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 the course in 2014 and it was first offered in March 2015. “One of the most popular Skill Building classes ever offered at World Tea Expo was the two-day Tea Processing class where we made tea from raw tea leaf materials,” Fellman said.
ADV.04 offers students a three week-long study of the chemistry of tea processing.
“While true teas are created just by physically manipulating the leaves without adding any other ingredients, researching the materials for the class opened my eyes to just how much was going on inside the leaf to create the shapes, colors, aromas and tastes of all the teas. I was inspired by the science of the process, and how all the stages of tea manufacturing served a specific purpose in creating the conditions to support or inhibit the chemical interactions that would create the desired outcomes,” Fellman said.
Though enrollment in the course does not require any specific prerequisites, course materials presume an understanding of the six different types of camellia sinensis processing.
The class covers: the main chemical compounds involved in tea processing, chemical reactions, and how each stage supports the development of desirable compounds while inhibiting that of undesirable compounds. Furthermore, the class examines tea’s flavor and the roles that processing and different polyphenols play.
ADV.04 provides a strong foundation for tea house proprietors and hospitality managers because it prepares them for the questions customers pose that are often related to tea’s chemistry, such as those pertaining to caffeine, sweetness and flavor. Increasingly health conscious consumers inquire about polyphenols. Tea Sommeliers benefit from understanding the organoleptic experience of tea along while knowing a tea’s origin and which processes produce certain flavors.
The course is one of the requirements of the Tea Aroma Expert Certification as chemical compounds contribute to a tea’s aroma. “That knowledge is very much a part of understanding how teas can best be flavored and blended with other botanicals,” said Fellman.
“The class was designed to be an invitation into another whole world of learning about tea. It wasn’t written by a scientist; it was written in basic English by someone who became a bit of a tea geek exploring tea and tea processing at the molecular level,” Fellman said. “This body of knowledge is the foundation of understanding so much about the thousands of teas that are enjoyed around the world.”
When registering for ADV.04 The Biochemistry of Tea Processing, enter this discount code: ADV440.