Fresh Cup Magazine

Uncovering the STI Certification Program
An Interview With Richard Guzauskas
By Steven Krolak - Photos by David Drouin & Kisha Omer

In the 1980s, after retiring from a long career as an architect and builder, Richard Guzauskas began exploring his lifelong interest in teas. Soon thereafter he began blending and selling teas to various New York-based department stores and boutiques. He officially entered the mainstream of the tea industry in 1990 by founding the company LEAVES Pure Teas. He remained sole owner of LEAVES Pure Teas until April 2001, at which time China Mist Tea Company purchased the brand. Guzauskas now works as a consultant in the industry, focusing his attentions on China Mist where he continues to discover new teas, travel to tea estates and expand the general tea knowledge of the company. A well-received writer and lecturer, Guzauskas has taught several overflowing classes on the subject of teas at various conferences, universities and corporate seminars. He presently chairs the committee charged with creating a program of seminars for tea education for the Specialty Tea Institute (STI) and the Tea Association of the USA. Guzauskas resides both in Arizona and New York City, where making great teas accessible to everyone is a personal goal. Fresh Cup's editor, Steven Krolak spoke with him about the STI's certification program.

SK: How did you get started in tea?
RG: I fell into it, quite by accident. I have always been a tea drinker, since my body reacts poorly to coffee. Then in the early 1990s, with Republic of Tea leading the way, some interesting possibilities in teas began to appear. I happened to be moving out of my career (architecture), and thought it would be great to turn my then hobby of tea into a more serious pursuit.

SK: We are familiar with tea being certified-fair trade, organic, etc. But the STI certification program involves certifying people. What is the difference?
RG:Actually, what we "certify" at STI is that the attendees of our seminars have indeed attended the seminar and have passed the required tests at each given level. We're creating seminars designed to unify the volumes of tea knowledge within the industry, and to make this knowledge available to anyone interested. As more people enter the specialty tea industry (and many join us every day), our goal is to be sure that the "tea knowledge base" remains coherent, unified and valid. There is a vast amount of information out there, and we want to be sure it remains factual. We're striving for a well educated tea community.

SK: Why is there a need for certification?
RG:The industry is growing at a rapid rate, and there's a need for unification and verification of the factual tea information available, both for the new entrants and professionals now in the industry. With increased interest in specialty teas we have an increased need for well educated professionals, and amateurs as well. We hope our seminar programs will fill this need. The sheer amount of information about so many complex aspects of tea, from origins and varieties through the processes of manufactur[ing] can be confusing; we'd like to get everyone on the same page and arrive at a consensus as to what is correct. Because it's an agricultural product, and because it's so minimally processed, teas vary from plucking to plucking. Keeping up with the most current information can be difficult.

SK: How is the program structured?
RG: Well, we presently offer Foundations of Tea Levels I and II, about the basics of recognizing, steeping, growing and manufactur[ing] of tea. After Level II, seminars become more specific. We have seminars planned on topics including a specific tea region (Darjeeling for example), seminars on buying teas, on sourcing teas, professional cuppings, the Orthodox and CTC processes, health benefits of teas, the chemistry of teas, marketing specialty teas, cultural differences in tea drinkers, opening a teahouse, etcetera, etcetera. We're still in the process of assembling topics for seminars and developing a well-rounded format.

SK: Who has established the standards for certification?
RG: We have a committee, which I chair, nominated and elected by members of the Specialty Tea Institute. This committee is comprised of seasoned industry members and charged with the collection of knowledge from other members of the tea community, including tea company owners, writers, growers, processors, wholesalers, distributors, tea baristas, tea masters and many more, all with a command of their own particular knowledge base.

SK: What has been the response among the U.S. tea industry?
RG: Very positive. Mostly everyone has been very excited about the program. We are all interested in raising the level of knowledge within the industry and in learning more ourselves. And it's not just the U.S. industry that's coming on board; we've had creative input from Europe as well, both in planning and execution. People are calling me from all over the world, wanting to assist in one way or another. That doesn't happen very often.

SK: Is this a uniquely U.S. innovation, or are there models in other countries?
RG: Tea producing countries like China, India and Sri Lanka have had Tea Institutes for decades and one can "major" in tea at several major universities in these countries. Germany and France also offer tea classes, but this is a new development here in the U.S.A. Much to our surprise, we have already had people from Europe and Asia attend our seminars.

