Winners of the Tea Masters Cup final revealed

The world final of the Tea Masters Cup was held in Huế, Vietnam last month.

Fifteen countries were represented by their national champions : Australia, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE and Vietnam. The finalists were competing for the title of “World Champion” over three days in four different categories: Tea Preparations, Tea Pairing, Tea Mixology and Tea Tasting.

The international panel of judges included tea experts all who had been certified in accordance with the TMC Rules & Regulations: Sharyn Johnston (Australia, Head Judge), Anil Cooke (Sri Lanka), David Chanturiya (Russia), Andrei Ivanov (Latvia), Gabriella Lombardi (Italy), William R. Lee (South Korea), Nguyen Thi Anh Hong (Vietnam), Phan Thanh Hai (Vietnam), Denis Shumakov (Russia, Regulatory Judge) and Nicoletta Tul (Italy).

Head Judge, Sharyn Johnston said: “It was not easy to identify the best of the best. Each master showcased their greatest skills, so the selection of world champion titles in their category was very difficult.”

The winners of each category:

Tea Preparation

1st place — Mary Jane Hua (Australia)

2nd place — Viviana Petrovska (Latvia)

3rd place — Polina Sagara (Russia)

Tea Pairing

1st place — Linh Nguyen (Vietnam)

2nd place — Ekaterina Sokolova (Russia)

3rd place — Florian Aumaire (France)

Tea Mixology

1st place — Yasarathna Bandara (Sri Lanka)

2nd place — Dai Nguyen (Vietnam)

3rd place — Evgeniy Rogov (Belarus)

Tea Tasting

1st place — Nikolai Dolgii (Russia)

2nd place — Elina Lotko (Latvia)

3rd place — Xuan Tong (Vietnam)

TMCI 2018 was organized in co-operation with Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS) with the support of the Peoples Committee of Huế.

“We are proud that Vietnam hosted this competition which is incredibly important for the development of the world tea industry,” said general secretary of VITAS Ms. Hong. She also highlighted that Vietnam is not only one of the biggest tea-producing countries in the world, where tea traditions and culture are carefully treasured, but also a place which is located in the crossroads of a new tea ideas, and she hopes these will be successfully used in her country and in other countries too.

Chairman of TMC Ramaz Chanturiya said: “With each championship, we are moving step by step towards the formation of a new future tea market, where the value of Camellia Sinensis will be restored and where all those who involved in the tea value chain starting from the plucking of the leaves to brewing and serving tea will feel renewed confidence. Tea lovers will become fully informed about the many exciting tea cultures, the variety of tea flavors and aromas, which can give them much more pleasure from enjoying this historical drink. Through TMC we are brewing a new future for tea.”

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