At the International Academy of Chinese Tea (IACT), we believe that tea education is a journey of discovery, connection, and cultural exchange. Here you can explore feedback from our students who have participated in our Chinese tea courses, tea sommelier training, and cultural workshops. Their experiences reflect our commitment to providing professional, practical, and internationally accessible tea education.

Victor took part in the 25th offline Tea Sommelier course. He approached every lesson with full focus and genuine devotion, and we gained valuable insights from exchanging ideas with him too. Two weeks after the training concluded, he submitted complete tasting records for all sample teas and finished his thesis ahead of the oral defense. As his instructor, Mabol, I was deeply impressed by his efficient learning methods and thorough, well-rounded grasp of tea knowledge. With Victor’s consent, I am delighted to share his reflective learning write-up with all tea enthusiasts and prospective course participants.

Understanding the Self

Tea did not enter my life as a hobby, a trend, or a luxury.
It came quietly during a period when I was emotionally exhausted and mentally imbalanced.

For many years, I worked in a demanding professional banking environment where pressure, speed, and responsibility became part of daily life. Like many people living in modern society, I gradually became disconnected from myself. My mind was constantly occupied by deadlines, decisions, and expectations. Even during moments of rest, my thoughts continued to race. Although my work life appeared stable from the outside, internally I often felt tired, anxious, and overwhelmed.

At first, tea was simply a small moment of relaxation in the middle of a busy day. Sitting quietly with a cup of tea gave me a rare feeling of stillness. The act of boiling water, warming the teaware, observing the leaves unfold, and drinking slowly created a peaceful rhythm that was completely different from the fast pace of modern life. 

Over time, I realized that tea was doing something deeper for me. Tea became a way to reconnect with both my body and mind. In silence beside a cup of tea, I found moments where stress and anxiety gradually softened. Tea taught me how to slow down, how to breathe more deeply, and how to return to the present moment. The calmness that tea brought was not dramatic or sudden, but gentle and continuous.

However, during those early years, everything I understood about tea came mostly from instinct and personal experience. I could feel the emotional and physical effects of different teas, but I did not truly understand why they were different. I knew that some teas made my body feel lighter and more awake, while others made me feel grounded and calm. Some teas suited cold weather, while others felt refreshing in summer. Yet I lacked a systematic understanding of tea itself.

This tea course became the missing piece that I had been searching for for a long time.

For the first time, I was able to study tea not only emotionally, but also scientifically and culturally. The course helped me understand the origins, classifications, processing methods, oxidation levels, brewing techniques, tasting standards, and health characteristics of different tea categories including green tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, black tea, dark tea, and Pu’er tea. More importantly, the course transformed the way I understood the relationship between tea and human life.

I gradually realized that learning tea is not simply about identifying flavors or memorizing tea categories. Tea is deeply connected to the body, emotions, environment, and inner state of the drinker. Through tea, I began to understand an important truth:

The best tea is not necessarily the most expensive tea.

The best tea is the tea that is most suitable for a person’s body, condition, and state of mind.

This understanding became one of the most valuable lessons of my tea journey.

Understanding Tea and the Body

Before taking this course, I used to think that the differences between teas were mostly about taste and aroma. Green tea tasted fresh, black tea tasted stronger, and Pu’er tea tasted earthy and aged. However, the course taught me that the true differences between teas begin much earlier — in the processing methods and oxidation levels.

This new understanding completely changed the way I drink tea.

Oxidation: The Language Behind Different Teas

One of the most important concepts I learned during the course was oxidation.

Green tea is considered a non-oxidized tea because the enzymes inside the tea leaves are quickly deactivated during the fixing process. This helps preserve the fresh green color, grassy aroma, and bright taste of the leaves. White tea, by contrast, undergoes very gentle natural oxidation with minimal processing, resulting in a softer, smoother, and more delicate character. Yellow tea is also lightly oxidized, but its unique “yellowing” process reduces the grassy sharpness found in green tea and creates a mellower and sweeter taste.

