Artem Talalai

Artem Talalai

Representing: UAE

With his "Cool Down" initiative, Artem wants to unite hospitality professionals all over Dubai through a two-step wellness-focused program that will bring the bar community together in educational seminars and ice bath sessions.

My name is Artem Talalai, and I am not alone anymore.

Let me share my story with you.

I left my home country, friends, and my usual life 2.5 years ago and moved to Dubai. As soon as I arrived here, I faced not only the language barrier and a new culture, but the most difficult thing for me was loneliness.

But the worst thing is that I realized that I am not the only one who struggles with this. Most hospitality industry employees are ex-pats like me. They left their families, friends, and home country, and they all struggle with the same problem as me.

Permanent stress associated with long working hours and the lack of opportunity to share your problems and experiences with loved ones leads to rapid burnout, loss of interest in work and profession, and a complete loss of motivation for further development. The quintessence of all these points is that instead of happy employees, we get devastated people without passion and emotions.

With my "Community Hero" project, which I called COOL DOWN YOUR MIND. I wanted to change this situation and unite the employees of bars and restaurants all over Dubai.

So, I created a two-step program that will bring people together. The first step is to hold an open educational session once a month with an invited specialist (Breathing practice, psychologist, self-development coach, etc.). During this session, all participants could share their problems and receive support and advice from the coach and other participants.

The second step is a weekly "ice bath". So that this bath effect leads to a rapid release of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, this helps to reduce stress levels for the entire next working week. This action will have a positive impact not only on your work life but also on your personal life. I also created a QR code for my cocktail. Under this code, you will find the schedule of all future sessions that we would like to organize over the next six months.

By the way, my cocktail also combines different cultures. The basis of the taste is Ketel One Vodka, which symbolizes possible changes that we can make together, like a big community or family.

Cordial with feijoa and a mix of teas from around the world as a symbol of unity. Italicus. 0% alc./vol. Vintense Sparkling wine.

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Cool Down

Ingredients:
40 ml Ketel One Family Made Vodka
10 ml Italicus
20 ml Tea mix & fejoa cordial
120 ml Vintense sparkling wine 0% abv
Method of mixing - build
Glassware - highball
Ice - cracked ice
Garnish - lemon wedge / coco butter red line
Aroma - lemon peel

Tea mix & feijoa cordial: mix all ingredients
Tea mix syrup - 300 ml
Acid mix 5% - 400 ml
Feijoa essential - 1 ml
Tea mix syrup: Sous vide, 65C, 30 min
Simple syrup - 1000 ml
Thai Milk oolong tea - 5 gr.
Japanese Gyokuro tea - 5 gr.
Argentinean Mate tea - 5 gr.
Chinese Gaba oolong tea - 5 gr.
Method: Mix all ingredients and put them in a vacuum bag, put in a sous vide bath for 15 minutes, then let it chill and filter

Simple syrup: Mix and dissolve
Fructose - 1100 gr
Water - 1000 ml

Garnish; Cocoa Butter Red Line:
Cocoa butter - 100 gr.
Red food coloring- 3 gr.
Method: Warm cocoa butter and add food colour, dissolve completely.

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