HUẾ, Vietnam — Tea Masters Cup International 2018 — the final world competition of the 2017/2018 cycle was successfully held on 23-25th of November 2018 in Huế (Vietnam). 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, Vietnam.
Tea Masters from these countries were competing for the title of “World Champion” over three days in four different categories: Tea Preparations, Tea Pairing, Tea Mixology and Tea Tasting.
Tea lovers everywhere followed the competitions both live and online and these options were utilised by thousands of people around the world.
The international panel of judges included well-known tea experts all who had been certi-fied in accordance with the TMC Rules & Regulations: Anil Cooke (Sri Lanka), David Chanturiya (Russia), Andrei Ivanov (Latvia), Sharyn Johnston (Australia, Head Judge), Gabriella Lombardi (Italy), William R. Lee (South Korea), Nguyen Thi Anh Hong (Vi-etnam), Phan Thanh Hai (Vietnam), Denis Shumakov (Russia, Regulatory Judge) and Nicoletta Tul (Italy).
Three days of discoveries, challenges, new ideas and experiences. “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” — Head Judge, Ms. Sharyn Johnston says.
Nevertheless, the judges worked very hard with the difficult task and the following results were achieved:
Tea Preparation
I place — Mary Jane Hua (Australia)
II place — Viviana Petrovska (Latvia)
III place — Polina Sagara (Russia)
Tea Pairing
I place — Linh Nguyen (Vietnam)
II place — Ekaterina Sokolova (Russia)
III place — Florian Aumaire (France)
Tea Mixology
I place — Yasarathna Bandara (Sri Lanka)
II place — Dai Nguyen (Vietnam)
III place — Evgeniy Rogov (Belarus)
Tea Tasting
I place — Nikolai Dolgii (Russia)
II place — Elina Lotko (Latvia)
III place — Xuan Tong (Vietnam)
TMCI 2018 was organized in cooperation with Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS) with the support of the Peoples Committee of Hue. General Sponsorship of the event came from Dai Nam Imperial Medical Office. Support for TMCI-2018 and was also provided by Vinatea Co. Ltd, Thai Tea JSC and Bat Trang Hoang Long Ceramic Company.
“We are proud that Vietnam hosted this competition which is incredibly important for the development of the world tea industry,” — General Secretary of VITAS Ms. Hong says. 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 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 his-torical drink. Through TMC we are brewing a new future for tea. Join as and let’s do it to-gether!”
