In partnership with El Club Del Té, from Argentina, the course will be ministered by tea sommelier Thais Junqueira
Do you love teas and want to start acquiring training in the area? We have a hot tip to give you: the Tea Shop (read full article on the Tea Shop in the link) is bringing a tea sommelier course to Brazil, in partnership with the international school El Club Del Té www.elclubdelte.com, headquartered In Argentina. Classes will be presence-based and held mostly in the cities of Sao Paulo and Curitiba, or also online, both given by tea blender and sommelier Thais Junqueira.
Headquartered in Argentina, El Club Del Té counts on several sommeliers that give their course, especially in Spain and Chile, in addition to Brazil.
But what does a tea sommelier do?
A tea sommelier is a deep connoisseur, highly skilled in tea culture, and in servicing, technical analyses and harmonization. His/her responsibilities include taking charge of selecting the tea service for a tea house, café or restaurant, hotel, and special events such as weddings, etc. It is necessary to select teas, to manage the storeroom, to care for the service, and to provide advice to the clients of an establishment, for example. You may also offer your services as a maître or connoisseur of the gastronomic world of tea, by performing sensory analyses, private tasting sessions, and product presentations.
In this way, the profession is valued and generates new business opportunities for tea lovers, offering the opportunity of living out of tea.
Sommelier Thais Junqueira has a Master’s Degree in International Relations at USP (University of Sao Paulo), and has worked for several years in foreign trade and the financial market. Since the beginning of this year, she has abandoned her career and decided to work fulltime with teas, having created her own brand, Infusiona-Thé, and started to act as a teacher at El Club Del Té.
“I started as a tea lover, without any knowledge at all. I loved to visit in-bulk tea shops, and in 2014 I took a sabbatical year and decided to take a course in Buenos Aires, at the company’s headquarters, which also has a tea garden, a tea crop, in the province of Missiones. From then on, I have never stopped.
Tea Shop
The course Thais attended in Buenos Aires was a week-long and presence-based one, and it cost around US$ 1,500. And it’s a great option for those looking for a new profession and who love teas. “The sommelier course can be done in various formats: in person, in Argentina, Sao Paulo and Curitiba. Or online, under a modular format, once a week. The cool thing about them is that they’re not just recorded classes, they’re live, with everyone interacting. Students receive a kit with all teas to train at home, containing an infuser, an hourglass, a thermometer, a book and a pen. So, we can start to perform sensory analyses and learn all about the universe of teas,” she said.
Thais further clarified that the online course consists of 10 online meetings and costs the same as the presence-based one, US$ 1,500. For more information on dates and prices, visit their website at ww.elclubdelte.com.
The daily life of a tea sommelier
A sommelier needs to know and distinguish the main kinds and varieties of tea and their correct form of preparation, in addition to recognizing the main sensory characteristics of the different types of that beverage. “The most important thing is that professionals need to turn the act of consuming tea into a sensory experience and to be able to transcribe it into words,” said Thais.
How much does a tea sommelier can earn?
If a professional works as an independent consultant, by elaborating a tea menu for a restaurant or hotel, for example, he/she may earn around R$ 5,000. “It is a growing market in Brazil where, until just a short while ago, people only consumed tea when they had a health problem,” she said.
To get an idea, it is possible to provide services even in the millionaire bridal market. “I made a special blend for a wedding, and it was a success,” she concluded. As you can see, the sky is the limit.
