Asian Tea Culture Academy
Pei Chen:
culture, education
and teas from their places of origin
Tea Culture: Tradition and Shared Learning
In Pei Chen Tea Palace, we share
the Asian tea culture through
education, teas from their places of origin,
and experiences that invite people to discover it.
We share the knowledge of those who grow and produce tea, the care involved in its preparation, and the traditions that give meaning to this journey.
An invitation to learn, appreciate, and share.
PEI CHEN'S TEA JOURNEY
CHA DAO JING
A place where tradition, learning,
and practice come together to cultivate
a deep understanding of tea as an art, a discipline, and a way of engaging with the world.
Discover your perfect tea
Take a short sensory quiz to find the perfect artisanal tea for you
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When do you like to drink your tea?
To enjoy every dayFor a special occasionWhich fragrance family do you like best?
Plant-basedLegumesFloralFrutalJamWoodySpicyOthersWhat aromas would you like to find in your cup?
SpinachSwiss chardArtichokeAsparagusCorn on the cobAlgaePeasBlack beansPoroto MoonGreen BeanEdamameBeansJasmineChanceGardeniaOrchidLilyRosaStone fruitsTropicalFrom a treeBerriesDried fruitNutsHoneyJamCaramelVanillaPastry ShopChocolateWoodSweetwoodTobaccoCoconut huskPaperOld WoodSweet SpicesPeppersHerbsCurryPaprikaFungiRootsMoist soilForestSmokedChinese MedicineRoot VegetablesWhich flavor profile do you prefer?
Fresh and lightWarm and cozyWhen during the day do you enjoy tea?
TomorrowNoonAfternoonNightHow adventurous are your tea preferences?
I prefer classic flavorsI like discovering something differentI'm looking for exotic and surprising flavorsHow much do you plan to invest in your team?
I want to access a special selectionI'm looking for a balance between quality and priceI prefer an affordable optionTHE ARTISAN'S RESERVE
Tea connects us to its origins. Sharing its culture guides our journey.
Our journey began through our encounters with tea and with those who keep its traditions alive. From those experiences, our mission emerged: to share Asian tea culture.
YOUR FIRST STEPS IN TEA CULTURE
Start your journey into tea culture with our free course “Reverse-engineering a cup of tea.”. Available on our YouTube channel, this course invites you to discover the foundations that give rise to each strand: the tea plant Camellia sinensis, the six varieties of tea, the production process, quality indicators, and the principles that help us understand the diversity of this world.
Professional Training Programs
Specializations and Advanced Courses
Communities
and satellite centers
Cultural Education
Tea has its own language. Its names speak of mountains, colors, shapes, aromas, processes, and places; and a huge part of that vocabulary comes from Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese for Tea – Level 1 offers a different way to approach the language: by starting with a world that is already meaningful. Instead of...
Tea has its own language. Its names evoke mountains, colors, shapes, aromas, processes, and places; and a large part of that vocabulary comes from Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese for Tea – Level 1 It proposes a different way of approaching the language: starting with a world that already has meaning. Instead of studying isolated words, we learn Mandarin through tea culture: we build the foundational skills for pronunciation, comprehension, reading, and writing while discovering how some of China’s great teas are named and described.
The journey begins with the basics of Mandarin pronunciation and tones and progresses through the six major categories of tea. Green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and post-fermented teas thus become gateways to the language: their names, regions of origin, characteristics, and presentation styles allow us to incorporate vocabulary within a real-world context.
Throughout the course, we also cover numbers, units of weight, parts of the tea plant, and basic verbs, combining language and culture in a progressive and practical learning experience.
This isn’t about learning Chinese just to talk about tea. It’s about beginning to understand Chinese. talking about something that already invites us to learn it.
Cultural Education
Chinese Porcelain and the Five Dynastic Kilns
The history of tea in China is deeply intertwined with the development of ceramics and porcelain. Materials, forms, firing techniques, and glazing styles evolved over centuries alongside the ways of preparing and drinking tea.
In this online mini-course, we’ll explore the fundamentals of...
