Rum

Black Magic (Mai-Kai)

Name: Black Magic (Mai-Kai)
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Snifter

Mai-Kai's secretive coffee-laced rum elixir, served in a brandy snifter over crushed ice.

rum tiki mid-century blended coffee jamaican tropical

Ingredients

fresh orange juice (1.25 oz)
fresh lime juice (1.25 oz)
fresh grapefruit juice (1.25 oz)
chilled brewed coffee (1.5 oz)
rich honey mix (0.75 oz)
Mariano's Mix No. 7 (0.5 oz)
Angostura bitters (2 dashes)
allspice dram (1 tsp)
dark Jamaican rum (1.5 oz)
gold Spanish-style rum (1 oz)
dark rum (1 oz)
lemon peel (1)
grapefruit peel (1)

Mariano Licudine's original Mai-Kai recipe remains a closely guarded secret.¹ The spec below is the most-cited tribute reconstruction (Atomic Grog version 3.0, April 2020), developed via testing alongside Beachbum Berry's research.² Freshly brewed coffee is the signature element, and "Don's Spices #2" follows the standard Berry reconstruction of Donn Beach's vanilla and allspice tincture, here approximated with allspice dram alongside a vanilla-syrup stand-in for Mariano's Mix No. 7.³

Brand recommendations. Best: Smith & Cross or Hamilton Pot Still Black for the dark Jamaican, Ron Zacapa 23 or Flor de Cana 12 for the gold Spanish-style, Coruba or Cruzan Black Strap for the dark rum, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, Liber & Co. vanilla syrup as a stand-in for Mariano's Mix No. 7 if a homemade version isn't on hand. Economical: Appleton Estate Signature for the Jamaican, Brugal Anejo or Flor de Cana 7 for the Spanish-style, Myers's Original Dark, Hamilton Pimento Liqueur for the allspice dram, Monin vanilla syrup as the Mariano's Mix No. 7 stand-in.

Instructions

Add fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, fresh grapefruit juice, chilled brewed coffee, rich honey mix (2:1 honey to water), Mariano's Mix No. 7, Angostura bitters, allspice dram, dark Jamaican rum, gold Spanish-style rum, and dark rum to a blender.
Add 2 heaping cups of crushed ice and flash blend for 8-10 seconds until frothy.
Pour into a large snifter glass with additional crushed ice.
Garnish with a lemon peel or grapefruit peel.

Sources

Glazner, Mai-Kai: History and Mystery of the Iconic Tiki Restaurant (2016), Mariano Licudine chapter, documents the Mai-Kai's still-secret original recipes and Licudine's role as founding bartender (1956). ↩
PUNCH, "Recreating Mai-Kai's Bizarre Black Magic Coffee Cocktail." https://punchdrink.com/articles/recreating-mai-kai-tiki-bar-bizarre-black-magic-coffee-cocktail-recipe/ (accessed 2026-05-03), published the Hurricane Hayward / Atomic Grog tribute reconstruction the file's spec is taken from. ↩
Berry, Sippin' Safari (2017 ed.), "Don's Spices" entries, Berry's reconstruction of Donn Beach's branded spice tinctures, the parent recipe Hayward extends with the Mariano's Mix No. 7 vanilla-syrup approximation. ↩