Taiwan's Sylvia Chao Wins Sherbeth Gelato First Prize With Luce d'Oolong

Taiwanese oolong takes the top prize in Palermo

Sylvia Chao, a gelato maker from Taiwan's Changhua County, has won first prize at the 17th Sherbeth International Artisan Gelato Festival in Palermo, Sicily. Her winning flavor, Luce d'Oolong, brought the taste of Taiwanese oolong tea to a competition featuring 50 artisans from around the world.

The victory is the first top prize for a Taiwanese entrant at Sherbeth. Judges and members of the public praised a flavor that combined an original idea with a clear connection to tradition: Taiwanese tea expressed through the Italian craft of gelato.

Chao runs Mountain in Blue Gelato on Lukang's historic old street in central Taiwan. Her shop uses local ingredients and changes its menu with the seasons. Before the Sicily award, her gelato had already received national attention when it was selected for Taiwan's National Day reception in 2023 and served to foreign guests.

Luce d'Oolong now places that local approach before an international audience. Its appeal rests on a careful balance of floral aroma, mineral notes and restrained sweetness, allowing the tea to remain recognizable within a smooth frozen dessert.

The result also comes during a period of success for Taiwanese food artisans in Italy. A team of pastry chefs recently won the 2025 Panettone World Championship, another competition centered on a food closely associated with Italian tradition.

A festival connecting Italian tradition with international makers

Sherbeth, founded in 2008, has become one of the most visible showcases for artisan gelato. Its 17th edition brought together 50 makers from many countries, placing their recipes before both professional judges and visitors eager to taste them.

Palermo provides a setting with longstanding connections to frozen desserts. During the festival, its historic streets fill with tasting stands, while demonstrations, masterclasses and talks allow professionals to exchange ideas and compare techniques.

Visitors queue to sample competing flavors, giving makers an audience beyond the judging panel. The formal competition asks artisans to combine technical care with a recognizable sense of place, whether that comes from an ingredient, a tradition or a particular approach to flavor.

A Sherbeth title can set a benchmark for the craft by drawing attention to new ideas and tastes. For makers outside Europe, a place on the podium can also lead to collaborations, opportunities to serve at guest events and invitations to teach.

What makes Luce d'Oolong distinctive?

Luce d'Oolong draws on the range of flavors found in Taiwanese oolong tea. Oolong sits between green and black tea in its degree of oxidation, the process that helps shape a tea's flavor as its leaves are prepared.

Taiwanese tea producers have developed many styles within that range. Lightly oxidized teas grown in high mountain areas can have floral aromas, while teas with a medium roast can offer a deeper mineral tone. Those differences give a gelato maker several possible directions.

The leaves can produce bright blossom notes, gentle sweetness and a clean finish, or bring roasted hints and a firmer flavor structure. Choosing how to express those qualities matters because the tea must remain distinct after it becomes part of a frozen dessert.

In Chao's winning flavor, the floral note arrives first, followed by a mineral character that gives the taste definition. Sweetness stays in the background. Judges and visitors responded to a balance that allowed the scoop to taste both like tea and like gelato.

How delicate tea aromas survive freezing

Tea gelato begins with capturing the aroma of the leaves. Artisans often steep tea in warm milk or cream, controlling the temperature and infusion time before building the rest of the mixture. Too much extraction can bring bitterness; too little can leave the flavor faint.

Dairy fat carries aromatic compounds. Sugar, milk solids and stabilizers help give the mixture a dense, smooth texture with small ice crystals. Each part contributes to whether the finished scoop feels creamy and refreshing or loses the clarity of its main ingredient.

Tea presents a particular challenge because its aromas can be delicate and volatile. A maker needs enough flavor to remain noticeable when frozen, while keeping bitterness and sweetness in proportion.

The best tea gelato retains a clear taste of the leaves without sacrificing texture. Luce d'Oolong's success reflects that balance: the tea provides the character, while the gelato technique gives it a form that visitors can enjoy by the scoop.

From Lukang's old street to an international podium

Chao is a Changhua native whose shop sits in a town known for red brick facades, temples and street snacks. Mountain in Blue Gelato adds a small gelato kitchen to Lukang's historic food setting, using ingredients that connect its menu to Taiwanese farms and hillsides.

Seasonal fruit, nuts, grains and tea all feature in her approach. Rather than maintaining an unchanging selection, the shop follows the seasons, combining classic gelato methods with produce grown in Taiwan.

The selection of her gelato for the 2023 Double Ten National Day reception gave that work a role in presenting Taiwanese food to foreign guests. The Sherbeth award extends that cultural role to an international competition.

