A wine refining kit invented by four National Taiwan University of Science and Technology students has raised more than NT$3 million (US$93,545) online in the past two months.
The kit, named “Liquor Perfection,” is made of tin and features a helical body that is shaped like a ball, team leader Huang Hsin-ya (黃新雅) said.
Because tin is a porous metal that absorbs impurities in liquids, the kit can be fitted to the neck of a decanter before pouring a glass of wine.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
The device helps to reduce the pungency and bitterness of wine and enhances its aroma, Huang said.
The blades of the device separate liquid as it is poured, greatly increasing aeration, which also enhances the flavor of wine, she said.
Another kit, also made of tin and shaped like a stick, can be used when drinking beer or liquor, Huang said.
Users can put the rod in a glass before pouring liquid in, then wait a short time for the beverage to become “purified,” she said.
Huang said that the kits have met with an enthusiastic response after they were posted on online fundraising Web site FlyingV.
Huang said she and her teammates learned tin craft from tinsmith Chen Wan-neng (陳萬能), who is regarded as a master in the field, over the course of a year in a workshop held by the National Craft Research and Development Institute in Changhua County’s Lukang Township (鹿港) that allowed design students to earn credit by learning from government-certified craftsmen.
University president Liao Ching-jong (廖慶榮) said that as none of the students received business education, the university helped them launch the start-up through an incubator, where instructors trained them in marketing skills and taught them how to establish a firm.
Huang said that her team received guidance on accounting, established contact with angel investors and learned how to apply for subsidies.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition