The Future - Mai Tai

The Future has been a beloved staple on our year-round menu for quite awhile now. With it, we have been able to showcase excellence in processing techniques, particularly in regard to anaerobic and co-fermentation endeavors. Our goal with each of these unique blends is to elevate flavor as the guiding principle for each creation.

HOW WE GOT HERE | It’s no secret that we love co-fermented coffees here at Black & White. We also love taking inspiration from our favorite candies, desserts, and cocktails to create (or re-create) new and interesting flavor profiles in caffeinated form. With warmer weather on the not-so-distant horizon, our minds have been drifting to the latter—tropical bevys, good hangs, and teeny, tiny umbrellas. 

Speaking of teeny, tiny umbrellas… they were a hot commodity following the imminent fall of Prohibition. Less than a year after the repeal of America’s least popular Amendment, Donn Beach opened Don the Beachcomber’s in Los Angeles in 1934, and Victor Bergeron followed with the establishment that would become known as Trader Vic’s in 1936. Together, these two men paved the way for the rise of tiki bar culture in the US, mixing Caribbean-style rum drinks with loosely Polynesian decor to craft the perfect cocktail of exotic escapism for which Americans at the time were desperately searching.

Donn and Victor, however, were not exactly chummy. Where Trader Vic claimed to have been “inspired by” Donn, Donn accused Victor of stealing his ideas outright. At the center of their decades-long rivalry sat the Mai Tai. Invented by Trader Vic in 1944 and named after a Tahitian colloquialism that roughly translates to “awesome,” the Mai Tai slowly rose to popularity for its unique balance of strength and sweetness, a feat not often accomplished in other tiki cocktail creations. Donn insisted that Victor had tried to copy his own Q.B. Cooler cocktail when creating the Mai Tai, even though the drinks only share two ingredients, and the Mai Tai only had five ingredients compared to the Q.B. Cooler’s ten. The feud over the origin of the Mai Tai came to a head in 1970, when Donn Beach lost a lawsuit over the matter, but Trader Vic was subsequently forced to reveal his proprietary recipe, which he did in a seven-page press release titled “Let’s Get the Record Straight on the Mai Tai.” 

Today, everyone seems to have an opinion about which tiki trailblazer deserves credit for the drink, but there is one singular point on which we can all agree: the Mai Tai is perfect. Boozy yet balanced, equal parts strong and sweet, it is a drink capable of transporting you to a Tahitian beach even if you’re sipping it in the back of a rum bar in blustery Chicago. (We should know.) The holy trinity of flavors in this drink—tropical fruit, Jamaican rum, and subtle spice—are what we sought to re-create while concocting our own cocktail of coffees. 

The result, we think, is one which would meet the approval of both Donn Beach and Trader Vic—perhaps even a drink on which they could actually agree.

HOW WE DID IT | To re-imagine this iconic cocktail in coffee form, we sought out coffees that were fruit-forward and boozy, but also light-hearted and sweet. We needed to incorporate that signature touch of spice, too. After several experiments and one broken tiki glass (RIP), we eventually found everything we were looking for in four coffees from Colombia and Costa Rica:

40% Rodrigo Sánchez - Banana (Huila, Colombia)

40% Los Nogales - Typica Origins (Huila, Colombia

15% Wilton Benitez - Pink Bourbon (Cauca, Colombia)

5% Esteban Zamora - Cinnamon Anaerobic (Tarrazú, Costa Rica)

HOW IT TASTES | Jamaican rum might be the first flavor call at the cupping table, but just like the cocktail for which it is named, this coffee is shockingly easy to drink (albeit much less dangerous). Rodrigo’s banana co-ferment contributes a healthy dose of banana-like sweetness to this tropical cocktail, reminding us of a strawberry banana smoothie. Oth

The Future - Mai Tai, roasted by Black & White Coffee Roasters, represents a bold exploration of modern post-harvest techniques. By utilizing an anaerobic process, this coffee undergoes fermentation in an oxygen-deprived environment, a method often employed to amplify specific enzymatic reactions within the bean. While traditional washed coffees typically highlight the inherent characteristics of the terroir, anaerobic processing can introduce complex, fermentation-driven profiles that lean toward intense fruit and spirit-like qualities.

In this specific lot, the roaster identifies notes of Jamaican rum, banana-like sweetness, and a strawberry banana smoothie profile. For those interested in how such distinct characteristics are categorized, consulting a flavor wheel can provide a helpful framework for identifying these nuanced sensory experiences. To better understand the technical variables involved in this production style, readers may refer to our processing methods explainer, which details how controlled environments fundamentally alter the final cup profile.