The milestones place Chao's achievement alongside another Taiwanese success in Italy:

• 2023: Chao's gelato was selected for Taiwan's National Day reception and served to foreign guests.
• 2025: Taiwanese pastry chefs won the Panettone World Championship.
• By November 14, 2025: Chao had won first prize at Sherbeth's 17th edition in Palermo with Luce d'Oolong.

No exact date for Chao's competition victory was given. The award adds a new reason for visitors interested in Lukang's heritage and food to seek out Mountain in Blue, potentially bringing attention to the town and its ingredient producers.

Why gelato suits a tea flavor

Gelato generally uses less fat than most ice cream and is churned more slowly. Slower churning incorporates less air, producing a denser dessert. Gelato is also served a little warmer than ice cream, which makes its flavors more immediate on the palate.

A custard rich ice cream can feel especially rich and cold, while gelato often feels silkier and more focused on the main flavor. Those differences help explain why an ingredient as delicate as tea can work well in this format.

Too much butterfat can mute subtle tea aromas. A gelato mixture with the right balance allows floral and other delicate notes to come through, rather than being overwhelmed by dairy richness.

For Luce d'Oolong, that relationship between ingredient and method is central. The goal is a vivid tea flavor whose layers remain noticeable in the cold, supported by a smooth texture rather than hidden within it.

Judges look beyond an inventive recipe

Sherbeth's competition considers texture, aroma, flavor definition and stability. An appealing idea needs careful execution: the scoop must taste distinct, feel smooth and hold its structure as it is served.

Gelato competitions typically reward small ice crystals, a stable mixture and a dessert that does not melt too quickly. Ingredients should taste natural and clean, with sweetness and richness kept in proportion.

A creative flavor can lose its appeal if the texture is heavy, too sweet or icy. Skilled competitors therefore work on the basic recipe before adding their individual twist, making sure the mixture can support the chosen ingredient.

Public tastings add another kind of feedback. Thousands of visitors sample the recipes, allowing makers to see which flavors appeal across cultural boundaries. The welcome for a gelato led by Taiwanese tea points to growing interest in Asian ingredients on European menus.

What the award means for Taiwanese tea and food

Oolong has long been a symbol of Taiwanese agriculture. Many tea gardens occupy steep mountain slopes, where cool nights and misty mornings help preserve the aroma that makes the leaves valuable to drinkers and cooks.

A winning gelato introduces that agricultural craft to people who may know little about Taiwan's range of teas. Diners encounter the ingredient through a familiar dessert, while chefs and retailers may become interested in finding premium leaves for their own recipes.

That attention could benefit smaller producers if it leads to new sourcing relationships. Chao's emphasis on local ingredients provides a direct connection between the dessert and the farms whose crops help shape its flavor.

The recent Taiwanese victory at the 2025 Panettone World Championship provides a second example of artisans working with an established Italian food. Panettone is one of Italy's emblematic breads; gelato is another internationally recognized part of its food culture.

Together, the successes show Taiwanese makers engaging with European methods while contributing ideas drawn from their own ingredients and experience. Italian technique continues to shape gelato in Taiwan, while Taiwanese produce brings different flavors to European audiences.

New attention for a shop rooted in its surroundings

Major competition winners often receive more visitors and requests for appearances. Invitations can include serving at festivals, teaching classes or creating limited flavors with restaurants. Such opportunities can extend a maker's reach beyond the original shop.

The visibility can also support investment in equipment and closer relationships with local growers. For a business built around seasonal produce, those ties matter because the quality of each crop helps determine the quality of the finished dessert.

Chao's work remains connected to Lukang and to Taiwanese ingredients. The award gives that approach a larger audience, showing how a local tea flavor can travel through a familiar Italian dessert without losing its identity.

The Essentials

• Sylvia Chao of Changhua County won first prize at the 17th Sherbeth International Artisan Gelato Festival in Palermo, Sicily.
• Her flavor, Luce d'Oolong, combines Taiwanese oolong tea with floral and mineral notes and restrained sweetness.
• She is the first Taiwanese entrant to win the festival's top award, in a field of 50 artisans from around the world.
• Chao runs Mountain in Blue Gelato on Lukang's historic old street, using local ingredients and a seasonal menu.
• Her gelato was served to foreign guests at Taiwan's National Day reception in 2023.
• Sherbeth was founded in 2008 and combines professional competition with public tastings, demonstrations and talks.
• The victory follows a Taiwanese team's success at the 2025 Panettone World Championship and brings wider attention to Taiwan's tea and dessert makers.