Where can you drink the world's best cocktails?
Tim Philips -- the only bartender we know who's comfortable with fig jam and quails' eggs. Standing before the judges at the Diageo Reserve World Class Final bartending competition in Rio de Janeiro, Taiwanese bartender Kae Yin's hands trembled slightly as presented his cocktail.
With his index finger, he carefully etched a flower into the layer of powdered green tea that he'd sprinkled over a plate of rice flour.
"The rice powder represents our soil, which is the source of all things that grow from the ground and give sustenance to the Taiwanese people," he explains, speaking through a translator.
"It symbolizes growth and prosperity."
The audience watched with curiosity as Yin added homemade bitters and violet liqueur to a bamboo cup containing an infusion of Tanqueray 10 gin, Chinese chamomile tea, oolong tea and honey.
He covered the rim of the vessel with an inverted teacup, and then swiftly flipped it over before placing the cocktail on the plate, in the center of the rice-flower.
I'd seen this technique before in Chinese tea ceremony, but I'd never imagined it could be applied to mixology.
"This cocktail is called Trinitea," he says, spelling out the last three letters for effect.
He served the drink on a slatted bamboo box, enveloped in a cloud of vapor that emanated from a dish of dry ice beneath the lid.
The cocktail tasted pleasantly bitter and earthy, with soft herbal notes that balanced the zing of the gin.
It came as no surprise to me when Yin was named Asia-Pacific Bartender of the Year.
Asian expansion
"We have influences from Japan but also look to Europe or America for creative ideas," he tells me.
"This is just the beginning. Bartenders in Asia will go a lot farther."
Of the 16 contestants who made it through to the semifinal rounds at the World Class competition, six were from the Asia-Pacific region, and three went on to earn top honors in four categories.
Last year's global winner, Manabu Ohtake, hails from Japan, and this year, the award went to Tim Philips of Australia.
At the bar, Marsalis, where Yin works in Taipei, the 26-year-old bartender specializes in making classic cocktails with a Taiwanese twist.
He started out as a cook, and the confidence with which he combines unusual ingredients -- like Taiwanese lily flower and Oriental Beauty tea with vodka, rum and plum liqueur -- suggests that he knows his way around a kitchen.
More on CNN: How to be the world's best bartender
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