a while without refrigeration, but it's best to refrigerate them anyway. I don't know how long they actually last 'cause I try to use them up right away. The point is that you can stretch its shelf life out long enough to not have to discard any juice from a newly opened bottle of N&J's.

I was at a Whole Foods Market yesterday and bought a pint of Organic 100% Lime Juice. Damned if I can remember the name now. I think it even said Mexican Limes. I'm not really a fan of key limes, so Nellie & Joe's doesn't appeal to me.

I'll have to try this stuff out and let people know how it is. But tasting it now would be wasting most of it so it may have to wait until Bargoyle's party of the 13th - if it's tasty it will save a lot of squeezing that night.

I'm really sorry that many of you can't get fresh limes where you are. I make mine according to the Grog Log. Fresh limes.

Don't throw out the Key Lime juice Make a pie it is easier than an instant pie and tastes much better. We love them and if you put a little Rum extract and orgeat syrup MMMMMMMM Recipe is on the bottle.

Down here in Austin, we're fortunate enough to have access to a grocery store (HEB's Central Market) that stocks fresh-squeezed fruit juices. It's $1.99 for an 8 oz. lime juice, which is enough to make about 6 mai tais (I like about 1.25 oz per). Avoiding the step of squeezing juice from a fresh lime cuts a couple of minutes off of the prep time, so it's completely worth the extra cost. The only down side is that the juice is not pasteurized which, although giving it a fresher flavor, means it only lasts 2 days.

I can take my lime squeezer and put fresh lime into my drink in the same amount of time it takes you to open the fridge, get the bottle of fake lime juice open the cap and pour it into your drink.

If your going to mix a drink why use bad ingrediants?
If you want to save time and money, don't have the drink.

On 2007-10-11 11:14, BrickHorn wrote:
Avoiding the step of squeezing juice from a fresh lime cuts a couple of minutes off of the prep time, so it's completely worth the extra cost.

To hear you say that (which, of course, I didn't onnacounta the silence) is like fingernails screeching across a blackboard. Painfull.

Get yourself the green one of these (for Key limes), the yellow one (for Persian limes), and the orange one (for lemons). They're supposed to be for limes, lemons, and oranges, respectively, but they work best as I've described. These are $11–$14.

These are available at World Market, in store and online. BB&B carries similar citrus squeezers as well, but they don't have the orange one and the other two are $13. I also have one that's aluminum about the size of the yellow one in the pic that I got from the Hispanic section of Shoppers Food Wharehouse that cost less than $5 I think.

It only takes about 10 seconds to get your fresh lime juice; including cutting the lime, squeezing out the juice, and tossing the shells (unless you're saving them for garnishes).

Get yourself the green one of these (for Key limes), the yellow one (for Persian limes), and the orange one (for lemons).

I definitely agree. Though I've been coveting a friend's counter-mounted antique level squeezer... 3 seconds in that baby.

I've heard bad reviews about the citrus squeezers, which is why I have gone the bottled juice route (bottled, but bear in mind that it's fresh-squeezed with no preservatives). Anyway, I'll give the squeezer a try based on the recommendations.

But I'm sticking with the bottled stuff for mass-made party mai tais. Squeezing and bottles may be equally inconvenient on a one-drink level, but making a pitcher of the stuff for a big party (where the guests will be helping themselves to drinks, so making each from scratch is out of the question) is much easier with bottled juice. And, if you use the bottled stuff the day you buy it, it honestly tastes just as good as if you squeezed the limes yourself. Trust me on this - I've done the blind taste test.

OXO's hand squeezer is great.

The only one I'd rather have is the one DrinkBoy uses on his Internet cocktail video broadcast, The Cocktail Spirit from http://www.smallscreennetwork.com. Can't find it. Someday.

I wish I would have spent more time on TikiCentral before I wasted money on TV Mai Tai Mix. I recently had four bottles shipped in for a party. This stuff is terrible. Nobody drank it. Trader Vics should be ashamed of themselves.

On 2007-11-16 06:24, Bigwave wrote:
I wish I would have spent more time on TikiCentral before I wasted money on TV Mai Tai Mix. I recently had four bottles shipped in for a party. This stuff is terrible. Nobody drank it. Trader Vics should be ashamed of themselves.

When Colonel Sanders kicked the bucket (of chicken), KFC went downhill. When the King of the Cowboys went to the Happy Trail in the Sky, Roy Rogers Restaurants went downhill. When Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. said aloha to his ohana for the last time, well... there seems to be a definite pattern.