Black tea, on the other hand, undergoes full oxidation. During the oxidation process, tea polyphenols transform into compounds such as theaflavins and thearubigins, creating deeper colors and richer flavors. Oolong tea exists between green tea and black tea because it is partially oxidized, creating a balance between freshness and depth.

Before studying tea formally, I had never fully understood why different teas affected my body and emotions differently. I only knew these differences intuitively.

Now I understand that oxidation changes not only flavor, but also the energetic and physical characteristics of tea.

Green tea often feels refreshing, uplifting, and awakening. Its freshness can help clear the mind and improve concentration. However, because of its cooler and colder nature, it may not always suit people with sensitive stomachs or weaker digestion, especially in cold weather. 

White tea feels gentler and calmer, with a soft sweetness that creates a peaceful sensation in both body and mind. Yellow tea feels smoother and warmer than green tea, offering comfort without being too heavy.

Oolong tea feels more balanced and layered. Depending on its oxidation and roasting level, it can be floral, fruity, warm, or mineral-rich. Oolong tea taught me the beauty of balance — neither too light nor too heavy.

Black tea feels warmer, fuller, and softer on the stomach. Dark tea and aged Pu’er tea often create a grounding sensation in the body. Their mellow and earthy qualities can calm the mind and create a deep sense of relaxation.

Through this learning process, I began to understand that tea appreciation should not be separated from human conditions.

A tea that is considered expensive or famous may not necessarily be the best tea for every person. A highly stimulating tea may not suit someone who is emotionally anxious or physically exhausted. Likewise, a very light tea may not satisfy someone needing warmth and grounding.Tea should be chosen according to:

·body condition, 

·weather, 

·emotional state, 

·season, 

·time of day, 

·and even life circumstances. 

This understanding changed my perspective completely.

Tea is no longer simply a beverage.
Tea becomes a form of self-awareness.

Fermentation and the Wisdom of Time

Another profound lesson from the course came from studying dark tea and Pu’er tea.

Puer tea is unique because it continues transforming over time through aging and microbial activity. Unlike many other teas that are best consumed fresh, Pu’er tea develops complexity, smoothness, and maturity through time.

This idea deeply moved me.

In modern society, people often seek immediate results. We want fast success, fast healing, and fast answers. However, Puer tea teaches the opposite lesson. Its beauty comes from patience, time, and gradual transformation.

In many ways, human beings are similar.

Just as tea transforms through proper storage, environment, and time, people also transform through life experiences, suffering, reflection, and stillness.

A young raw Puer tea can feel sharp, bitter, and aggressive. But after many years, it becomes softer, deeper, calmer, and more harmonious. Human beings often experience a similar process throughout life.

Tea therefore became more than an object of consumption for me. It became a teacher of patience.

Tea Tasting Changed the Way I Observe

Another important part of the course involved tea tasting and evaluation. Before joining this training, my focus was mainly on how to brew a delicious cup of tea. I relied mostly on personal feeling and intuition. I could recognize when a tea felt enjoyable, but I did not truly understand how to evaluate its quality in a systematic way.

This course completely changed my perspective on tea evaluation. I gradually realized that brewing good tea and identifying poor tea are actually two different skills. A good brewing technique should help awaken and express the strengths of a tea — its aroma, sweetness, texture, complexity, and energy. However, when evaluating tea professionally, the brewing method must also reveal the weaknesses and defects hidden inside the tea. A tea with poor processing, weak material, imbalance, excessive bitterness, unpleasant storage, or rough texture cannot hide under proper evaluation methods.

What impressed me most about this course was how scientific and structured the tasting system was. The lessons clearly combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches, while also separating tasting methods according to different tea categories. Simpler tea categories such as green tea, white tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, and black tea were evaluated differently from more complex teas such as Pu’er tea, which requires deeper observation of transformation, storage, aging, body sensation, and tea energy.

