Archive for category booze

I had the hardest time trying to figure out an introduction to this article. Trying to describe what exactly is a taki without taking into consideration its scope and influence on the people of Fiji is risky, least of all un-patriotic. I tried all sorts of introductions, most of which failed straight away such as “Taki is as Fijian as the mosquitoes on your leg and the kani on your arms.” ; “You will always find things in Fiji – Smiles, coconut trees and a taki.” Rather then expose my substantially under developed ability to pad out introductions, I will instead start off simple.

The good old taki.

Taki, a phrase uttered many a time in Fiji, is Fijian for “serve the drink!”, and is usually associated with drinking grog. It can however be applied to any other drinking situation where the drink is being shared in a group, just like grog. Besides grog, the taki principle is applied to drinking alcohol in a group, either at home around a carton or two, or at the clubs, with a jug. While beer is the more common form of drink to be used in a taki situation, it’s not uncommon to taki other drinks as well such as coke and rum etc. As long as the drink is alcoholic in nature, the taki method serves its purpose well.

If you are a local, chances are you are already familiar with doing the taki, either through grog, or beer, or usually both, and so this article would be old news. However, if you are new to the drinking scene, or were a goody two shoes till you got coerced into drinking by sneaky friends, then fear not, the taki system isn’t all that difficult to get into.

The Stuff

To initiate a taki session, you’ll need:

Taki Master: Mind you, there may be other words used to describe such a position, but for all intents and purposes, ‘taki master’ or in its shortened form for this article, ‘TM’ is the person who is responsible for the taki.

Alcohol: Of course. Beer, Rum/cola mix, homebrew. However you call it, if it has enough of a kick to make you bring on the good times, then by all means taki it. Alcohol could either be served straight from the bottle, or from a jug as commonly seen in the nightclubs.

Taki glass: A typical taki glass should not be too big that filling it 3/4 up with beer would result in a half empty bottle, and not too small that you can fit 3 of it in a shot glass. Glass is preferred, as plastic cheapens the thrill. Of course personal preference could say otherwise, but glass is usually the norm.

Washback cup: It happens. You serve a glass, when it comes back, there’s a tiny bit left over that you’re not likely to share with anyone else (unless you hate everyone else. More on that later…). A washback cup is used after every taki where you pour the reminder into, then continue with the round. Sure you could simply empty it onto the floor (which I do now and then) but a washback cup is so much more…classy.

The Taki

The Taki Master (TM) is appointed either by a self vote (‘Mai I taki’) or a group vote (‘Vacava you taki?’). After the alcohol has been acquired, it is now a simple task of serving it out to your group of friends. To taki, pour about half a glass of beer and hand it out. When the glass comes back, empty the washback into the washback cup, fill the glass again and pass it out. Rise and repeat until the whole group has had their fill.

The order in which you circulate the drinks is entirely up to you. However, to ensure that nobody has been missed (though more often then not you’d be notified by a cry of ‘Oi! You missed me!’) a circular order is recommended, starting off with the person next to you, and ending with you.

After the round has been finished, there’s a waiting time, usually to let the served alcohol do its thing. The initiation of the next round depends on who calls for it, either by a thirsty member of the party, or the TM themselves. Starting the next serve is done by simply saying ‘TAKI’.

Bear in mind:

• When you are doing the taki, note that you decide the speed to which the group as a whole gets drunk. While various other factors may somewhat skew the end result (an alcoholic in the group for example), the general idea in taki is for everyone to get with the drinks together. Therefore the two speeds of taki are: a ‘slow’ taki is when there is a long waiting time in between rounds, and a ‘fast’ taki being the exact opposite, with little or sometimes no breaks in between takis, a tactic adopted either at the beginning of the session, or whenever you just want everyone to get fucked as soon as possible.
• As the TM, respect is in order for your fellow drinking buddies. If someone asks to be excused from the  taki rounds by either not drinking or simply preferring to drink their own drink, let them be. The same goes for requests for either a lesser amount of drink or missing the current round. Common sense yes, but a tact which is easily forgotten during the more drunken stages of taki.
• Full glass takis are usually frowned upon, and are generally reserved for the person who came late to the party or for that special someone who loses at whatever drinking game you were playing.
• The bigger the group, the faster the taki needs to be. Because it takes awhile for everyone to get their taki, in a big group, the waiting time for each person’s taki is increased exponentially, so a smaller break between each taki round ensures speedier delivery.