Honey Moai Mug, Hand Painted Ceramic, 500g

For anyone opening a tiki section who has to start from something the guest recognises. Of all the subjects in the repertoire the Moai is the one everybody immediately connects with island exoticism: it needs no explaining, it works with an audience that knows nothing about tiki, and that is why it is the first mug almost everyone buys.

The Moai are the monolithic statues of Easter Island, carved between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. They have nothing to do with the Polynesia of cocktails, which is an American invention of the nineteen thirties and forties: tiki as we know it was born in California bars, mixing different oceanic references into one imagined world. The Moai entered that repertoire for its visual force and has stayed the most used symbol. Knowing that takes nothing away from the appeal, and it gives the bartender a true story to tell.

• Material: hand painted ceramic
• Subject: Moai head
• Finish: honey coloured
• Weight: 0.5kg
• Use: tiki cocktails and tropical drinks on crushed ice
• Dishwasher safe: no, hand wash

Take the honey Moai if

If you are building a tiki section and you want the most recognisable subject. If instead the list is centred on dark rums or on agave, the skull and barrel subjects in the same family sit better with what you serve.

The honey tone and the light in the room

Warm finishes give more under low, amber light, which is what an evening tiki bar runs on: the colour warms further and the ceramic looks like wood. Under cold or very white light honey looks flat and loses depth. It is an obvious criterion that almost nobody weighs at the point of buying and that shows on the first night.

The garnish, which here does half the work

The drink inside a mug cannot be seen, so the whole visual side passes to the garnish: plenty of mint, a thick citrus slice, dehydrated fruit, spice grated over. It wants building upwards, because it is the only thing showing above the mug, and it wants placing so it sits above the ice without drowning. That is why tiki drinks carry the most elaborate garnishes in all of mixing.

How many mugs a tiki section takes

The sum is done on the peak, not on the total. If tiki drinks go out five times in the busiest hour and hand washing one mug takes a minute, six pieces are enough; if fifteen go out, they are not. The honey Moai is a good place to start precisely because it is the most general subject: it gets bought first, and the other finishes get added as the section grows.

Care

Hand wash in warm water with a neutral soap. Hand painted ceramic does not like the dishwasher, where hot cycles and industrial detergents attack the paint over time. The relief of the face holds fruit juice residue: a soft brush sorts out what the sponge cannot reach.

FAQ

Is the honey Moai dishwasher safe? Better not: hand painted ceramic suffers from hot cycles and industrial detergents.

How much does it hold? The supplier declares the weight of half a kilo for this finish but not the capacity.

What is a Moai? One of the monolithic statues of Easter Island, taken into the tiki repertoire for its visual force.

Is it right for soft drinks? Yes, and tropical drinks without alcohol work very well in a mug.

Does it need crushed ice? That is the ice tiki recipes assume: it chills fast and the dilution is counted into the measures.

Can it be bought singly? Yes, tiki mugs are not sold in packs: the kit is put together piece by piece.

The more you buy, the less you pay: 4 pieces -5%, 6 -7%, 8 -10%, on the same item.

Dispatched from Rome, Italy. 15-day returns, free of charge. Questions before you order? Message us on WhatsApp on +39 351 929 6937.

For the comparison between subjects and capacities there is the tiki mug guide.