Are you working with tea professionally or thinking about entering the tea industry? Is Japanese tea something you would like to learn more about? Then we have something just for you – a two-week Japanese Tea Master Course.
The aim of the tea course is to allow you to develop a full understanding of Japanese tea, as a result of which you will become more knowledgeable about it and better equipped to guide your own customers.
The Japanese Tea Master Course covers a broad range of topics: from tea cultivation and processing; to history, culture and consumption; and provides a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience with Japanese tea. The program is delivered by Japanese tea experts, able to relay the deep going information and cultural background in an understandable and easy to follow manner. Moreover, the tea course is held in Kyoto region, that has over 800 years of Japanese tea cultivation history and is the origin of the famous brand – Ujicha.
Therefore, participation in this tea course will give you access to valuable insider’s information, otherwise inaccessible experiences, and course material that will be useful for the rest of your career.
Course Content
Day 1 – Introduction, Current tea situation, Gyokuro tasting & evaluation, Tea cultivation & processing
Day 2 – Japanese tea industry, Organic Tea Farming, Tamaryokucha tasting & evaluation, Tea ceremonies
Day 3 – Machine harvesting exercise on a tea farm; Tea processing by pan-firing exercise
Day 4 – Visit to a tea research institute, Visit to a tencha factory, Visit to a tea shop
Day 5 – Visit to a tea shop, Bancha tasting & evaluation, Chakabuki
Weekend – Free time
Day 6 – Tea components, Japanese tea export, Wakocha tasting & evaluation, Japanese teaware
Day 7 – Tea hand-picking exercise on a tea farm; Traditional tea hand-rolling exercise
Day 8 – Visit to a matcha factory, visit to a tea auction
Day 9 – Visit to a historic pottery area, Senchado ceremony experience
Day 10 – Water, Rare Japanese teas, Tea ceremony experience, Course closing & party
*Content may be revised
Course Dates
Summer Course: 3rd Jun – 14th Jun, 2024 (application deadline 29th Feb 2024)
Autumn Course: 30th Sep – 11th Oct, 2024 (application deadline 15th Jun 2024)
Classes will take place from Monday to Friday. Weekend in between will free time to explore Kyoto or other cities of Japan.
*Registration for 2024 has closed. Dates for 2025 will be announced shortly.
Course Location
The course will be held at our classroom in Kyoto City center with day trips to smaller surrounding towns like Uji, Wazuka, Kyotanabe, Shigaraki and Takayama.
Course Instructors
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Tomoyuki Nishimura (Senmu) Senmu is the owner of one of the biggest Matcha processing factories in the region and a seasoned tea professional. During the course he will teach about Matcha production. |
Kenta Hosoi Kenta is the leader of Wazuka Tea Hand-Rolling Preservation Association and the president of his family tea farm. During the course he will teach about the traditional Japanese tea making. |
Kaoru Nakai (Nakai Sensei) Nakai Sensei is a certified instructor of Urasenke tea ceremony, Furyuu Sencha ceremony and Chikusenryu flower arrangement. In the course she will lead tea culture and ceremony activities. |
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Simona Suzuki Simona is the president of the Global Japanese Tea Association and the licensed Urasenke tea ceremony instructor. During the course, she will lead Japanese tea tasing & evaluation classes. |
Yasuharu Matsumoto (Matsu) Matsu is the co-executive officer of the Global Japanese Tea Association and Vice president of Obubu Tea. In the course, he will deliver classes about Japanese tea industry and tea science. |
Akihiro Kita (Akky) Akky is the president of Obubu Tea, and a certified Japanese tea instructor, who has over 20 years of tea farming experience. During the course, he will lead tea cultivation classes and exercises. |
Many more knowledgeable and experienced tea instructors will teach other subjects during the course.
Graduate Voices
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Julie – tea consultant in Singapore, 2019 autumn course “Very well organized and truly truly amazing. |
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Susanne – the founder of Horenso Consulting in Germany, 2019 autumn course “Everything was important and useful! Many details about all parts a foreigner would not know. Logical and well prepared.” |
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Christopher – a team member of Tea Master in the USA, 2019 summer course “Truly excellent and thorough exploration of Japanese tea. It was even more in depth and comprehensive than I expected. Now I know how much I don’t know about tea:)” |
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Simone – the owner of More Tea in Australia, 2018 summer course “The course covered a wide variety of subjects presented in a warm and inviting manner. Altogether brilliant, fun, informative and hands-on. Cemented all I have learned through online study and reading.” |
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Kori – the founder of Piano Black Trade Co. in the USA, 2018 summer course “Absolutely fantastic! Very good mix of hands-on experiences and classroom theory. Really appreciated the diversity of class content and showing the whole regional Kyoto tea industry.” |
Group Size
To ensure personable learning and attentive delivery of the course, it is limited to 12 people.
Course Language
The course is delivered in English with translation from Japanese where necessary.
Course Cost
The cost of the course program is 305,000yen.
*10,000yen discount for Tea Fellows / Tea Catalysts on a yearly membership plan.
What is included:
- Course classes delivered by Japanese tea experts
- Course handouts
- Transport on the day trips out of Kyoto City
- Lunch on the day trips out of Kyoto City
- Course certificate upon successful course completion (full attendance of the course is required)
What is not included:
- Flight tickets to and from Japan
- Accommodation (the classroom is located in Kyoto City centre and there are many options for every budget)
- Meals (except for the day trip lunches and the closing party)
- Travel insurance (please choose an insurance that does not exclude the cover for farming activities and manual labour)
- Personal expenses
Requirements
Japanese Tea Intermediate Course certificate is a requirement to join the Master Course. Priority will be given to Tea Catalysts and Tea Fellows.
Cancelation Policy
More than 2 calendar months prior to the course start date: full refund (excluding transaction fees)
2 calendar months prior to the course start date: 50% refund
1 calendar month prior to the course start date: no refund
Registration
Registration for 2024 has closed. Dates for 2025 will be announced shortly.
If you have any questions please contact us at info@gjtea.org