Our program is designed to offer a fast and cost-efficient tea certification program for people in the industry or those that just want to learn more about tea. TCertified Tea Specialist tea certification requires taking a total of seven classes. These consist of 6 Core level classes and one upper level ADVANCED (ADV) TEA course which can also be used towards your advanced-level tea certification.

How many Advanced Certifications do you offer? 

The higher-level certifications that we offer are: Certified Tea Professional™, Certified Tea Sommelier™, Certified Tea Health Expert™, Certified Tea Blender™, and Certified Tea Aroma Expert™. All of these certificatiions have seven required classes to take. You can click the student tracker for a detailed list of each class required under a certification. 

Please see the pricing for each class under the individual course. You will need to take seven classes in your desired tea certification. Pricing is per class. This purchase includes access to all the online educational materials and the class instructor for the duration of the class only (excludes test-only classes which just has the test).  Your class purchase of World Tea Academy class(es) does not include required class teas or materials. You will need purchase the required class kit(s) separately from Elmwood Inn Fine Teas. No class kits are required for CORE.05, ADV.03, ADV.04, ADV.06, ADV.07, ADV.10, ADV.13, and all test-only classes. 

International students that plan on taking more than one course with World Tea Academy will save money on the shipping costs of their class kits if they order multiple kits at a time. 

How much time does it take each week for the classes?

Most students report that it takes about three hours a week for CORE classes and about four hours a week for ADV classes. Time can varying based on your tea educational background, reading speed, and English language skills. 

Yes. 

We do recognize that people have made significant investments into other programs and are unable to complete them due to scheduling or availability of classes. We have a 'Test Out' option that allows you to take a test to demonstrate you’ve covered similar content in other programs or have amassed that knowledge from your industry experience. 

You can test through as many as six classes. The Test-Only courses permit the exam to be taken twice. Please Note: WTA Test-Only Courses do not provide any learning materials. You can click here to look at our Test-Only class Options. 

From your dashboard (once you're logged in), click to expand the droplist in the upper right corner next to your name. Click on "My Profile" and you'll be taken to an account management page. Enter the new email address that you would like associated with your account, and click "Update". System may ask you to update your password if you are updating your email address. You will then use this new email address for future log ins.

From your dashboard (once you're logged in), click to expand the droplist in the upper right corner next to your name. Click on "My Profile" and you'll be taken to an account management page. Fill in the new password information and click "Update". You will then use this new password for future log ins.

There is a link on all sign-in forms to help you recover your password. Just choose "Login" in the top right corner of the browser, click the "forgot password?" button, and follow the on-screen instructions. You will then receive an email with further instructions to reset your password.

The courses include an online discussion forum, which are throughout the course. To participate in a discussion thread, select the general section or one related to your particular topic. Then, click Start a new Discussion to post your thread or locate an existing thread to add a comment.

All of the courses include a Resources file within the left sidebar of the course that includes downloadable files. This is where you can access and download any documents made available by the course author.

All of the courses provide a link to click that says "Ask Question" at the bottom of the left sidebar of your course. Complete the fields to send a question or comment to your instructor via email.

There are two forms of navigation in each course:

1. Every course has a menu/utility bar. It is situated in the top left of each page. Here you will see a tab called "Contents". Here you can track your progress and navigate to different parts of the course.

2. Next and previous buttons: Each course has "Next Lesson" and "Previous Lesson" buttons situated just above the content area.

Click on the “Login” link in the top right corner of the browser. Enter your email address and password to login. If you forgot your password, click on "Forgot your password" in the log in area.

Who do I contact when I am having trouble uploading my assignments or having technical problems?

Please contact your instructor for any technical problems with the course including: uploading your assignments, not being able to log in, and problems with accessing the course. It is always best to take a screen shot of the error/problem you are having as it help customer support ascertain the issue and speed up the process in rectifying the problem. All of the courses provide a link to click that says "Ask Question" at the bottom of the left sidebar of your course. Complete the fields to send a question or comment to your instructor via email.

The Core program is designed around taking a total of seven classes. Core.01 and Core.02 are suggested to take in sequence before moving on to any of the other classes in the program. After you’ve taken Core.01 and Core.02, you can take any of the remaining classes in any order you choose.

All Advanced (ADV) programs has a totally of seven classes in each. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the six types of tea and understanding of the professional cupping protocol can take these classes. But, you must have earned a WTA Certified Tea Specialist™, certification to receive any Advanced Level Certification. Please note: Some ADV classes have prequisites. Please check each individual class to see if this applies. 

