About
TeaAcademy.org
Why This Exists
Chinese tea carries centuries of regional knowledge, craft distinction, and vocabulary. Most of it is still taught and discussed in Chinese. For English speakers, getting past a surface level has usually meant self-study, scattered sources, or borrowing terms from wine and coffee to describe something they were never built for. Other tea cultures face a version of the same gap.
Tea Academy exists to make that knowledge accessible in English, with the same rigor it has always had in its own language. At its centre is CCTP, a four-level pathway recognised by the World Tea Union, built specifically for Chinese tea. Around it: workshops, seminars, and field trips, open to anyone at any stage of curiosity.
Philosophy
Tea is learned through the cup, not the textbook.
Every concept starts with tasting, then explanation, then validation, the same order a beginner and a working professional both need, just at different depths. Structured, hands-on, and accessible. It is how tea has always been taught, now built to hold your hand through it.
Behind It
Tea Academy is the work of one practitioner. Edward Qu came to wine through tea, tea was first, and it remains the centre of his work. Nineteen years in tea, eleven of them teaching it professionally across China, South Asia, and Canada, with tea-origin trips led since 2015.
As a sensory evaluation expert, he holds credentials as a Certified Chinese Tea Artist, Certified Tea Appraiser, and DipWSET, and contributes tea history research through UTSC’s food studies programme.
What’s Next
Three ways in.
Certification
Start here if you want the credential. Four levels, from a six-hour online foundation to a diploma for working professionals.
Apply →Workshop
Start here if you want one class, not four levels. Public tastings and one-off sessions, open to anyone curious about tea.
See Workshops →Stay in the Loop
The Month in Tea, a newsletter on what is happening in Canadian tea, launching soon.
Get in Touch →