INDIAN TEA MASTERCLASS

10 hours of live webinar tutoring with UKTA Founder and Director of Studies, Jane Pettigrew.

In this masterclass, we will learn about the history of the Indian tea industry, and explore teas from lesser-known regions. We push beyond Assam and Darjeeling, discovering and tasting teas from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Terai, Bihar, Sikkim, Kangra, Kumaon, and the areas surrounding the Nilgiri Hills. Think India is only famous for its black teas? We will also taste artisan and small-batch made greens, oolongs and whites.

Over £45 worth of carefully selected teas are included in your course price and will be mailed to you before the course begins.

The first webinar is an introductory one-hour session, with subsequent webinars each lasting for 3 hours and including at least 8 tastings per session.

Webinar 1: An Introduction to Indian Tea

Webinar 1: An Introduction to Indian Tea: This one-hour opening webinar will introduce in detail the history and background of the Indian Tea Industry and will include an edited video interview with a key industry personality who will give an overview of the industry today.

Webinar 2: Northeast India

Since the first plants were cultivated commercially in Assam, that is where our studies begin. And because several other areas surrounding the Assam Valley are today also producing tea, we will discuss and taste teas from Arunachal Pradesh to the north of Assam; from Nagaland to the southeast; Meghalaya to the south; Tripura even further to the south, Terai which runs along the southern border of Nepal, and Bihar, also to the south of Nepal. We will taste some black orthodox and CTC teas, a handmade black, a green and a white tea.

Webinar 3: Darjeeling and Northwest India

Webinar 3 takes us to Darjeeling to talk about some of the region’s less traditional teas that we have not yet tasted in the Tea Sommelier course (oolong, white, green and ‘moonlight’ tea). And we will visit Sikkim the small kingdom tucked in between Darjeeling and Bhutan where Temi Tea Garden still dominates but other producers also now make some excellent teas. We will then travel up into the foothills of the Himalayas to the west of Darjeeling to learn about Kangra, once a major tea producing area, abandoned when an earthquake devastated the area in 1905, but now back on track and making some very good teas. We’ll also go to Kumaon to find out about the work of Young Mountain Tea with growers there and to taste the white tea and the black tea that the company markets in the US.

Webinar 4: Southern India

Webinar 4 focuses on India’s southern Nilgiri Hills and we’ll taste some black teas from the different regions (Anamallais, Wayanad, etc) that produce teas with slightly different flavour profiles. And we’ll taste a 2^nd Flush SFTGFOP1 black tea from Thiashola, the oldest of the Nilgiri Tea gardens dating back to 1859, 2 white teas from different gardens, and some of the teas made at Tea Studio, the recently established boutique factory near Coonoor, that is run by an all-women team and produces excellent small-batch speciality teas.

WHAT WILL I NEED?

1. Your computer to access the webinars on Zoom and online resources.

2. Kettle, filtered water, and some necessary teaware items

For brewing the 25 teas, you will need some teaware items. A list of recommended equipment will be sent upon booking, to help you prepare for the course.

Completion of this masterclass will count as one credit towards our Level 3 Tea Diploma qualification.

Our online masterclasses are open to anyone. If you are working towards a final Level Three qualification but you have not yet achieved your Level Two Tea Sommelier qualification, you will still receive a credit towards the Tea Diploma qualification.

Indian Tea Masterclass: 4 webinars