Becoming a Tea Person
A 30-Day Journey Through Chinese Tea
Yunnan · Sichuan · Xi'an · October 2026
Why Tea?
I've been looking for something I can study without a ceiling - something that rewards years of attention and never fully gives itself up. Tea, the more I've sat with it, is that thing.
It pulls together almost everything I find meaningful: learning and culture, travel and people, sensory experience and storytelling, hospitality and the quiet art of teaching. A good cup of tea is never just a beverage. It is geography, history, craft, and relationship, all in a small bowl.
"I don't want tea to be another hobby. I want to see whether it can become my life's work."
─ · 為何茶 · ─
What Does It Actually Mean to Know Tea?
Most of us start with the cup. But the cup is only the final sentence of a very long story. I want to read the whole book.
The Cup
Immediate sensory experience and taste
The Leaf
Processing, oxidation, and preparation details
The People
Growers, pickers, and community knowledge
"I don't want to know only what is in the cup. I want to understand the entire story behind it."
─ · 知茶之道 · ─
The Journey at a Glance
Thirty days. Five regions. Six distinct programmes. This is what October looks like.
Oct 1–4
Tea Sommelier
Kunming
Oct 5–15
Yunnan Tea Heritage
Yunnan Tea Mountains
Oct 16–19
Pu'er Tea
Kunming
Oct 20–25
Sichuan Tea Heritage
Sichuan
Oct 26–28
Tang & Song Culture
Xi'an
Oct 29–30
Training of Trainers
Xi'an
Six chapters. One journey.
─ · 三十日 · 三省 · ─
Following the Tea
The route moves through three of China's most storied tea provinces, each with its own climate, history, and character. Yunnan for ancient forests and Pu'er. Sichuan for mountain greens and the old Tea Horse Road. Xi'an for the history that made tea a civilization.
Yunnan
Ancient forests & Pu'er
- Kunming
- Jingmai
- Menghai
- Yiwu
- Pu'er
- Lincang · Fengqing
Sichuan
Mountain greens & Tea Horse Road
- Chengdu
- Ya'an
- Emei Mountain
Shaanxi
History that made tea a civilization
- Xi'an
─ · 茶馬古道 · ─
Tea Sommelier
October 1–4 · Kunming, Yunnan
✦ ─────────────────── ✦ ─────────────────── ✦
The journey begins in Kunming with a formal four-day Tea Tasting & Sommelier programme - the first structured framework I will bring to everything that follows. Conducted in English, open to beginners, and concluding with an IACT certification.
The Curriculum
- Tea tree fundamentals and botany
- Tea classification and the six major categories
- Green, Yellow, White, Oolong, Black, Dark, and Pu'er
- Tea history and cultural context
The Practice
- Sensory evaluation and tasting methodology
- Brewing skills and technique
- Tea presentation and service
- IACT certification awarded on completion
✦ ─────────────────── ✦ ─────────────────── ✦
─ · 昆明 · October 1–4 · ─
What I Will Learn to See
Tasting tea seriously is a skill. It requires attention, vocabulary, and a method. By the end of the sommelier programme, I hope to move from instinct to observation, from "I like this" to "I understand why."
Look
Leaf appearance, color, shape, and condition before and after steeping
Smell
Aroma - dry leaf, wet leaf, cup, and the lingering finish
Taste
Flavor - sweetness, bitterness, astringency, complexity, and evolution
Feel
Body, texture, mouthfeel, and the way the cup changes cup by cup
Understand
Processing method, origin, terroir - what shaped this tea before it reached me
Communicate
Explain the experience clearly, accurately, and in a way another person can follow
─ · 品茶之術 · ─
Where the Leaf Lives
October 5–15 · Yunnan Tea Mountains
Eleven days in Yunnan - following a route through Jingmai, Menghai, Yiwu, Pu'er, and Lincang / Fengqing. This is the landscape that produced some of the world's oldest tea trees and most complex teas. The classroom gave me a framework. Yunnan will give me the ground beneath it.
Ancient Tea Forests
Walking among trees that have been producing leaves for hundreds of years - understanding age as flavour
Tea Farmers
Meeting the people who grow and process tea - understanding the human craft behind every cup
Production & Processing
Observing how leaf becomes tea - withering, rolling, firing, pressing - the transformation that defines character
Regional Tastings
Comparing teas from different mountains and villages - learning to taste terroir, not just flavour
"This is where classroom knowledge meets the real tea world."
─ · 雲南茶山 · October 5–15 · ─
Walking Through a Tea Forest
Jingmai Mountain, Yunnan
The Ancient Landscape
Jingmai is one of the oldest cultivated tea landscapes on earth. The trees here are ancient, some hundreds of years old, growing beneath a canopy that regulates light and humidity in ways no plantation can replicate. The teas that come from this forest carry something that cannot be manufactured.
The Purpose of This Journey
I want to stand under those trees. I want to see the plant before it becomes a product, to understand that the flavour in the cup is inseparable from the place where the leaf was born.
"I want to see the plant before it becomes a product."
─ · 景邁山 · Jingmai Mountain · ─
Going Deeper: Pu'er
October 16–19 · Kunming
Pu'er is arguably the most complex category in Chinese tea - a pressed, fermented, aged tea that changes over years and decades, valued by collectors and scholars alike. After eleven days in the Yunnan mountains, I return to Kunming for a dedicated Pu'er study programme.
What I'll Study
- Pu'er origins and historical context
- Raw (sheng) vs. ripe (shou) processing
- Terroir and regional differences
- Sensory evaluation and aging markers
- Tea collection and storage principles
Why It Matters
Pu'er sits at the intersection of agriculture, fermentation science, cultural heritage, and connoisseurship. Understanding it deeply means understanding the full breadth of what tea can be - not just a morning ritual, but a living thing that changes with time.
