A Journey of Becoming a Tea Sommelier In CANADA
Some questions arrive quietly and stay with you. Mine was simple: what makes a cup of tea truly extraordinary? It took me six years, eight courses, a pandemic, and a newborn to find out.
In 2019, that question became something I could actually act on. I enrolled in the Tea Sommelier® Certification program through the Tea & Herbals Association of Canada and the Academy of Tea. In August 2025, after everything life put between me and that goal, I passed my final exam. I am now a Certified Tea Sommelier.
What the Program Actually Involves
This is not a weekend course. The Tea Sommelier® program runs eight modules — Tea 101 through 108 — and each one goes somewhere the previous one did not. Tea history. Cultivation and processing. The science of terroir. Sensory evaluation. Tea ceremonies. Food pairing. The business side of tea. Every course came with tasting kits and blind cuppings, so students were not just reading about tea. They were evaluating it, comparing it, learning to describe what they noticed in the cup with real precision.
The terroir module was one of the most eye-opening. Understanding how altitude, soil, climate, and harvest timing shape a leaf’s character explained things I had sensed but could not name. A Darjeeling first flush and a Nepalese high-altitude oolong might come from neighbouring mountains, but they taste like entirely different conversations. Once you understand why, you cannot un-know it.
The food pairing and menu design components gave the certification real practical weight. This is knowledge you can use, not just knowledge you can recite.
When Life Interrupted
COVID arrived in 2020 and the textbooks went on a shelf. Rather than wait for things to settle, I started building. That was when Fleur Palace Teas came to life — a tea brand rooted in quality, beauty, and the belief that tea deserves to be taken seriously. Building the business during that uncertain stretch gave my studies a different kind of grounding. Every sourcing decision, every blend, every customer conversation pulled me back toward what I had already learned and reminded me how much further there was to go.
I was working, expecting a baby, and sneaking study time between life’s demands. Some courses I passed when my little one was just two weeks old.By 2023, I returned to the program. It was not exactly a quiet period. I wrote assignments on tea and food pairings late at night. I completed sensory cuppings with a newborn in my arms. Those sessions are some of the most vivid memories I have from this whole journey — sleep-deprived, surrounded by sample tins and steeping notes, determined to finish what I had started. The things worth pursuing rarely arrive on a convenient schedule. Sometimes you steep slowly.
The Final Exam
In August 2025, I sat the Tea Sommelier® final certification exam: written, oral, and blind cuppings. The blind cupping portion demands everything the program builds in you. No labels, no hints — only what is in the cup. Its appearance, aroma, taste, texture, finish. You have to trust what you have learned and what your senses are telling you. When I learned I had passed, I felt pure joy. Not the relief of something finally being over, but the satisfaction of something genuinely earned.What This Means for Fleur Palace Teas
This certification shapes how I approach blend development, how I evaluate and source leaves, how I think about pairing teas with food, and how I talk about tea with every customer who reaches out. It is the foundation beneath everything Fleur Palace Teas offers.
My name has been added to two professional directories for clients and businesses looking to work with certified Tea Sommeliers in Canada:
Steep the Knowledge With Me
Tea is one of the oldest conversations in the world — between a plant and its landscape, between a maker and a tradition, between a host and a guest. Becoming a Tea Sommelier was a way to participate more fully in that conversation, and to bring that depth to every tea I offer through Fleur Palace Teas.
If you are developing a tea blend, designing a tea menu for your restaurant, or thinking about pairing teas with your food offerings — reach out. I would be glad to hear about it.