The course introduced me to a much more complete way of understanding tea through all the senses:

·observing the dry leaves and liquor color, 

·analyzing aromas, 

·evaluating mouthfeel and aftertaste, 

·observing infused leaves, 

·understanding brewing parameters, 

·and using professional sensory terminology. 

More importantly, I learned that tea tasting is not only about flavor. It is a process of careful observation and awareness. Small details begin to matter:

·water quality, 

·brewing temperature, 

·steeping time, 

·environmental conditions, 

·emotional state, 

·and even breathing rhythm. 

One of the most valuable experiences of the course was the final homework tea box containing more than twenty different teas. This became a very challenging but meaningful journey for me. Comparing, tasting, recording, and evaluating so many teas trained my senses intensely and forced me to become more attentive, patient, and precise. Through this process, I felt my ability to understand and evaluate tea improved significantly.

I realized that tea tasting trains not only the tongue, but also the mind. The more carefully I observed tea, the more carefully I began to observe myself.

Puer Tea and Dark tea: Similarities and Differences

One of the most practical and important topics I learned during this course was the relationship between Puer tea and dark tea. Before studying tea systematically, I often thought that Puer tea was simply one type of dark tea because both categories share earthy aromas, deep liquor color, post-fermentation characteristics, and aging potential.

However, after studying the raw materials and processing methods more carefully, I realized that although Puer tea and dark tea have many similarities, they are not exactly the same. Their differences mainly come from two important foundations: raw material and processing technology.

The following table summarizes the main differences:

This comparison helped me understand that the most important characteristic of Puer tea is not simply its dark color or earthy taste. The foundation of Puer tea begins with sun-dried Mao Cha.

Unlike many traditional dark teas, Puer tea uses sun-dried loose tea as its core material. The processing of Mao Cha includes plucking, fixation, rolling, and sun-drying. The sun-drying stage is especially important because it preserves the activity and transformation potential of the tea leaves. This creates the foundation for long-term aging and later transformation.

Adopting this sun-dried Mao Cha, Puer tea can then be processed into two different directions:

Another important lesson from this course is that Piling fermentation is far more complex than I previously thought. The quality of Shou Puer depends heavily on humidity, temperature, pile management, ventilation, fermentation duration, and the quality of the original Mao Cha. Improper fermentation may create muddy liquor, rough texture, unpleasant storage aroma, or dull taste. Good fermentation, however, creates smoothness, depth, sweetness, and stability.

The course also helped me understand that both Puer tea and dark tea require careful storage and aging conditions. Temperature, humidity, airflow, and cleanliness all directly influence microbial activity and later transformation. Therefore, aging is not simply “waiting for tea to become old.” It is a continuous process involving material, environment, craftsmanship, and time.

Before this course, I mainly evaluated tea through preference and intuition. After studying Pu’er tea and dark tea more deeply, I began to understand how important raw material and processing logic are in determining the final quality of tea. This topic helped me move from simple tea appreciation toward a more systematic and evidence-based understanding of tea.

Conclusion

This tea journey has brought many profound blessings into my life.

Through this course and my experiences with tea, I had the opportunity to return to one of the origins of the world’s tea culture and witness the depth, beauty, and diversity of tea traditions. I encountered not only different categories of tea, but also different ways of understanding life, nature, patience, and human connection.

Tea quietly opened many doors for me.

Because of tea, I was fortunate to meet the wonderful teacher, kind friends, tea practitioners, business partners, and people from China and many other countries who share the same love for tea and mindfulness. Although we came from different cultures and spoke different languages, tea created a space where genuine understanding could naturally arise.

I gradually realized that tea is much more than a beverage or a cultural product.

·Tea is a bridge between people.

·Tea is a practice of awareness.

·Tea is a way of returning to simplicity.

The more deeply I studied tea, the more I understood that the essence of tea is not complexity, luxury, or external appearance. The true spirit of tea lies in presence — the ability to fully inhabit a small moment with sincerity and peace.

Join the next session of Tea Tasting & Sommelier Course offline in person, and dive deep into a Chinese tea study tour in October!