International
Tea Symposium 2025
5 days of workshops, sharing experiences and unique teas in the nature of South Bohemia
July 8 - 13, 2025 | Střížovice near Jindřichův Hradec, CZ
For tea lovers and professionals | all workshops in English
Fully booked now - You can sign up to the waiting list
Inspiration, sharing, discovery
After 9 years of Summer Tea School, this year we are organizing the Tea Symposium for the fourth time to go even deeper and create a space for tea enthusiasts and professionals from all over the world to meet so that we can inspire, learn and enrich each other.
For every Tea Symposium, we compose a lineup of workshops and invite special guests to cover the main aspects of tea blended in our cups:
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Tea tasting, origin and historical, growing and processing
- Tea as a tool in mindfulness and health / tea meditation / tea inside the body
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Tea art, creating atmosphere, aesthetics and philosophy
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Touching the crafts of creating teaware and utensils
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Related cultures such as incense or calligraphy
Schedule and lecturers
Each day will be dedicated to a meeting with one lecturer or guest who will share with you their tea journey, many years of experience and knowledge. In the morning from 9 to 12 in the form of a 3-hour guided workshop and in the afternoon during an open meeting and tea sessions.
Tuesday 8.7.
Opening
Arrival anytime after 4 p.m.
Introduction of the space
Afternoon cup of tea
From 8 p.m. welcoming presentation, opening party
Wednesday 9.7.
Tasting principals and olfactory workshop
In this workshop, we will explore the world of senses, through which we perceive not only tea. You will learn to navigate in smell, taste and touch, and experience sensory exercises that will help deepen your enjoyment of tea. More subtle attention to tastes and aromas, which are, among other things, strongly connected to memories, will also be transferred to other areas of life, giving them new qualities
Jakub Seif (Meetea)
Jakub worked behind the bar at the renowned O5 Teabar in Vancouver and has visited Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and Laos several times. He has established many contacts with tea producers and experts from all over the world. His refined curation concerns not only tea but also other noble drinks and gastronomic experiences. Together with Tomáš, he selects teas and runs the Meetea tea studio and shop, where he primarily cares about the comfort and taste buds of his guests.
Thursday 10.7.
Enjoying the scents of aromatic woods
and their combination with tea
The perception of scents belongs among the most emotional things one can experience - the spectrum ranges from beguiling to disturbing, from invigorating to comforting. This workshop aims to facilitate both conscious and intuitive access to these perceptions. In the first part, we will move from classifying everyday aromas to experiencing the finest scents of resins, aromatic woods, vintage perfumes and attar oils. A stroll through the history of Japanese fragrance art, and some short practical experiments with making Japanese kneaded incense and using Chinese powdered incense will conclude the first part. In the second part, we move on to Asian olfactory art, which is primarily centred around the appreciation of agarwood. Kodo and other eastern aroma arts in general are among the most exquisite pursuits one can follow and Japanese fragrance art schools are quite closed and secluded circles. In the workshop, we will have the rare opportunity to experience the world's most precious aromatic substances (especially agarwood). At the workshop, in addition to five different types of jinko (in Genjiko aroma games), we will listen to a small centuries-old piece of scented wood (found in Japan) and finally to the scent of genuine Vietnamese Kyara, by far the most precious and famous of all aromatic woods.
Dr. Sven Schwannberger
is a musician and a musicologist, teaching at the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He has also been a student of Chinese tea culture for many years, mainly specializing in Chaozhou Gongfu Cha, and is always looking for ways to respectfully share his experience in the European context. His experience with tea is characterized by the common ground between Asian and European history as well as the unbridled joy he finds in refined ceramics, in collecting precious aromatic woods and in the practice of understanding fine teas. He prepares tea and teaches about tea culture at several European festivals and event series. More about the mood of his way of tea at:
https://www.instagram.com/soundofthepine/
Friday 11.7.
The universe of Puer tea
The oldest and fastest-growing chapter in the tea world. We will explore the last 100 years of Puer tea history, which has given birth to several new types of tea. We will look at Puer from the perspective of collectors from Taiwan and Hong Kong and from the perspective of growers in Yunnan. We will also travel to less explored places in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, which are separated from Yunnan only by state borders, but which do not limit the hill tribes or ancient tea trees. And of course, we will taste beautiful young and old teas from our archive.
Tomáš Rajnoch (Meetea)
Tomáš imports teas and inspiration directly from the source. Over the past 15 years, he has made 12 trips to China, mainly to Yunnan and Wuyishan, and learned directly from local tea producers and masters. He loves the atmosphere of the tea mountains and the fire in the ceramic kiln. Together with Jakub, he selects teas and runs the Meetea tea studio and shop, which he gives its unique atmosphere.
Saturday 12.7.
