The Global Tea Institute for the Study of Tea Culture and Science promotes evidence-based knowledge about tea, the most consumed prepared beverage in the world. Although the main focus is Camellia sinensis, GTI also considers things consumed as “tea” (e.g., wellness teas). With UC Davis’s extraordinary breadth of expertise and GTI’s holistic mission, GTI is unique in the world, and the first and only entity to promote research and teaching in agriculture, health, science, humanities, social science, and industry, and from a global perspective.
The Global Tea Institute builds on a history of UC Davis tea research initiated in the 1960s. Current studies are expanding collaborations with industry partners and university researchers in the US and across the globe, and creating new knowledge about tea.
The Global Tea Institute includes more than 40 members from the UC Davis faculty, staff, librarians, and students. GTI is supported by an active Tea Advisory Committee composed of leading members of the tea industry. Students are engaged through the Global Tea Club, an official ASUCD student organization. And, because interest in GTI from scholars and experts around the world has been so strong, an affiliated group of off-campus experts, the International Society for Global Tea Scholars, has recently been established.
Teaching efforts include an annual Freshman Seminar to introduce students to research opportunities at UC Davis. While a new curriculum is being developed for undergraduate and graduate UC Davis students, students are encouraged to develop independent majors with GTI faculty. For the profession, in 2023 GTI is launching the UC Davis GTI Professional Tea Certificate Program, which will be open to the public (information to come.) For outreach, GTI hosts an annual multi-disciplinary colloquium on tea studies. Each event has a global impact and focuses on a theme designed to showcase provocative ideas by scholars, experts, and industry members in the areas of science and health, humanities and the social sciences, and the industry. GTI’s next event, its 9th Annual Colloquium, Tea in a Changing World is set for January 25th, 2024.