UC Davis Colloquium Explores Tea and Wine

TheGlobal Tea Initiative for the Study of Tea Culture and Science (GTI) and theRobert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI) are jointly hosting“The Great Debate: Discussion on Tea and Wine” at UC Davis.

The fifth GTI colloquiumis a two-day event beginning 9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 through Friday Jan. 17 atthe UC Davis Conference Center in Davis, Calif.

Attendance isfree and open to the public, but reservations are recommended at gti2020.eventbrite.com.

A schedule ofspeakers and panels will delve into the history and various attributes of teaand wine — considering site, terroir and appellations, sensory aspects,aesthetics and collecting, and developing markets. Speakers include expertsfrom France, Germany, Indonesia and Japan as well as Brown and Cornelluniversities.

Special eventsinclude an enactment on Thursday of the Tang dynasty text, the Debate betweenTea and Alcohol (Cha Jiu lun) by members of the Theatre and Dance Ensemble, at10 a.m.

There will alsobe an exhibition titled: Old Traditions, New Trends: Tea and Wine in JapaneseArt, at the UC Davis Conference Center.

Lectures include:

• “CollectingTea: A Conversation” – by James Norwood Pratt, author of The Tea Lover’sCompanion, and Roy Fong, founder and proprietor of San Francisco’s Imperial TeaCourt, the first traditional Chinese teahouse in America.

• “CollectingWine” — by Jim Gordon, editor-at-large of Wine Business Monthly, contributingeditor for Wine Enthusiast.

• “Site, Terroir,and Appellations – Tea” – by Fitrio Ashardiono, UC Davis visiting scholar andsenior researcher at Asia-Japan Research Institute, Ritsumeikan University –Osaka Ibaraki Campus.

Other activitiesinclude networking, company showcases and beverage samples. Attendees will becomprised of students, scholars, members of the international tea and wineindustries, and the general public.

KatharineBurnett, GTI founder and associate professor of art history and expert inChinese art and culture notes “in the charming Tang dynasty text, the Debatebetween Tea and Alcohol, tea and alcohol have long been recognized as‘social beverages.”

“Few, however,know that they have many other important similarities, such as site/terroir,chemistry profiles, sensory aspects, and collecting, Burnett continued. “Bycollaborating with the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, thisyear’s annual GTI colloquium brings the two beverages together for stimulatingdiscussions over two days.”

AndrewWaterhouse, director of RMI at UC Davis said, “the institute is pleased topartner with the Global Tea Initiative in support of our joint commitment toelevate the profile of beverage-related research and expertise on the UC Daviscampus, and to celebrate the significant roles both wine and tea play incultures worldwide.”

The Global TeaInitiative focuses on both the culture and the science of tea from its originsin Asia and spreading to almost every continent on the planet. Unique in theworld, the GTI fosters research and collaboration across the sciences,humanities and social sciences campus wide to explore the wide-ranging impactof tea on ceramics, gender roles, health practices and more all over the world.

To learn morevisit: globaltea.ucdavis.edu

Source: UC Davis