Chinese Porcelain and 5 Dynastic Kilns
The history of tea in China is deeply intertwined with the development of ceramics and porcelain. Materials, shapes, firing techniques, and glazing styles evolved over the centuries alongside the ways of preparing and drinking tea. In this online mini-course We explore the fundamentals of Chinese ceramics and porcelain, their materials and techniques, and some of the most influential kilns and production centers in history. From the ancient dragon kilns and the development of celadon to the extraordinary diversity of the Song Dynasty, Jingdezhen, and the porcelain of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Throughout the tour, you’ll learn about styles and traditions such as the five great kilns of the Song Dynasty—Ci Zhou, Ji Zhou, Yi Xing, Jian Shui, Jian Yang, Chao Zhou, and Yao Zhou—as well as Qinghua porcelain and Dehua porcelain.What are you going to explore?
- The fundamental differences between earthenware, stoneware, pottery, and porcelain.
- Clays, minerals, kaolin, vitrification, and firing temperatures.
- The technological development of Chinese kilns and the Long Yao, or dragon kilns.
- The historical evolution of ceramics from the earliest pieces through the Han, Jin, Sui, and Tang dynasties.
- Celadon and the Major Ceramic Developments of the Song Dynasty.
- The Five Great Kilns of the Song Dynasty and Other Historic Production Centers.
- Jingdezhen and its central role in the history of Chinese porcelain.
- Ceramic traditions associated with tea, such as Yi Xing, Jian Shui, Jian Yang, and Chao Zhou.
- Qinghua porcelain from the Ming and Qing dynasties and Dehua porcelain.
- The relationship between the material, the thermal behavior of the teapots, and the preparation of tea.
Cultural Education
For centuries, YiXing teapots have held a unique place in Chinese tea culture. Made from the mineral clays known as Zi Sha, they are not merely vessels: they are objects in which geology, craftsmanship, history, aesthetics, and practice converge.
Understanding a YiXing teapot means learning to look...
For centuries, YiXing teapots have held a unique place in Chinese tea culture. Made from the mineral clays known as Zi Sha, they are not merely vessels: they are objects in which geology, craftsmanship, history, aesthetics, and practice converge.
Understanding a YiXing teapot involves learning to look beyond its form. Where does the clay come from? What distinguishes a Zi Ni from a Hong Ni or a Duan Ni? How is a stone quarried from the mountain transformed into a finished piece? What do its proportions, lid, spout, texture, and manufacturing method tell us about its quality and use?
Throughout this course, we’ll explore this world from its very roots. We’ll trace the evolution of tea in China and the origins of Yixing teapots, explore Huanglong Mountain and the main families of Zi Sha clay, meet historical masters and styles, observe the crafting and firing processes, and learn practical criteria for evaluating, selecting, using, and caring for these pieces.
The journey culminates where the teapot truly comes to life: in practice. Through demonstrations of Gong Fu Cha, the Tai Ji Ceremony, and the everyday use of YiXing, history and technique cease to be isolated concepts and become part of the act of preparing tea.
A course for those who wish to approach YiXing not as an exotic or decorative object, but as a living tradition: a material born of the earth, shaped by generations of artisans, and transformed, cup by cup, by those who use it.
Introductory Training
This intensive course offers a deep dive into the origins and essence of Asian tea culture, which began in China more than 5,000 years ago. This training is designed both for those who want to take their first steps into the world of tea and for those seeking to deepen their knowledge...
This intensive course offers a deep immersion into the origins and essence of Asian tea culture, which originated in China more than 5,000 years ago. This course is designed both for those who wish to take their first steps into the world of tea and for those seeking to deepen their understanding of authentic Asian tea culture, from a rigorous and up-to-date perspective.
Cultural Education
Kintsugi (金継ぎ) is a traditional Japanese art form that involves repairing ceramic or porcelain pieces using urushi and precious metal powder. But Kintsugi does more than simply mend what has been broken: it transforms a piece’s imperfections into a visible part of its history and...
Kintsugi (金継ぎ) is a traditional Japanese art form that involves repairing ceramic or porcelain pieces using urushi and precious metal powder. But Kintsugi is not limited to simply mending what has been broken: it transforms a piece’s imperfections into a visible part of its history and gives it a new lease on life.
The practice is deeply linked to concepts of Japanese aesthetics such as wabi-sabi, which finds beauty in imperfection, transience, and the traces of time. Rather than hiding a crack, Kintsugi acknowledges it and integrates it into the object’s identity.
