"María Esther is the Co-founder among her husband, Dylan Thome, of Coffea School, located in Miami Gardens - Florida, United States, a Training Center focused on sharing knowledge, ideas, innovation and information about specialty tea and coffee, through education and training activities based on an international program certification. She has been involved in learning about coffee since 2008 and tea since 2014, when she started developing tea & infusions Menus for Coffee Shops. Her learning journey has not stopped and even when she is one of our firsts ESTA Certifiers, she strongly believes that in the process of teaching she learns a lot about her students: their culture, expectations about tea, beliefs and mythos and so much more, making the whole experience a total reward for herself."

My relationship with Tea

As a Venezuelan I grew up drinking infusions and tisanes only when I was sick, sometimes my mother prepared one that she learned from her grandma and was based on some herbs and spices. But I can't say that tea was an important part of my life. This changed when I started traveling to learn about coffee and I had the chance to try and taste different teas and infusions in countries with a well developed tradition of drinking tea. However, I didn't decide to learn about tea until I started practicing YOGA in 2014 and then I approached Tea from another perspective: as a healer, well-being and healthy beverage that helped me to focus and calm my thoughts in moments of anxiety and uncertainty. Most of the times Tea was my night choice beverage. I learned as much as I could from the Internet but I needed a formal education to really understand the complexity and beauty behind a cup of tea. One thing I love about tea is how accessible it is, it is not pretentious at all. Everybody can enjoy a cup of tea, the thing is that it is much better when you know how to steep it, and this knowledge is now out through ESTA.

Tea as a beverage

There is so much about tea I wanted to learn. Its origin, the tradition behind. Why do some people drink it in one way and others in another? What are its chemical compounds? And so much more, but it was difficult. The more I learned the more intrigued I was. In 2015 while being part of the creation of a company in Buenos Aires - Argentina, my husband and I needed to create a Tea program which would represent the brand and at the same time would be interesting for our customers once the store would be opened. And this, forced me to learn and research more about not only tea but botanicals and producing countries. We used to do open cupping and tasting to connect with people, talk about tea and its difference with botanicals, leaves and commodity bags and in general, just making emphasis on how important it is to pay attention to details when steeping tea. It is not just hot water and a cup. Our tea program was as important as the coffee one. I believe that more and more people are appreciating the benefits of Tea as a whole (as a beautiful beverage, signature drink and part of the menu in the coffee shop) and it requires more knowledge from all of us serving it. My husband and I have developed amazing Mocktails based on tea and botanicals, and they are not only beautiful but incredibly delicious.

ESTA

As a Learner person I need structure and formality in my process. And this is something ESTA is bringing to all tea aficionados and professionals. In one of my last classes I had one attendee who has been working with tea for more than 10 years (buyer), and when we finished the class he said he was grateful and happy he decided to attend because he was leaving the class with such a fresh perspective about what he wants to do about its brand in the future and it was just the Introduction to Tea Class. Imagine how amazing the whole program is for all of us, no matter the level of expertise we can have in the industry. There is something for each one of us in the learning process. I have no doubts that this is and will be the most important program in Tea, Botanicals, sensory and Tea Barista education (and so much more). The level of expertise that is behind the organization is not easy to achieve in one industry and I'm so happy -and proud-that I'm able to be part of it as an Authorised Certifier."