At a press conference held in Kaohsiung on Thursday, Kung Hui-chun (
To celebrate her success, the country's hospitality industry has renamed her award-winning cocktail from "Cool Stweetheart" to "Taiwan Sweetheart."
Kung is the first Asian to win the competition, held on Oct. 6, which is organized annually by the International Bartenders Association (IBA).
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
This year's competition took place in Thessaloniki, Greece.
The IBA, made up of the bartender associations from 52 countries, has been organizing the annual competition for 32 years in conjunction with the IBA Annual Congress. It also organizes the World Flairtending Competition.
Taiwanese contestants have previously done well in the flairtending competition, and this year, Taiwan's Yu Kang-hsien (
Taiwanese contestants have taken fifth or sixth place in the flairtending competition every year since it was established in 2000. However, no Taiwanese has ever made it to the finals in the cocktail competition before.
This year, the cocktail competion was fought out with "long drink" cocktails -- defined as a long refreshing drink in a 30cl glass. A maximum of five ingredients not exceeding 7cl of alcohol were allowed together with only one edible garnish. A total of 48 participants from as many countries went head to head in a three-round competition, which Kung won ahead of Stefan Stevancsecz from Austria and Tormanen Harri from Finland.
In a news clip broadcast by TVBS on Friday, the audience was seen rooting for Kung while competing with other contestants on the stage. Many non-Taiwanese in the audience were seen shouting "Taiwan! Taiwan!"
The ingredients for Kung's winning cocktail included: 3cl Bacardi Carta Blanca, 3cl Amade Choc-Orange, 3cl Monin Mojito mint syrup, 7.5cl fresh orange juice and 1.5cl fresh lemon juice. The garnish was a slice of lemon, a cocktail cherry or mint leaves.
The combination method used by Kung in the competion final, to paraphrase James Bond, was "shaken, not stirred."
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS