World Tea Academy marks ten year anniversary
Image: Syahir Hakim / Pixabay
World Tea Academy is celebrating ten years of training tea professionals and enthusiasts. The academy began its online tea classes in July 2013 at the helm of, then director, Donna Fellman. Starting out with just one class, Core.01, and 36 students, World Tea Academy has grown to offer 6 Core classes, 16 Advanced classes and 6 Certification programmes. After a decade, World Tea Academy has had over 1,250 students from 64 countries, taking just over 5,200 classes with nearly 400 students earning certifications.
Lisa Boalt Richardson, director of World Tea Academy, commented, “I am thrilled to be a part of World Tea Academy for the last eight years. Starting off as a substitute instructor for Donna Fellman in 2015 and then hired as the assistant director in May 2018. I became the director of World Tea Academy in July 2019 and have loved running World Tea Academy. There isn’t another tea programme that offers the curriculum with breadth and depth of tea classes. These classes have been created with the help of our advisory board and an unprecedented group of tea industry experts and luminaries.
“It is amazing to watch the growth of our students as they start off with our Core classes and continue taking our Advanced classes. It is such an honour to be a part of their tea education journey. I love to help students to learn about tea and in turn, it helps them to become confident and succeed with their tea goals and business endeavors.”
The Core Tea Certification focuses on creating a deep understanding of tea and building the foundational tea skills required for success as a tea professional in the industry. This tea certification will result in becoming a Certified Tea Specialist.
Students can continue their tea education and achieve one or more Advanced Tea Certifications. Students will need to complete all seven tea classes in their desired tea certification track to earn their advanced certification. The Advanced Certifications include: Certified Tea Professional, Certified Tea Sommelier, Certified Tea Health Expert, Certified Tea Blender, and Certified Tea Aroma Expert.