Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491356
40 STiR tea & coffee industry international Education and Sommelier Training Many tea stores and tea rooms across Canada now offer regular tasting events since they recognize that this is the best way to engage customers who are often unaware of the different types and varieties of tea available and, as happened with wine in the past, are hesitant to ask for information. As well as events, classes and courses offered by individual companies, the Tea Association of Canada has for the past few years been offering a tea sommelier program through adult education colleges. Tea Association President Roberge explains that, "We have worked diligently to provide Canada with a Tea Sommelier program that will educate and empower any novice tea minded individual." The 150 hour course teaches an understanding of the production of different types of tea and different tea regions, the tea taster's vocabulary and sensory evaluation of tea, brewing skills, menu design, food pairing, cooking with tea, and the business of tea. The course is currently offered at six colleges across the country and more academic institutions are waiting for approval to go ahead," she said. The program "attracts not only people who work for tea companies, serve tea in tea lounges and tea rooms, or plan to work in tea in the future, but also a high number of interested amateurs who simply like tea and want to know more, in perhaps the same way that they may want to learn about wine or chocolate," said Roberge. "There's a constant demand for the course and because it's physically challenging to teach right across the country in different time zones, we now also offer the course online. Classes fill up very quickly and, as well as Canadians, we've had people from America, Italy and Egypt recruiting for the online course. We send out teas to partici- pants beforehand so that they can taste the appropriate teas during the course," said Weber, who helps organize and teach the course. Shops such as Toronto's Tao Tea Leaf and Maison De Thé Camellia Sinensis are typical of the new success of shops that specialize in Chinese teas and host regular tasting events and classes to inform and educate new tea aficionados. Since 2009, Tao Wu of Tao Tea Leaf has been offering 180 different teas sourced directly on personal visits from tea farms in China (including rare oolongs and ancient Pu-erhs), has a team of staff who have completed the tea Sommelier course at the local George Brown Col- lege, runs workshops at his tea school, participates in the Toronto Tea Festival, and takes groups of interested tea over to China. "We are always ready to show the art of tea, a cup is always waiting for you. Here we open closed doors to the culture and history behind the world of tea," said Wu. Camellia Sinensis is a 15-year old specialty tea company with stores in three loca- tions in Montreal and Quebec City. The company is owned and managed by four tea tasters who travel to Asia every spring to source teas. All the leaf from the more than 250 teas in their catalog is directly purchased fresh from the season direct from the growers (with the exception of their large collection of Pu-erh and aged teas of other Research shows that the amount of money spent on tea is highest amongst those who associate tea with the message that it delivers an important dose of anti- oxidants into the body, may prevent can- cer, maintains fluid intake, relieves anxi- ety and reduces cholesterol. And of 4205 people quizzed in a Nielsen survey, 64% said that they associated health with hot green tea (compared to 56% of those sur- veyed in 2007), only 28% with flavored hot green tea (against 13% in 2007), and 27% with hot black tea (compared to 10% in 2007). But black tea persists as the favorite. In a Nielsen survey of 3,177 regular tea drinkers, when asked what teas were in their cupboard, 68% said regular black tea, 53% said green, 50% flavored black and 28% flavored green. Murchie's Tea & Coffee, since 1894 Ottawa Tea Festival, November 2013