Tea Foundations: Brewing Skills and Flavor Profiles
Tea Foundations: Brewing Skills and Flavor Profiles is an online course form the UC Davis GLobal Tea Institute, developed in collaboration with the UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education and available on Coursera. Designed for curious tea drinkers at any experience level, the course builds practical confidence in selecting, storing, brewing, and evaluating tea. Learners will explore the six major tea categories, develop a basic vocabulary for describing flavor, and gain the knowledge to make informed decisions about tea quality and value.
Instructor: Brendan Shah, University of California, Davis
Course description
Build the knowledge and practical skills you need to explore the world of tea with confidence. Whether you're new to tea or looking to deepen your understanding, this course will help you make more informed choices when selecting, storing, brewing, and tasting tea.
- You'll discover the six major tea categories and learn how different processing methods create the teas we know and enjoy. You'll practice navigating tea shops, retail environments, and menus; interpreting tea names, labels, and packaging; and evaluating tea based on your personal preferences, needs, quality, and value.
- You'll also learn how proper storage can preserve tea's flavor and freshness and develop practical brewing skills that can be applied to any type of tea. Along the way, you'll explore how to troubleshoot common brewing problems so you can adjust variables and create a more enjoyable cup.
- Finally, you'll develop foundational tasting skills and learn basic flavor vocabulary to help you recognize and describe what you experience when drinking tea.
Learn more and enroll now
Student Feedback
Here's what students from the 2023/2024 cohort have to say about the course:
"I appreciated the variety of speakers/experience shared during the course. A lot of information was shared over the last few months, many of which worked off of information shared in previous sessions allowing the information to sink in more.
"Todo es excellent! (Everything is excellent!!!)"
"All guest speakers were very obviously knowledgeable about their area of expertise and passionate about the subject."
"As I am in the process of opening a small tea shop, the information has provided me a deeper understanding of tea that will allow me to better speak to customers about what they are getting or questions they may have. The session contents and speaking with others in the breakout groups has also helped me consider a few new ideas that I can see about integrating into my shop.
"I really enjoyed the course, and also having the opportunity to connect with a lot of people who love tea just like me!"