Born from the inventiveness of Victor J. Bergeron in 1944 in his restaurant-bar Trader Vic's in Oakland during the visit of Tahitian friends, the Maï-Taï is today a great classic of any good cocktail bar.
During the service of this cocktail created especially for friends from Tahiti, one of them, Carrie Guilde, shouted after tasting it "maita'i roa ae" which means "Very good" in Tahitian. This cry of joy directly gave the name of this cocktail.
It was not until a little over 10 years later that the Mai-Tai became very popular and a must when Elvis Presley made it his signature cocktail in the movie Blue Hawaii between 1950 and 1960.