─ · 普洱 · Pu'er · Kunming · ─
Another Side of Chinese Tea
Sichuan Province · A Study in Mountain Mist & Green Tea
Sichuan is a different register entirely. Where Yunnan is ancient forest and Pu'er, Sichuan is mountain mist and green tea - a cooler, more austere landscape with its own deep history. The route moves through Ya'an, once the starting point of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, and up to the tea gardens of Emei Mountain.
Sichuan Green & Yellow Tea
Delicate, grassy, and light - a complete contrast to the earthiness of Yunnan Pu'er
Ya'an Dark Tea
The compressed bricks that once traveled the ancient trade routes, sturdy, deep, and historically significant
Emei Mountain Tea
High-altitude teas from one of China's most sacred landscapes, with flavour shaped by clouds and elevation
The Ancient Tea Horse Road
The route that carried compressed tea from Yunnan and Sichuan across the Himalayas into Tibet - tea as trade, diplomacy, and survival
─ · 峨眉山 · Sichuan · ─
When Tea Became Culture
October 26–28 · Xi'an
Xi'an is one of the great cities of Chinese history - the Tang Dynasty capital, the eastern terminus of the Silk Road. It is the place where tea, in the 8th century, became something more than an agricultural product. The tea scholar Lu Yu wrote the Cha Jing - the Classic of Tea - during the Tang. The Song refined the practice further, developing whipped tea ceremonies that would eventually reach Japan and become the roots of the tea ceremony.
"I want to understand tea not only as agriculture and beverage, but as part of civilization."
Tang Dynasty Tea
Boiled brick tea with salt - the beginning of a formal tea culture at the imperial court
Song Dynasty Tea
Whisked powdered tea, ceramic bowls, aesthetic refinement - tea as art form
Fu Tea
A distinctive fermented brick tea from Shaanxi, a regional heritage still made today
─ · 西安 · Tang Dynasty Capital · ─
From Student to Teacher
October 29–30 · Xi'an
The final two days shift the frame. Having spent a month learning, the last programme asks a different question: how do you help someone else discover this?
四法 · Four Arts of Teaching
Communicate Clearly
Translate what I have learned into language that works for someone who has never thought about tea before
Guide a Tasting
Lead someone through a cup of tea in a way that opens their senses, not overwhelms them
Create the Experience
Design sessions that are educational and emotionally resonant - knowledge held inside beauty
Tell the Story
Share the cultural history responsibly, without exoticizing it or reducing it to decoration
"Knowing something is one thing. Helping another person discover it is another skill entirely."
─ · 傳道授業 · Xi'an · October 29–30 · ─
What I Hope to Return With
Thirty days is not enough to become a tea master. It is enough to build a serious foundation - and to know what I don't yet know. I am not going to China to acquire expertise. I am going to begin the practice of earning it.
Knowledge
A structured, layered foundation across six tea categories and two thousand years of history
Palate
Trained sensory recognition - the ability to observe, describe, and evaluate tea with precision
Culture
A living understanding of Chinese tea traditions, not from books alone, but from place and people
Field Experience
First-hand exposure to tea-growing landscapes, production processes, and farming communities
Teaching
A foundation in how to guide, facilitate, and create meaningful educational tea experiences
Connections
Relationships with farmers, educators, and practitioners - the beginning of a community
茶道 · The Way of Tea
─ · 學而時習之 · ─
China Is Not the Destination
Return
Bring back knowledge, relationships, and a trained palate
Practice
Launch the Nomad Tea Table, begin sharing
Deepen
Continue study, source teas, build expertise
Teach
Develop workshops and educational experiences
Build
Create a lasting home for tea culture
"China is not the destination. It is the beginning."
─ · 前路 · The Road Ahead · ─
The Nomad Tea Table
A concept. A practice. A way of sharing what I am learning with people who are genuinely curious.
- 5–8 guests, gathered around a carefully set tea table
- 60–90 minutes, unhurried
- A curated selection of teas, chosen around a theme or story
- Guided tasting with cultural context and conversation
- A small take-home tea sample and tasting notes
Not a class. Not a performance. Not a ceremony for its own sake. Something closer to a dinner party where the host knows enough about tea to make you curious, and wants to share that without lecturing.
The table travels. The guests change. The teas change. The stories deepen over time.
"Not a class. Not a performance. Something closer to a dinner party where the host knows enough about tea to make you curious, and wants to share that without lecturing."
· 茶席 · The Nomad Tea Table ·
A Life Built Around Tea
I don't know exactly where this leads. I have a sense of direction, and that is enough to start.
Begin
Formal education and field immersion in China
Practice
Nomad Tea Table - intimate guided tastings
Deepen
Tea workshops, private sessions, educational programmes
Curate
Tea selection, sourcing relationships, a personal collection
Build
Collaborations, a physical space, perhaps eventually a home for tea
"I don't know exactly where this will lead yet. I know I want to give it a serious chance."
─ · 茶道 · The Long Game · ─
"I want to learn tea where the tea lives."
Not from a screen. Not from a book. Not from a certificate.
From the mountain. From the leaf. From the people. From the cup.
茶山 · Tea Mountain · Yunnan, October 2026
Why I'm Taking This Seriously
I am not going to China for a holiday. I am going to study.
Education
Structured programmes and certifications
Cultural Understanding
A living tradition, in the place it comes from
Professional Foundation
Knowledge and field experience to build on
Personal Growth
Thirty days of sustained focus
· 志學 · The Commitment ·
茶 · 從葉到杯
從葉
From the Leaf
To the Cup · To the Culture · To the Table
Kee's Tea Journey · China · October 2026
· 茶 · Chá ·