For the month of March, World Tea Academy is offering a $40 discount on its ADV.04 The Biochemistry of Tea Processing course. This advanced course delves into each tea processing stage, examining the chemical transformations that take place in the tea leaf. Its purpose is to identify the chemical compounds—both volatile and non-volatile—in different types of tea and teach how the manufacturing process produces these compounds.
Former World Tea Academy Director Donna Fellman wrote thecourse in 2014 and it was first offered in March 2015. “One of the most popularSkill Building classes ever offered at World Tea Expo was the two-day TeaProcessing class where we made tea from raw tea leaf materials,” Fellman said.
ADV.04 offers students a three week-long study of thechemistry of tea processing.
“While true teas are created just by physicallymanipulating the leaves without adding any other ingredients,researching the materials for the class opened my eyes to just how muchwas going on inside the leaf to create the shapes, colors, aromas and tastes ofall the teas. I was inspired by the science of the process, and how all thestages of tea manufacturing served a specific purpose in creating theconditions to support or inhibit the chemical interactions that would createthe desired outcomes,” Fellman said.
Though enrollment in the course does not require anyspecific prerequisites, course materials presume an understanding of the sixdifferent types of camellia sinensis processing.
The class covers: the main chemical compounds involved intea processing, chemical reactions, and how each stage supports the developmentof desirable compounds while inhibiting that of undesirable compounds.Furthermore, the class examines tea’s flavor and the roles that processing anddifferent polyphenols play.
ADV.04 provides a strong foundation for tea houseproprietors and hospitality managers because it prepares them for the questionscustomers pose that are often related to tea’s chemistry, such as thosepertaining to caffeine, sweetness and flavor. Increasingly health consciousconsumers inquire about polyphenols. Tea Sommeliers benefit from understandingthe organoleptic experience of tea along while knowing a tea’s origin and whichprocesses produce certain flavors.
The course is one of the requirements of the Tea Aroma ExpertCertification as chemical compounds contribute to a tea’s aroma. “Thatknowledge is very much a part of understanding how teas can best be flavoredand blended with other botanicals,” said Fellman.
“The class was designed to be an invitation into anotherwhole world of learning about tea. It wasn’t written by a scientist; it waswritten in basic English by someone who became a bit of a tea geek exploringtea and tea processing at the molecular level,” Fellman said. “This bodyof knowledge is the foundation of understanding so much about the thousands ofteas that are enjoyed around the world.”
When registering for ADV.04The Biochemistry of Tea Processing, enter this discount code: ADV440.