Taiwan Tea Journey Salon
Step beyond the classroom and join us for an afternoon of tea, stories, conversation, and connection as we continue to grow the Teance tea community.
The Taiwan Tea Journey Salon curated by Aqua Chen brings together past students, tea travelers, artists, tea masters, tea enthusiasts and the wider Teance community to explore tea and its many connections to culture traditions, crafts, travel, memories, and daily life.
Each month, one or two invited guests will share their personal tea journeys and insights. Invited guests and attendees will participate in a panel discussion led by Aqua, with Teaance serving three to four teas relevant to the guest's experience.
There are no formal lectures—only carefully selected teas, profound stories, and candid exchanges.
October 25 Gathering - From the Classroom to Taiwan’s Tea Farms
For the first Taiwan Tea Journey Salon, two former Teance students will share how their tea studies continued beyond the classroom and developed into personal journeys of learning, travel, and discovery.
Their stories offer a natural continuation of the Taiwan tea courses they attended at Teance—showing how classroom learning can continue through sensory practice, direct experience, travel, and personal connection.
Featured Guests
Wojciech Osowiecki - From Tea Student to Certified Tea Taster
Wojciech will share his experience of completing a Taiwan tea-tasting certification, including the preparation, challenges, and discoveries that deepened his understanding of Taiwanese tea.
Kathleen Aspenns - Encountering Taiwan Through Tea
Kathleen will share observations from a recent journey through Taiwan, reflecting on the teas, people, places, and tea culture they encountered along the way.
About the Curator
Aqua Chen curates and hosts the Taiwan Tea Journey Salon. Each month, she develops the theme, invites featured guests, selects the educational and cultural focus, and guides the conversation and tasting experience.
She is a certified Taiwan tea sensory evaluator and Taiwan Specialty Tea instructor, with a Ph.D. in Design and more than 20 years of university teaching experience. Her approach to tea is grounded in the same human-centered and experience-oriented values that have shaped her work in design and art. Aqua sees tea as an act of hospitality—a way of caring for one’s guests while also honoring one’s own effort and daily work.
Through taste, objects, space, stories, and conversation, she creates thoughtful tea experiences that connect people with place, culture, memory, one another, and themselves.
Presented with Teance Fine Teas
Teance provides the gathering space, selected teas, teaware, and on-site support, creating a welcoming environment for guests to gather, taste, and exchange experiences.
