Wild, Ancient & Indigenous Tea - The Untold Story of Guizhou, China

Wednesday 2nd October 2019
6.30pm – 8.30pm

25 Lavington Street, London, SE1 0NZ

Join Rui Liu from Grass People Tree for an ancient tea ritual and let the untold story of tea slowly unfold.

This 2 hour tea experience shares 6 wild, indigenous and ancient teas that are made in tune with nature, including the green tea that never bitters, the 1500 years old indigenous black tea, the 17 years old Pu'er that was aged using the ancient way. You will also learn the extraordinary health benefits these teas bring and the 2500-years philosophy of tea-making. Join Rui on this journey and you will never think of tea in the same way.

About Rui

Rui Liu was born and raised in the wild and inaccessible mountains of Guizhou in southwest China, where the rich ecosystem and diverse ethnic tea cultures have remained unknown to the rest of the world for centuries. Having lived in London for 11 years, Rui has founded Grass People Tree to share the stories of her people and their unshakeable commitment to natural produce, traditions and craftsmanship.

Introducing Grass People Tree - watch the video

Places sell fast so book now to secure your place in our new studio for this special evening in our calendar of ‘Academy Extras’.

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SPECIALITY ASSAM TEAS FROM SINGLE ESTATES, INDIA

Wednesday 9th October
6.30pm-8.30pm

25 Lavington Street, London, SE1 0NZ

There’s more to Assam teas than you might think. Join Manoj Jalan, Director of a group of family-run tea-plantations in Assam, and his daughter Anisha, to hear about their work in 5 tea estates in Assam and taste a selection of their high quality orthodox teas.

Learn about their organic tea production and the company’s care for the ecology of the plantations' micro-environments; hear about their work with local communities; and discover opportunities to join their tourism programme – during which visitors can stay in beautifully refurbished planters’ bungalows, drink tea served on tree-houses, enjoy a beautiful evening of singing & dancing by local villagers, take a ride on the majestic river Brahmaputra (with a picnic on one of its islands), visit the amazing Kaziranga National Park (home to the Great Indian One Horned Rhinoceros and countless species of birds), visit the Tocklai Tea Research Station in Jorhat, Assam, and a host of other activities.

Do join us for an interactive evening and the story of four generations of a family of Assam tea planters.

Tickets sell fast so book now to secure your place at this very special event in our calendar of Academy Extras.

Book Your Place

JAPANESE TEA: ALL YOU WANT TO KNOW

Wednesday 16th October
7-9pm

25 Lavington Street, London, SE1 0NZ

Japanese tea has been really popular around the world and many people want to learn more about it. The sources of accurate information are quite scarce.

Japanese Tea: All You Want to Know is a free-style event on Japanese tea. Come to meet Matsu and Simona - the passionate and driven tea professionals from Global Japanese Tea Association. In the open discussion you will have a chance to ask them the burning questions you might have always had about Japanese tea.

For example:

• What is Matcha?
• Why organic production in Japan is so low?
• How do you store Japanese tea properly?
• and anything else that spins in your mind.

Along the way you will also be able to try several kinds of popular teas directly from Japan.

The event will be led by Matsu and Simona. Matsu is a charismatic Japanese tea instructor, a member of the Global Japanese Tea Association executive team and vice president of Obubu Tea. Simona is the president of the Global Japanese Tea Association, who is also a Japanese tea author and a licensed Japanese tea ceremony instructor.

Global Japanese Tea Association is a non-profit organization with the aim to connect Japanese tea lovers all around the world from tea makers to tea users. The main activities include information sharing, education and community building around Japanese tea.

