Program overview
Most restaurant tea programmes stay firmly in the realm of Western black tea bags or a handful of mass-market oolongs. Yet Chinese tea — with its six categories, thousands of regional styles, and deep cultural narratives — offers a genuine opportunity to elevate guest experience, build staff confidence, and differentiate a venue’s identity. The challenge has always been turning this vast tradition into a coherent, teachable curriculum that fits the rhythm of a working restaurant. This cohort closes that gap.
Led by Senior Tea Expert Zhou Xiang, whose deep knowledge of Hunan green, black, and yellow teas is paired with years of training hospitality teams, the eight-week programme walks you through every stage of building an in-house Chinese tea education programme. Each week’s live session opens with a guided tasting of a classic tea: from the vegetal clarity of Lóngjǐng (龙井) to the honeyed depth of Jīn Jùn Méi (金骏眉), the rare umami of Jūn Shān Yín Zhēn (君山银针), and the evolving complexity of a Yunnan Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱). Alongside the tasting, Zhou Xiang unpacks the contextual knowledge — growing region, processing, flavour wheel, brewing parameters — that your trainers will need to pass on to front-of-house staff.
The curriculum design component moves beyond tasting notes. In dedicated workshops, you draft lesson plans, training objectives, and assessment tools tailored to your restaurant’s service style. Whether you run a fine-dining tasting-menu room or a busy gastropub, you will learn to translate the precision of Chinese tea service into practical, repeatable steps: how to present a tea list, how to describe a tea’s story in a single sentence, how to pair with dishes, and how to set up a brewing station that works in the flow of a shift.
A distinctive feature of the cohort is the peer review forum. Each participant brings the reality of their own venue — the kitchen’s pace, the average check, the guests’ curiosity — and together the group critiques and refines draft programmes. This exchange turns theoretical ideas into field-tested solutions. Zhou Xiang provides individual mentorship through a private session and ongoing written feedback on your final curriculum submission.
To support your work outside of live sessions, we connect you with resources across the Teamotea constellation. Participants receive complimentary access to tea.school’s full library of video tutorials and teaching aids, so you can revisit brewing demonstrations or explore topics like water quality and storage. For visual storytelling and regional context, tea.travel offers a rich collection of imagery and origin profiles that help staff bring a tea’s terroir to life on the floor. And when it’s time to source the teas for your programme, shop.thetea.app provides direct access to the same lots used in the cohort tastings.
By the end of the eight weeks, you will have a complete, coach-reviewed training programme ready to implement: a sequenced curriculum, staff-facing materials, tasting scripts, and a clear roadmap for introducing Chinese tea to your guests with confidence. There is no rushed certification or sales pitch — just careful, methodical work that honours the depth of Chinese tea while making it genuinely accessible to restaurant teams.
Week by week
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Week 1 — Lóngjǐng (龙井). Green tea fundamentals — flavour categories, brewing vessels, and placing a mid-course tea moment on your menu.
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Week 2 — Jīn Jùn Méi (金骏眉). Black tea (hóng chá) and dessert pairings — designing a post-dinner tea service that surprises.
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Week 3 — Jūn Shān Yín Zhēn (君山银针). Yellow tea’s rarity and storytelling — how a limited offering creates exclusivity without gimmicks.
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Week 4 — Tiě Guān Yīn (铁观音). Oolong as a bridge category — multiple infusions and gongfu presentation for the table.
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Week 5 — Bái Mǔ Dān (白牡丹). White tea and aging — introducing vintage teas on a wine-list model.
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Week 6 — Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱). Yunnan terroir and ageability — building a cellar programme and training staff on provenance.
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Week 7 — Shú Pǔ’ěr (熟普洱). Fermented tea and digestive health — scripting wellness-oriented recommendations for guests.
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Week 8 — Xiāng Bō Lǜ (湘波绿). Hometown terroir and final project — curating a signature tea list that tells a cohesive story, from Hunan to the table.
What’s included
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eight live weekly sessions led by Zhou Xiang (90 minutes each)
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seasonal tasting kit with the eight curriculum teas shipped to your door
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curriculum design templates, lesson plans, and staff training manuals
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complimentary access to tea.school’s full library during the cohort
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one 30-minute private mentorship session with Zhou Xiang
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peer review forum and final project showcase with fellow restaurant educators
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discount on tea.equipment for teaware used in tasting and service
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digital certificate of completion