Carving a tea tray
Vlasta and Jan will guide you through the production of a carved tea tray and especially through playing with wood and hand tools. Everyone can breathe their own unique charm into their piece of wood by carving the tea serving surface and adjusting the edges and finally finishing the surface with wax or oil. You will take home a handmade piece of functional tea utensils and the experience of a carver. If you were at last year's symposium and already have your tea tray, you can make a different shape or a set of saucers.
Vlastimil Hanuš a Jan Šmejkal
I am still in the phase of enthusiastic discovery in the world of tea, even though it has been about fifteen years since tea has accompanied me through life. I prefer to drink tea in the mountains or on nature hikes. It is my daily companion in the workshop, where I do artistic carpentry and woodcarving. I do not attach much importance to accumulating things in life, but I enjoy surrounding myself with objects that are distinctive, beautiful, simple and functional. And that is exactly what I like to create. I enjoy thinking about patterns, colors and forms, perceiving shapes. In tea utensils, this hobby of mine in craft and aesthetics comes together nicely and naturally. In the few years that I have been making tea trays and funnels, their form has changed. They are becoming more and more delicate, subtle.
I prefer to work with hand tools - chisels, planes, saws, sanders. I work with wood by cutting, I don't like the dust and noise of sanding or machine processing. A year ago I started working with my friend Jan Šmejkal. In the workshop we complement each other nicely and enrich each other - I focus more on carving and the inner space of the tray, Jan is great with planes and gives the trays a clear shape on the outside.
Sunday 13.7. Morning
Arranging flowers "like in a meadow"
„Arrange the flowers as if they are in a meadow" That is one of the principles of the tea ceremony by Sen no Rikyu. Seemingly simple, just like making tea... Martin will guide us through flower arranging, which might seem inspired by Japan, but is mainly based on a calm and joyful mind, sensitivity, and perception of nature - its beauty and transience.
Martin Hanuš
Martin creates wood-fired tea ceramics with love and joy. Many years ago, before he decided to make his first tea utensils, you could meet him behind the bar of the U Kohouta teahouse. Since then, he has travelled, spun, fired, made tea, exhibited, been inspired and inspired many others in the Czech Republic and Japan.
Sunday 13.7. Afternoon
Wuwocha - common farewell tea ritual
We will all make a cup of tea for each other and look back over the Symposium.
Who is the event for?
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Any Tea lovers who want to be inspired and share their experiences
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Professionals from the world of tea and ceramics
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Employees of tea houses and tea shops
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Asian culture enthusiast
The Symposium is limited to 12 participants, so it has an intimate, community atmosphere.
Meetea Tea collection
You can also enjoy tea tasting outside of the workshop time - our "All You Can Drink" tea collection with many types of fresh and vintage teas as well as our rich collection of beautiful tea utensils will be freely available to you at all times.
You can experience boiling water on charcoal, Yixing teapots, Czech wood-fired ceramics and other treasures.
Place
Our tea paradise is located in tiny village Střížovice near city Jindřichův Hradec, Czech republic (map).
Connection by car from Prague or Brno 1 hour 50 minutes, we will try to arrange a car sharing with other participants. Train from Prague takes about 3 hours 20 minutes and you can enjoy the last part of the journey by taking a romantic local narrow-gauge railway and a short walk.
Sleeping and eating
In a South Bohemian cottage with a beautiful garden surrounded by meadows and forests. Simple accommodation, shared kitchen, original tea room - everything is under one roof.
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The cottage has two comfortable bathrooms and a toilet.
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Fully equipped (not only tea :) kitchen where you can cook.
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We provide vegetarian lunches from a great local chef, which you can order a week before the event (not included in the price).
Price and registration
THE SYMPOSIUM IS NOW FULLY BOOKED. YOU CAN REGISTER TO THE WAITING LIST AND IF SOMEONE CANCELLS, WE WILL CONTACT YOU.
492 EUR / 11 800 CZK with accommodation in a shared room in the attic of the cottage.
or
408 EUR / 9 800 CZK for lovers of summer romance and privacy with accommodation in your own tent (set up in our garden) or other personal accommodation.
If you'd prefer more comfortable accommodation, let us know by email meetea@meetea.cz, we will check out the nearby options.
The price includes accommodation, the entire program
and top-quality teas "all You can drink"
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We expect half the deposit to be paid within a week of registration. The other half is due by June 1, 2025. Or you can pay the full amount straight away.
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If you register and for any reason are unable to attend, please let us know by May 15, 2025. Only then will we be able to refund you the full price.
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If you cancel your participation between May 15 and June 1, 2025, we will only be able to refund 50%. If you cancel after June 1, 2025, and cannot find a replacement, we will no longer be able to refund the price.