If you’d like to send questions on Japanese tea to us prior to the event, please email info@ukteaacademy.com

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THE UKTA EVOLVES

Three years ago, we established the UK Tea Academy to spread an appreciation of tea and raise service standards in F&B with professional tea training. We have tutored more than 500 students from all over the world through our certification programme and have developed a full programme of events around tea in our Academy Extras. This year we have developed a new brand identity, a new website and secured a permanent home. We have international reach through our Licenced Trainers in Scotland, Italy, Japan and S Korea, with more joining soon. And later this year we will launch an introductory Online Foundation course. We hold regular events, tastings, talks and workshops at our London Tea Studio (see Academy Extras) and will be introducing new courses and Masterclasses.

We believe The UK Tea Academy is already one of the foremost tea training centres in the world and, thanks to the dedication of our tutors, brewing team and volunteers, we are proud of the success of our students and look forward to sending out into the world many more certified Tea Champions and Sommeliers to share the love and respect for this fabulous leaf.

OUR NEW HOME

UK Tea Academy is thrilled to have moved into its own studio classroom at 25 Lavington Street, London, SE1 0NZ.

Our new room is in a reclaimed building owned and managed by Sustainable Workspaces, a company that reclaims and refurbishes disused or decommissioned buildings and converts then into sustainably-run private offices, workshops, meeting rooms and event spaces.

UK TEA BREWERS CHAMPIONSHIP

We are delighted to announce the launch of The UK Tea Brewer's Championship
in partnership with The Beverage Standards Association.

We need all you skilled and enthusiastic professionals to sign up and show the UK your fabulous, innovative ways with tea!

FIRST PRIZE: The grand winner of the UK Tea Brewer's Championship will win free Tea Champion and Tea Sommelier courses with the UKTA (or other UKTA courses to the value of £1000 if these courses have been completed).

Runners up will win a selection of fine Limited Edition teas from top tea companies.

ENTER NOW

The competition is:

• a professional platform to showcase the talent of anyone working in the tea service industry (i.e. working in: Hotels, Restaurants, Cafés, Tea Houses, Tea Rooms, Coffee Shops, Tea/Coffee companies) who want to show off their craft and flair in producing a range of tea beverages to a professional standard. If you are dedicated tea enthusiast not working in the F&B sector - no problem! We want to see your skills too.
• a way to improve the standards of tea served in the Out of Home (OOH) market throughout the UK, Europe and Asia

ENTRY CRITERIA: The competition is open to anyone working in the tea serving industry (i.e. working in: Hotels, Restaurants, Cafés, Tea Houses, Tea Rooms, Coffee Shops, Tea/Coffee companies) and dedicated amateur tea brewers.

COMPETITION OUTLINE

1. Classic Brewing Skills session: Candidates will be asked to prepare the perfect cup of tea in each category of teas (green, white, black, yellow etc.) using the classic methods and classic standards (water capacity, quantity of tea, different temperatures, etc).
2. Description and tasting notes comparison vs actual taste of the competitor’s chosen teas for the preparation of the classic teas per each category.
3. Description and tasting notes comparison vs actual taste of the competitor’s signature drink chosen tea (prepared in a classic way and with no added ingredients)
4. Signature Drink session: competitors will showcase a Signature Tea Based Drink of their choice/invention; this can be prepared using any chosen brewing/extraction methods and can contain different ingredients including spirits, syrups, veg and fruits, and it can be a cold or hot drink.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. Only loose teas shall be used during the competition (infusions shall not be used for the preparation of the signature drinks unless they contain pure teas in them).
2. The Candidates will have to bring their chosen teas to prepare their signature drink; they will need to be able to explain the reasons behind their choice and the tasting profile of their teas while doing the brewing.
3. The signature drink shall be the same throughout the competition and shall be tasting consistently also throughout the competition.

In the inaugural year – 2019/20 the elimination process will be

• Heat one at the BSA PopUp Show on Thursday 20th June 2019
• Heat two at Caffe Culture held on the 28th & 29th October 2019 (on day 1 & 2)
• Semi-final and Finals will be held at the London Tea Show, which which will take place in March 2020 at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London.

ENTER THE UK TEA BREWERS CHAMPIONSHIP