The 2021 Canada International Gastronomy and Tourism Competition (CIGTC) attracted contestants from more than ten countries. In this fierce competition, the Department of Food & Beverage Management and Department of Tourism and Recreation from Cheng Shiu University won two golds in coffee cocktails and one silver in dynamic bartending. Wei-ching Wang, the champion of two recent competitions (one in Taiwan and the other overseas) in creative cocktails, won another gold for the university.

CIGTC attracted more than 600 contestants from Canada, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, Australia, Peru, India, Arabia, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Wei-ching Wang, a student from the Department of Food and Beverage, Cheng Shiu University, won the gold medal in coffee cocktails.

The contest in coffee cocktails lasted for six minutes, and coffee making should be completed in this timeframe. Wei-ching Wang made coffee by drip brewing washed beans, and this coffee cocktail sent off the aroma of rum, blackcurrants, and lemon zest. The aftertaste also came with the buttery and cacao notes of the coffee. The final touch was created with Monin chocolate syrup, Glen Grant The Major’s Reserve Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Disaronno Originale (an amaretto-flavored liqueur), and a drop of Angostura bitters. This unique blend was highly praised by the panel of judges.   

The other gold medalist in coffee cocktails was Ya-Fan Tsai, a student from the Department of Tourism and Recreation. She used dry-processed Geisha coffee and added the notes of floral aroma, berries, grapes, and hazelnuts, and the aftertaste of chocolate, lemon, and red fruits was sweet and solid. The base alcohol was McCormick grape vodka, which is mellow but powerful, with a sweet and crisp grape fragrance, and this was combined with passion fruit liqueur, rose syrup, and orange juice. This coffee cocktail was named “Floral Scent”.

A sophomore student, Yu-Shan Chang, from the Department of Food and Beverage, received a silver medal in traditional cocktails. This content required the making of three cocktails in five minutes using three techniques: building, mixing, and shaking. This part of the contest focused on testing time management and cocktail fluency.   

It is worth mentioning that Yu-Shan Chang built her third cocktail with the creative inspiration drawn from flowers. She used Monin Rose Syrup and violet tea, added Beefeater Gin with a juniper berry flavor and blended with Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge and lemon juice. As the magician of floral teas, violet changes colors when in touch with acids; therefore, this cocktail came with the visual effect of color gradients.  

According to Chih-ling Kuo, the Team Leader for the Department of Food and Beverage, the competition was online due to COVID-19, and the video was recorded in one setting without editing. The shooting took a lot of time because there should be zero misses during the cocktail making process and all the external factors must be eliminated. The participating students practiced the techniques and explored presentation ideas after school by trying out different combinations of styles and tastes, and they eventually won two golds and one silver.