Each class is designed to be 3 weeks. In the Core program, weeks 1 and 2 focus on course content and Week 3 focuses on a professional cupping of the teas that we send to you. In the ADV classes, the schedule varies within the three-week period to accommodate the unique class materials. Week four in both Core and ADV allows time to finish the classroom assignments, quizzes, and tests. All assignments that are turned into the instructor must be turned in by the fourth Wednesday of the course.  This allows time for the instructor to grade the assignment and get back with the student if something is incomplete.  

Each class will open the first Monday of the month and will remain open for four weeks for you to get the work done.  After four weeks, the course will close and any students who have not completed their full course program will not receive a passing grade. We are rather stringent on the need to finish courses on time.

There are additional reading materials included in the class – and all of the course written materials are available for download so you can save the information for future reference.

The group assignments are written assignments that are posted through the course's Discussion board. The course will instruct you on how to complete the assignment. The assignments, tests and quizzes can be taken at any time during the week.

All classes are conducted in English. We suggest that students have a basic fluency in English to comprehend all course materials.

Our courses were built to work on all iPads and tablets. Layouts, scrolling or displays may vary depending on the device you have. Please note: uploading files for an assignment can be difficult on tablets and phones. 

Yes, an internet connection is required to log in and view your online course. All courses offer a range of multimedia features. We recommend that you have a good broadband or network connection for the optimal experience. You must have the most up-to-date browser to access World Tea Academy course. 

Yes, our school is fully HTML5 compatible which means you can experience the course on your smartphone. Reading may be challenging on a phone for scrolling reasons. All assignments that you submit must be in either a Word Document or a PDF. Please note: uploading files for an assignment can be difficult on tablets or smartphones. You must be able to download our assignment worksheets and then upload the completed assignment in a PDF or Word document. We suggest using another source for the classes if uploading and downloading will be challenging. 

Web Browsers

We support the current and the previous major release of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft browsers. This currently includes Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Each time a new browser version is released, we begin supporting that version and stop supporting the third most recent version. Students must keep their browser updated to the latest version to have access to our website and course. 

Mobile Browsers

• Current and previous Android versions
• Current and previous iOS versions

There is no limit to the number of courses that can be taken at any given time. However, WTA doesn't recommend taking more than three classes at a time and only if you have extensive free time. Each person will have to access their time and sign up accordingly. 

Your online courses are available around the clock, which means that you can sign in at any time, day or night, and take your course. All classes are self-paced. 

World Tea Academy class(es) always begin on the first Monday of the month for which you are registered. Please see our schedule page https://worldteaacademy.com/schedule for the exact start and end date of your class(es). Click on the “Login” link in the top right corner of the browser. Enter your email address and password to login. If you forgot your password, click on "Forgot your password" in the log in area.

If you are not logged in, click “Login” from the top right of your browser. Once you login, you will be redirected to your dashboard. From here you will see a list of courses you have access to. You can start a new course or resume a course you have already started. 

We’re absolutely confident that you will enjoy and benefit from your online course experience, and your paid registration guarantees a place for you. Because that place cannot be filled after the registration cut-off date, if circumstances do force you to withdraw, the following refund policies apply:

CLASS CANCELLATION POLICY: For a full refund, you may cancel your class up to one week before the class start date. No refunds will be given after that date.  If you need to cancel your class during the week before the class start date, contact the instructors at [email protected] to make arrangements to be added a future interval of the SAME class. Students are allowed to move to another interval only once. If WTA cancels or reschedules you are entitled to a full refund. Failure to submit assignments or “attend” the course DOES NOT constitute an official cancellation nor entitle you to attend the same class in another month. Class purchases are not transferable to other people or to other months. To receive credit and a certificate for this class all assignments, quizzes and tests must be submitted by the end date of the class as indicated above. If you fail to complete the requirements for a certificate and still wish to achieve a certificate, you must re-enroll in another class to do so. 

Please Note: Students who have not ordered their class kit(s) by the end of registration for the month they are taking the course will not receive a refund or be allowed to move to another interval if the class kit does not arrive in time for the designated assignments that require class kit materials. Students will have to reregister for the course again to receive credit and a certificate for the course.

In order to cancel your registration, you must notify us by email at [email protected]. Refund calculations will be based on the date/time the email is received by us. Your email message must include: your full name, registered email address (if different from the address you are emailing us from), and the name and date of the course for which you wish to request a refund.

Refunds take 1-3 weeks to process, and will only be given via the same form of payment you used when registering.

We accept all major credit cards.

All credit card transactions are charged in the currency displayed on the site.

We recommend when having problems with audio to check your internet connection, reset your internet connection if necessary, clear your cache, and update your browser or try another browser. Additionally, check your speaker/headphone connection and your audio system preferences.

We recommend when having problems viewing a video to check your internet connection, reset your internet connection if necessary, clear your cache, and update your browser or try another browser. If video issues are not resolved, contact: [email protected].