Carolina Asia Center hosts second Chinese Tea Culture Fest

The Carolina Asia Center’s Chinese program hosted its second Chinese Tea Culture Festival on Wednesday night. The festival is a collaborative event with the World Tea Association International designed to educate attendees about the various health benefits of tea and celebrate its role as a well-cherished, multicultural and versatile tradition. 

UNC founded its WTA official chapter last semester, and the group is still waiting to be chartered as a registered student organization. Tyler Pruitt is the chapter’s liaison and the executive director of the WTA, overseeing the international nonprofit. With the help of the UNC chapter’s executive members, Pruitt launched the event with a slideshow on the culture and science behind tea. He presented to an auditorium of college students eager to be caffeinated.

L-theanine, a relaxation molecule found primarily in tea plants, is the key difference between coffee and tea. According to Pruitt's presentation, coffee lacks the “zen focus” or calming effect associated with tea due to its lack of L-theanine. When caffeine and L-theanine interact in tea, the caffeine is released slowly, allowing for greater balance and preventing those jitters and crashes that often accompany coffee drinking. 

“What is caffeine?” Pruitt asked the audience. “It’s an alkaloid. [There are] over 100 plants that produce caffeine. We’ve got coffee, we've got mate, we've got tea. We’ve got so many things, right?” 

But, Pruitt said, tea contains the most dense concentration of caffeine. 

Following the tea talk, attendees were encouraged to put their new appreciation to use and taste from the array of tea tables set up in the FedEx Global Education Center lobby. From Rose Rooibos to Apricot Pu-erh, Gongfu Tea to Teaspresso Latte, volunteers from both the WTA chapter and students from the Chinese department poured cups for students and staff and answered remaining questions. 

Along with promoting tea consumption, the presentation and tabling encouraged attendees to get involved with the WTA chapter, which frequently hosts all-inclusive tea-drinking sessions where students meet to share tea, relax and connect with peers in a low-stress environment. 

First-year Heath Prevost is an executive member of the chapter and a frequent host of tea sessions in his very own dorm lounge, in charge of choosing and brewing the evening’s tea and ensuring that everyone has a good time. Prevost said the group hopes to get more sessions running this semester.

“Anyone can host. You don’t have to have really any tea background,” Prevost said. 

The primary purpose of the event and the chapter is to introduce people to an aspect of Chinese culture and to the flavorful diversity of a beverage they may not know much about. Pruitt said tea also provides a simple, easy opportunity to foster community. 

“Generally speaking, almost no one's allergic to tea, because allergies are amino acid-based, and tea doesn’t really have that anyway,” Pruitt said.“Tea is a great anchor for people to just hang and chat and have a good time together.”

From the festival’s samplings, a favorite among chapter executives Natalia Trujillo and Angela Lam is the jasmine green, a delicate, subtly sweet and grassy green tea. Lam said she grew up with a love for jasmine green tea. In particular, she enjoyed drinking it alongside meat dishes with her grandparents in Hong Kong. 

Lam said she makes herself jasmine tea every day.

“It’s my dad’s favorite tea. It’s my mom’s favorite tea. So of course I had to drink it as a kid,” she said. 

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