SK: How does the certification process work?
RG: It's easy: The seminars are broken into different levels, each designed to be completed in one full day. At the end of each seminar, a test is issued and completed. If a passing grade is achieved, the attendee is given a certificate of completion and graduation. If a passing grade is not achieved, the attendee must retake the seminar.

SK: How can people prepare for the certification test?
RG:They can attend the seminar or they can do research on their own. In the near future we may send the manuals out to the attendees in advance so they can study. We also plan to incorporate a system where one might test through certain levels of the program without actually attending the seminar. This will encourage persons with a good base of knowledge to attend the higher level seminars and allow them to bypass those seminars designed for those persons new to the industry.

SK: How can certified individuals use their certification?
RG: Well, that is yet to be seen. We believe that certification will open the door to many who aspire to be successful in the tea industry and give employers within the industry a gauge by which to judge both interest and knowledge of potential employees. Opportunities within the industry are expanding at an alarming rate and qualified people to fill the positions are in demand. It would take years and years of practical experience to acquire a knowledge base as broad and well researched as that which will be available through the STI seminars. We certainly also hope that those earning STI certificates will hold themselves responsible for continuing to learn more about all facets of the tea industry and hold themselves to the highest standards of the industry.

SK: What does the STI expect the certification to achieve for the industry?
RG: We expect that the certification process will achieve several goals, including the following:

Create a unified and factually based body of "tea knowledge" that will filter through the industry and reach tea consumers, inspiring interest in specialty teas as an everyday experience.
Sort out the factual knowledge from the legend and make learning about all aspects of tea available to all interested. We want to simplify the world of tea knowledge and make this accessible.
Remove the intimidation factor from tea and lessen the snob appeal, thereby helping us to achieve the goal of a broader consumer base.

You know, I'm a pianist by avocation, and piano and tea seem similar in some regards. The piano repertoire is immense and can appear daunting sometimes. It's the same with tea. There is such a huge repertoire and immense variety of teas, it's exciting, but can be confusing. But like the piano repertoire, it's all quite organized, makes perfect sense and can be made very accessible. Making teas accessible will increase the sheer number of people that can enjoy them. We plan to make teas accessible through education and in this way benefit the industry.

SK: Do you see any conflicts between education and commercial interests?
RG: There will always be brand specific conflicts with the attendant spins and gimmicks. It's generally a good thing. But marketing has also played the less desirable role in de-unifying and fragmenting information about tea. Sometimes this "spin" can actually be misleading to the consumer. It's sometimes more important to say that my tea brand is different and better than this or that brand when actually it may even be the same. Ultimately, with a more educated consumer, this will all sort itself out. The wine industry seems to have done a good job in this respect.

SK:What does the certification process say about the maturity of the U.S. specialty tea industry?
RG: The demand for knowledge driving the introduction of our Specialty Tea Institute seminars heralds a new generation of heightened interest in specialty teas. The specialty tea industry has blossomed not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and the Pacific Rim countries. I think these seminars will help to anchor specialty teas within our culture and promote the industry throughout the world by creating a stronger market for specialty teas.

SK: How can certification help teahouse owners?
RG: We are very adamant that the STI tea certification should help teahouse owners not only learn about teas, but about how to operate a teahouse, write a business plan, hire staff and the like. Tea enthusiasts often don't have access to the business knowledge necessary to succeed in the tea industry. We plan seminars to help teahouse owners as this will certainly help strengthen the industry in the long run.

SK: Where do you go from here?
RG: At the moment, we are holding classes at convenient locations around the country and, when we can, at trade shows like Take Me 2 Tea, and in conjunction with the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the NASFT Fancy Food Show. We're also looking for a permanent home base in New York City. We conducted the Foundations of Tea Level I seminar at The Asia Society in New York City in May 2004, and offered Levels I and II in San Francisco this past January. We'll be repeating Level I and Level II in conjunction with the SCAA show in April (Seattle, Wash.). In terms of education, our long-term goal is to establish tea as a viable program in U.S. colleges. There's some interest on the part of the educational community and many city colleges and community colleges already have tea classes. We'd like to see a full-scale accredited college program someday. Culinary institutes and other trade schools will probably be approached first, but ultimately, the sky is the limit. Although the program is still in its infancy, we would like to have a fully developed (and ever growing) curriculum in place within three to four years.

Richard Guzauskas is an industry tea consultant. For more information on the STI Certification Program, visit www.teausa.org.

Steven Krolak is the editor of Fresh Cup. Comments on this article may be sent to comments@freshcup.com.