Tea Masters Cup International 2018 — the world competition of the 2017/2018 cycle was 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 categories: Tea Preparation, Tea Pairing, Tea Mixology and Tea Tasting.
The international panel of judges included well-known tea experts who had all been certified 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 (Vietnam), Phan Thanh Hai (Vietnam), Nicoletta Tul (Italy), Denis Shumakov (Russia, Regulatory Judge).
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”, said Sharyn Johnston, the Head Judge of the competition. Nevertheless, the judges worked very hard and the following results were achieved:
Tea Preparation:
— 1st — Mary Jane Hua (Australia);
— 2nd — Viviana Petrovska (Latvia);
— 3rd — Polina Sagara (Russia).
Tea Pairing:
— 1st — Linh Nguyen (Vietnam);
— 2nd — Ekaterina Sokolova (Russia);
— 3rd — Florian Aumaire (France).
Tea Mixology:
— 1st — Yasarathna Bandara (Sri Lanka);
— 2nd — Dai Nguyen (Vietnam);
— 3rd — Evgeniy Rogov (Belarus).
Tea Tasting:
— 1st — Nikolai Dolgii (Russia);
— 2nd — Elina Lotko (Latvia);
— 3rd — Xuan Tong (Vietnam).
TMCI 2018 was organized in cooperation with Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS) with the support of the Peoples Committee of Huế. General Sponsorship of the event came from Dai Nam Imperial Medical Office. Support for TMCI 2018 was also provided by Vinatea Co. Ltd, Thai Tea JSC and Bat Trang Hoang Long Ceramic Company.
Photo & Video Credit: Natalia Bogdanovska.
