Dilmah Tea Challenge a resounding success

SIMDI has said that the first Dilmah Natural Luxury Sommelier Challenge in Maldives was very well received.

The event was held at Hulhumale' Central Park from Sunday to Tuesday at the FHAM Exhibition. SIMDI Group and Dilmah Ceylon Tea worked together on the challenge.

The teams participating in the challenge had a mixologist and a chef. Each team had to prepare a Dilmah Tea drink, along with a sweet or savory food item that compliments the experience of the drink. Three categories were specified in the tea making portion of the challenge, which were:

This was a 30 minute challenge.

SIMDI has said that this challenge was made to make tea drinking an even more complete experience, create various tea-based drinks, learn tea making techniques and become even more familiar in the art of tea making. The challenge is centered around a theme of "respect" to encourage respect for tea leaves, natural ingredients, the people and places that grow them, natural wealth, health and nutrition and respect for the guest experience.

The challenge has a first place prize of USD 500 along with an all-expenses-paid (accommodation and travel expenses) trip to Sri Lanka's Dilmah School of Tea, which was won by Somerset Hotel's Sadhun and Vikum. The first runner-up stood to win USD 300, which was won by One&Only Reethi Rah's Jonathan and Kunal. The second runner-up won USD 200, which was won by Vakkaru Maldives' Yogesh and Mujeef.

Medals were also given out for the following:

Dilmah tea products are brought and sold in Maldives via SIMDI. Along with loose tea, tea bags and premium tea products are available for purchase.