2nd Tea Masters Cup
Winners of the Tea Masters Cup, Seoul
SOUTH KOREA
An intensive tea brewing competition took place in Seoul in June. The event was part of Tea World Festival, one of the largest and most successful beverage exhibitions of this region.
The first of these contests took place in Turkey in 2015 and has three categories - tea preparation, during which tea brewers must demonstrate their skill of tea brewing and presentation; tea pairing, where brewers must present tea in combination with a light food or snack; and tea tasting, which involves the identification of single varieties of tea.
National winners from Australia, Belarus, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, and the USA competed for the title of World Champion in each category. The judging panel included tea specialists from Russia, Korea, Taiwan, Kenya, Australia, Belarus, and Latvia. Soohyun Park, Republic of Korea, won the tea preparation category brewing Korean teas in traditional and modern styles; in the tea pairing category, first place was awarded to Murat Kornaev (Poland) who served Taiwanese ruby tea with Polish plum brandy, cheese and gastro-meatballs; and in the tea tasting category the winner was Kunti Horsta from Latvia.
After the competition, participants visited tea gardens, took part in tea ceremonies, visited a tea museum, processed their own tea, spent time at a Buddhist monastery, and learned about Korean tea culture and way of life.