the program
A trusted directory of tea shops, teahouses, and suppliers does not build itself. It depends on editors who understand Chinese tea at a regional level — who can distinguish a genuine Lóngjǐng (龙井) from a well-marketed imitation, who know why Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱) from the Bulang mountains tastes nothing like one from Yiwu, and who can tell when a tea house in Kunming is really a showroom for a factory in Menghai. tea.place is assembling that kind of editorial network, and this eight-week cohort is the first step.
The cohort is designed as an intensive, application-only apprenticeship. You will work directly with Zhang Hao, who runs our China operations from Kunming and has spent years building relationships with farmers, producers, and tea house owners across the country. Zhang Hao also edits the travel content for tea.travel, giving him a rare vantage point on how a good directory listing turns into a meaningful travel experience. His sessions combine story, methodology, and practical field assignments.
Each week we focus on a distinct Chinese tea and a related vetting skill. The tea becomes a lens: understanding Tie Guānyīn (铁观音) means learning to spot the difference between traditional charcoal-roasted and modern green-style processing; it means checking a shop’s origin claim against the geography of Anxi; it means developing a nose for authenticity. That sensory and geographic training runs in parallel with editorial technique — how to write a listing that respects the place without over-promising, how to verify operating hours in remote villages, and how to maintain the directory as businesses move or change.
The programme is not a passive lecture series. Weekly live sessions are paired with hands-on assignments that send you into local tea communities, even if you are not currently in China. You will learn to use satellite maps, Chinese social media, and phone verification to assess a tea business from anywhere. At the end of eight weeks, the cohort will have reviewed and curated a small portfolio of real listings, which will be published on tea.place under a collective editorial credit.
You will also be introduced to the wider Teamotea constellation. tea.school offers deep educational resources that can supplement your regional knowledge, while tea.equipment gives you a way to understand the tools that a serious tea house uses. Our hope is that graduates of this cohort become an active part of those interconnected projects, not just a name on a roster.
Regional editors will eventually cover cities, provinces, or entire tea-producing areas — updating listings, adding new ones, and flagging closures. By training the first cohort now, we are laying the groundwork for a directory that can remain accurate and alive for years. The commitment is real, but so is the skill you will build.
Week by week
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Week 1 — Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱). mapping Yunnan’s tea mountains and understanding raw pu’er terroir as a foundation for vetting origin claims
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Week 2 — Lóngjǐng (龙井). discerning authentic Longjing through cultivar, picking standard, and pan-firing technique — a case study in regional fraud
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Week 3 — Tiě Guānyīn (铁观音). separating traditional and modern processing styles and verifying Anxi provenance through leaf morphology and roast signature
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Week 4 — Bái Mǔdān (白牡丹). grading white tea and using storage condition markers to evaluate a shop’s handling of aged inventory
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Week 5 — Jīn Jùn Méi (金骏眉). understanding the impact of cultivar and plucking standard on price, and how to spot overstated luxury claims in a listing
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Week 6 — Dà Hóng Páo (大红袍). decoding Wuyi rock tea terroir and roasting levels — key skills for vetting teahouses that specialise in yancha
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Week 7 — Ānjí Bái Chá (安吉白茶). distinguishing a rare green tea from impostors and verifying that a tea house’s Anji Bai Cha is not simply a generic early-spring pick
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Week 8 — Shú Pǔ’ěr (熟普洱). assessing fermentation quality, pile-fermentation aftertaste, and storage history when reviewing a shop’s aged shou offerings
What’s included
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application review and approval for one of twelve seats
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eight live, interactive training sessions with Zhang Hao
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weekly hands-on vetting assignments, including remote verification exercises
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access to tea.place editorial guidelines and vetting rubric
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direct mentorship in Chinese tea geography and regional authentication
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a field-research toolkit for on-site and digital verification
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inclusion in the tea.travel contributor network upon completion
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certificate of completion as a regional vetting editor for tea.place