About the Person Creating Rewind

If you have ever spent an evening at Rewind’s bar, you have probably already met Ken.

He is Min-He “Ken” Chen, from Taiwan, and also Rewind’s Beverage Director.

Before coming to New York, Ken accumulated many years of experience in Taipei’s professional cocktail industry, including many years at Indulge Experimental Bistro, which was included in both World’s and Asia’s 50 Best Bars.

Those years of experience helped him build more than just a set of cocktail-making techniques. What he cares more about is how to create a complete cocktail experience from flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel to visuals, as well as a flavor language of his own.

And once he was truly in New York, he began to think about something else: could a drink allow people to recognize their own culture and memories?

This question slowly became Rewind’s starting point, too.

We often say that what Ken does is not only Flavor Pairing.

Rather than thinking about “what goes well with what,” he is more accustomed to first understanding what an ingredient is like in its original form, and then deciding how much he should add and how much he should leave.

To get to know Ken’s creations, you can begin with three themes: tea, coffee, and fruit.

Among them, tea is probably what is closest to him.

From varieties, growing regions, fermentation, and roasting, what he cares about is not only whether “the tea flavor is prominent enough,” but: what was this tea originally like?

Where does its floral aroma come from? What has roasting left behind?

How do the climate and terroir of different growing regions become the aroma, texture, and finish in the glass?

That is why Ken rarely tries to make tea cater to a cocktail.

Instead, he is better at finding the position that suits it, so that after the tea enters the drink, it still retains its original character.

To him, coming from Taiwan, tea has never been only an ingredient; it is a flavor, and it is also a language of culture.

From the carefully selected Taiwanese teas on the menu to the Tea → Spirit → Cocktail experience at Between Sips every Monday, he hopes more people will first understand what a tea is like in its original form, then see how it gradually enters contemporary cocktails.

At the same time, through Between Sips, he invites bartenders in New York from different backgrounds to use their own palates and creative approaches to foster international exchange in tea cocktail culture.

A cup of tea travels from Taiwan to New York; some people understand it anew, while others tell stories in their own way.

This is the dialogue Ken wants to continue through Rewind.

Perhaps this is also the best way to get to know Ken: you do not have to start with his résumé. When you have time, sit at the bar and order a drink with Ken.

The rest of the story, we’ll talk about slowly.

Meet Ken. The person behind the flavors, memories, and ideas we Rewind.