Being Tea Teacher Training
Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions before you apply?
Hi there! These are the questions I receive the most frequently about joining Being Tea Teacher Training.
If you don’t see your question here, or you’d like to connect personally about how this program might be a good fit for your goals, reach out to me below.
Our #1 most commonly asked question!
“Is Being Tea Teacher Training a program to learn about tea?”
No. This unique training program focuses on developing skills for how to teach tea to others – not learning about tea ourselves. This program is very different from other trainings, for that reason.
Here, we study teaching, facilitation, and space holding, using tea as the focal point for that learning. Trainees learn how to develop their own tea experiences and teach their own classes.
Any applicant to Being Tea Teacher Training needs a strong background of tea experience in order to participate. Details on what that could look like are below.
For people who are interested to learn more about tea specifically, I would suggest starting with my membership program, which provides a deep level of classes about tea.
Questions about applicant qualification:
“Do I need to be a tea professional to join Being Tea Teacher Training?”
Nope! You do not have to be a working tea professional to join this program. Folks are welcome to take this program purely to just enhance your own skills as an educator or facilitator in any field.
However, you DO need a depth of knowledge and personal experience with tea.
This experience might come from (in no particular order):
– Working for a tea company.
– Being a small tea business owner or start-up.
– Working for a tea shop or coffee roaster that sells and serves tea.
– Formal academic study of tea.
– Growing tea, as a hobbyist or professional.
– Holding a Tea Sommelier, Certified Tea Specialist, or other certification.
– Being an experienced tea blogger or tea community facilitator.
– Being a devoted tea enthusiast of some years, including actively studying tea with other groups, businesses, or social organizations.
– Other unique life experience, such as coming from a tea producing family or growing up around a lot of tea culture in your home.
“Can people from other professional backgrounds join Being Tea Teacher Training?”
Absolutely! This is highly encouraged and very welcome. Our program has attracted a wonderfully diverse community of teachers.
Higher education workers; small business owners; music and arts teachers; yoga teachers and bodyworkers; mindfulness teachers; writers and bloggers; people with experience in recovery spaces and mental health.
Tea does not have to be your day job to qualify.
“I’m really new to tea and just starting my tea business. Can Being Tea teacher training help me?”
If you’re just starting your study with tea, Being Tea Teacher Training would not be the best fit for you just yet.
This program focuses specifically on the craft of how we teach tea as educators, not learning about tea as a student. It also tends to be overwhelming for people to open their business at the same time as learning how to be a teacher, or even learning about tea, period.
However, our membership program is a great fit for folks at this stage who are seeking continuing education support in tea.
Questions about schedule and time commitment:
“How much time commitment is required for Being Tea Teacher Training?”
The core of this program involves 8 months of study, followed by several months of preparing your graduate project – leading a practice tea class of experience of your own. While this is a rigorous and deep training, it’s also thoughtfully designed for learning around work / life schedules.
You should plan for a minimum of 10 hours of monthly time commitment, between group classroom instruction, self-guided coursework, and homework or other writing.
– This includes attending our live online group class each month, which is 3-hours.
– You’ll also have video lectures each month to view, about 3-4 hours total.
– That’s approximately 7-8 hours of instruction time (video + live online) each month.
– There’s also light writing homework, journaling, and lesson plan development with each monthly module. This also takes a few hours.
“How are classes scheduled? I don’t see program dates or times listed.”
This program is offered once a year and runs September through April.
The schedule for when your cohort will meet is based on the needs of the incoming group. I collect this information on the program application. We confirm the schedule when 50% of the cohort is seated, based on the availability that trainees have provided on their application. Schedule confirmation usually happens in mid-May.
This means that anyone who joins later in the enrollment period would need to be available for the dates we’ve confirmed already. This is why applying early is beneficial!
Please note that I am located in Chicago (check this time zone converter), and the hours I teach are generally between 10am and 8pm U.S. Central.
Questions about what we study:
“I want to lead tea meditations or tea ceremony. Will I learn about that in this program?”
While I do teach tea meditation myself, this program is not focused on teaching in a specific style, tradition or lineage. Being Tea Teacher Training is for channeling your own personal and professional experience with tea into creative, inclusive learning experiences for others.
So, you absolutely could feel more comfortable leading tea ceremony after this training, but only if you had already studied this practice deeply yourself as a student.
When it comes to meditation work, my suggestion would be to have a strong, regular personal practice, in whatever you want to teach. If you do not have a regular meditation practice yourself right now, find a group or tradition you connect with and get started.
When it comes to working with people on a mental, emotional and spiritual level – which is a vulnerable and sensitive space – it would be irresponsible to jump in without deep personal experience first.
“I work with herbal teas and botanicals. Does this program talk about health benefits of tea?”
We don’t talk about health benefits in this program, but that doesn’t mean our training wouldn’t be relevant to your work.
It’s important to note that Being Tea Teacher Training is based on working with tea from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, and not other botanicals, herbals or health teas. That’s the background I come from myself; I’m not an herbalist. Additionally, we also focus on our study on the sensory, physical, emotional and cultural interaction with tea in this program. Not clinical health benefits.
However, I am definitely open to applicants who are not 100% tea focused in their professional life (for example, a certified Ayurveda practitioner), as long as they have a strong background in tea in addition to their botanical study qualifications.
Is this your year for Being Tea Teacher Training?
Get program information
Visit our program page to learn more about the curriculum and request an application. You can also view our Program Policies and Statement of Inclusivity.
Read our graduate testimonials!
Our grads come from all areas of tea. Reading their stories might help you connect with your own path!