Tradition traces its origins to 15th-century Japan, when Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a broken piece of pottery to China to be repaired. Dissatisfied with the result, Japanese artisans reportedly developed a different way to restore it: not by concealing its scars, but by making them part of its beauty.
Introduction to Traditional Kintsugi It aims to explore both the technique itself and the ideas that accompany it. Throughout the course, we explore its materials, tools, and repair processes, along with concepts such as wabi-sabi y mushin, and its historical and aesthetic connection to tea culture.
Because in Kintsugi, broken things aren't necessarily discarded or restored to their former state. Their transformations become part of what makes them unique.
Vocational Training
The tea ceremony style we teach at Pei Chen was created by Mei Hsin (co-founder) and is endorsed by her teachers in China and Taiwan.
This tea ceremony is a combination of the GongFu Cha preparation method, the practice of TaiJi, and the DAO, or...
The ceremonial style we teach at Pei Chen was created by Mei Hsin (co-founder) and is endorsed by her teachers in China and Taiwan.
This tea ceremony is a fusion of the Gongfu Cha preparation method, the practice of Tai Chi, and the Dao—or "the Way"—as a philosophy.
This is Level I of the TaiJi-Style Tea Ceremony Vocational Training program, in which you will be trained as a Practicing Tea Master.Vocational Training
This Vocational Training It contains cutting-edge theoretical information on the standard tea tasting method, ISO 3103, and the use of its terminology—translated from Mandarin Chinese—for professional applications.
Vocational Training
You will be trained as Host: GongFuCha, learning about different arts, ceremonies, history, cultural practices, and complementary knowledge such as: pottery, incense, calligraphy, etiquette, ikebana, and more.
Advanced Training
The TaiJi-style Tea Ceremony Professional Training program is a ceremony style created by Mei Hsin (co-founder) and endorsed by her masters in China and Taiwan.
This tea ceremony is a fusion of the GongFu Cha preparation method, the practice of TaiJi, and the DAO...
The Professional Training in TaiJi-Style Tea Ceremony It is a ceremony style created by Mei Hsin (co-founder), endorsed by her teachers in China and Taiwan.
This tea ceremony is a fusion of the Gongfu Cha preparation method, the practice of Tai Chi, and the Dao—or "the Way"—as a philosophy.
AUG
10
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
GongFuCha Host
Have you ever wondered what the tea equivalent of a sommelier is in the East?
In the millennia-old Asian tradition, there is a role that embodies the spirit of tea—a cultural guide within their community: the GongFuCha Host.
LEARN MORE
In the millennia-old Asian tradition, there is a role that embodies the spirit of tea—a cultural guide within their community: the GongFuCha Host.
OCT
08
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Heicha & Puer
From the Ancient Routes, where men, horses, and camels carried bundles of tea, or from the fertile green valleys of China
From the Empire to the distant, arid steppes of the frontier regions, 'Bian Xiao Cha' or 'Border Tea' left its mark across Asia and, eventually, the entire world.
LEARN MORE
From the Empire to the distant, arid steppes of the frontier regions, 'Bian Xiao Cha' or 'Border Tea' left its mark across Asia and, eventually, the entire world.
OCT
08
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Heicha & Puer
From the Ancient Routes, where men, horses, and camels carried bundles of tea, or from the fertile green valleys of
From the Chinese Empire to the distant, arid steppes of the frontier regions, 'Bian Xiao Cha' or 'Border Tea' left its mark across Asia and, eventually, the entire world.
LEARN MORE From the Chinese Empire to the distant, arid steppes of the frontier regions, 'Bian Xiao Cha' or 'Border Tea' left its mark across Asia and, eventually, the entire world.
NOV
15
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Tea Master
From the Ancient Routes, where men, horses, and camels carried bundles of tea, or from the fertile green valleys of
From the Chinese Empire to the distant, arid steppes of the frontier regions, 'Bian Xiao Cha,' or 'Border Tea,' left its mark across Asia and eventually throughout the entire world.
LEARN MORE From the Chinese Empire to the distant, arid steppes of the frontier regions, 'Bian Xiao Cha,' or 'Border Tea,' left its mark across Asia and eventually throughout the entire world.