Regional editors quarterly — online standards review

Agenda of the quarterly review

Regional editors from across the tea.place network gather once a quarter to review and shape the standards that keep the directory reliable. This is not a passive update call — it is a hands-on working session where complaints, edge cases, and evolving market practices are laid on the table.

The meeting opens with a 30‑minute revision review. Zhang Hao presents the proposed changes to the vetting criteria, highlighting where recent feedback from tea.community or field reports from tea.travel have prompted a rethink. Every change is linked to a real example — perhaps a Shēng Pǔ’ěr producer in Yunnan whose processing method challenged the existing checklist, or a tea house in Buryatia that blurred the line between cultural centre and commercial enterprise. The goal is not to rubber‑stamp but to interrogate each adjustment.

Then the main body of the session — roughly one hour — is devoted to complaints review. Regional editors bring anonymised cases they have encountered in the previous quarter. One might describe a listing in Guangdong where the white tea age claims were suspect; another might present a vendor in Hunan whose hēi chá descriptions did not align with the teamotea.com sourcing records. The group discusses, cross‑references with the tea.school reference library, and collectively decides whether a listing should be amended, suspended, or cleared. This is the heart of the vetting operation — messy, detailed, and always conducted with the same calm rigour that defines the constellation.

In the final 30 minutes, the floor becomes a plenary for voting on formal standard revisions. Decisions are recorded directly into the live standards document, and immediately become binding for all regional editors until the next quarterly review. The meeting closes with a summary of action items and a reminder that the tea.community forum stays open for ongoing clarification between sessions.

Attendees leave with a shared sense of ownership over the directory’s quality, and the knowledge that their collective judgement shapes the trustworthiness of every tea.place listing on the map.

What you get

• A revised copy of the tea.place vetting standards (PDF) with the quarter’s approved changes

• Access to a confidential, anonymised complaints digest for reference

• A recorded video of the session, available exclusively to regional editors for 90 days

• A certificate of attendance upon request — useful for professional development records within the teamotea.com network

• Direct access to a Q&A thread on tea.community where editors can continue the discussion after the meeting

• Early visibility into upcoming tea.school modules that will train new vetting volunteers

• Priority scheduling for one‑on‑one calls with Zhang Hao for unresolved regional edge cases

Logistics

• where — Zoom — a secure link is shared 48 hours before the session via the regional-editors mailing list

• dress — casual; no webcam pressure, but a quiet background is appreciated

• food & drink — bring your own tea — perhaps a fresh Shēng Pǔ’ěr to keep the palate sharp

• accessibility — live auto‑captions are enabled; PDF materials are screen‑reader friendly

• language — conversation is in Mandarin with English summaries; chat supports both scripts

• kit included — digital standards pack, meeting agenda, link to a private tea.community thread, and a timestamped PDF of the briefing

• time zone note — the default schedule is Beijing time (UTC+8); the invitation includes a time‑zone converter