London, Oct. 27 (CNA) Chatime, a Taiwanese tea store chain, was named Monday as one of the "Brands of the Year" at the World Branding Awards, becoming the first Taiwanese catering brand to receive the honor.

In winning its first major international award, Chatime was listed along with other world leading international brands such as McDonald's, Apple, Louis Vuitton, Coca Cola, Lego, Carrefour, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz and Visa.

Henry Wang, chairman of La Kaffa International Co., which operates the Chatime brand, told CNA that it was the first time a Taiwanese food and beverage brand had won the prestigious award, giving him, his company and Taiwan's catering sector a big confidence boost.

Chatime has set up stores in more than 80 cities in 29 countries as part of its ongoing efforts to internationalize Taiwanese food and beverage products, Wang said at the award ceremony in London.

The World Branding Awards is the premier awards of the World Branding Forum, a global non-profit organization that aims to provide benefits to the branding community, including those who work in the branding, design, marketing, advertising, public relations and communications disciplines worldwide.

Winners of the World Branding Awards are judged through four streams: brand valuation, consumer market research, public online voting, and advisory council voting by the World Branding Forum.

Peter Pek, a manager of the World Branding Forum, told CNA that Chatime had high scores in the four streams, helping it join Taiwan's famous technology companies as a prestigious brand.

According to La Kaffa's website, Chatime modernizes the traditional tea culture by producing high-tech tea machines to make consistent-quality fresh teas.

Given the different temperatures, humidities, and barometric pressures around the world, Chatime formulizes the tea making standard procedures using "precise timing," "precise quality" and "precise temperatures" to guarantee the best quality drinks with consistency for customers worldwide, La Kaffa said.

(By Jennifer Huang and Jeffrey Wu)
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