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."
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