In the TMC Tea Pairing category, participants compete in the skill of creating and serving gastronomic compositions with tea.
During the presentation, the participant must serve and present two compositions to the judges: a Master’s and an Organizers’ ones. Master’s composition can be any (tea is present in the composition in the form of a drink). Organizers’ composition is prepared and served according to the conditions set forth by the organizer of the tournament. The conditions for preparing and serving the Organizers’ composition are communicated to the participants in advance. These conditions may be different at different tournaments.
Judges evaluate each composition (Master’s and Organizers’ ones) separately by the following criteria.
NEATNESS AND CLEANLINESS: Neatness and cleanliness during performance, neatness in presentation, convenience and safety of composition for degustation.
APPEAL: Conceptual and visual appeal of composition, gastronomical intrigue of composition, overall attractiveness of composition.
PRESENTATION: Knowledge of components, accuracy of predicting taste, grasp of potential uses and variants of composition, artistry and appeal of performance.
TASTE: Tea and snack harmony, conformance of taste to predictions and expectations, subjective evaluation of taste. Doubled in total score.
POTENTIAL: Reproducibility of composition, conceptual development potential, commercial development potential.