Katharine Burnett, director of the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science, welcomes attendees, speakers and special guests to the inaugural colloquium, "Tea and People," on May 12, 2016. Dr. Burnett is also director of the East Asian Studies Program and associate professor of Chinese art history at UC Davis.

Speaker at the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science inaugural colloquium: “Tea and People” on May 12, 2016. Tea master and connoisseur Wingchi Ip is an internationally exhibited calligraphy artist and designer of tea furniture, tea vessels and tea packaging. His passion for tea finds an outlet in his role as Director of LockCha Tea House, Hong Kong, where he also works as a tea exporter and retailer. He speaks about Zisha ware or Yixing ware, a type of unglazed ceramic long considered the best for making tea, and its changes over history.

Speaker at the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science inaugural colloquium: “Tea and People” on May 12, 2016. Dr. Carl Keen has been a member of the nutrition faculty at the University of California, Davis since 1981, serving as chair of the Department of Nutrition from 1993 to 2006. In 2006, he was appointed as the first holder of the UC Davis Mars Family Endowed Chair in Developmental Nutrition. Noting many health claims made for tea are anecdotal, he examines promising results on the possible vascular benefits of tea borne out by research. http://keenlab.faculty.ucdavis.edu/

Speaker at the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science inaugural colloquium: “Tea and People” on May 12, 2016. Dr. Kristin Surak is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and an associate professor of Japanese Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her book, "Making Tea, Making Japan: Cultural Nationalism in Practice," received the Outstanding Book Award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Asia. She outlines the formal elements of the Japanese tea ceremony and also offers some surprises about its history.

Speaker at the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science inaugural colloquium: “Tea and People” on May 12, 2016. Professor Yaoping Luo is dean of the Tea Science Institute at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. His current research interests include understanding tea varietals, tea and water conservation, and mechanical harvesting, all closely related to the practical production of tea. His distinguished career is marked by numerous publications including the books, “Tea Cultivation” (Fourth and Fifth Editions) and “Production and Processing Technology for High Quality Tea,” and a tea-related patent. Presenting in Chinese with an English translator, he speaks about the different types of tea, such as white, green, oolong and black, and how significant variations occur through oxidation.

UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science inaugural colloquium: “Tea and People” on May 12, 2016. Colloquium speakers Wingchi Ip, Yaoping Luo, Carl Keen and Kristin Surak field questions from attendees after their talks.