Component 1: Banner Box: Title and Logo

Create your own variation on the Case Study banner, including the logo. Like the other case studies, you may want to begin by following this link:

http://winesur.com/wines-of-argentina/terroir-a-complex-concept

If “terruno” is what Fernando Buscema thinks will promote the terroir of Argentinian wine, what will promote your understanding of the terroir of tea? You may create your own variation of things you find here as Amy did using Photoshop (or as Sarah did for our Canvas program logo). Or, you may design something different and specific to each of our case studies. Certainly grape/wine products come in a bottle… your assignment is to create an aesthetically appealing and intellectually accurate logo that makes visually apparent the components of terroir you think are critical to tea (as most of you did with chocolate and grapes/wine, and coffee).

Component 2: Natural History of Tea

This component of the Case Study assignment asks each group to create written explorations of the following disciplinary perspectives as they relate to the natural history of tea. Your text should be at least 1000 words and include a minimum of two images that illustrates your text. Maps, graphs, and charts are encouraged. Include a caption with image attribution for each visual resource. Include at least four references, fully cited, one of which can be a program text.

You may enjoy a broad historical understanding of what natural history studies are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history

For our case study of tea, at a minimum your group should focus on the tea species known botanically as Camellia sinensis. Your discussion should address at least the following topics: botanical description, native and cultivated geographic ranges, suitable climate, suitable soil properties, major pests and diseases, propagation methods, and typical cultivation and harvest practices for field grown plants. 

*Note: References should be peer-reviewed journal articles when available and appropriate, then books, then websites. Link all references to your tea Zotero bibliography.

Component 3: Field Study

3a) On your website complete the table of your group’s 3 favorite insights from tea tastings done in class during weeks 1, 2, and 5.

**3b) Consider how cafes and tea houses may serve as places to educate tea drinkers about tea terroir. Create a post that includes a table of your group’s 3 favorite tea places that offer customers information related to different aspects of terroir. In your table include: business name, business address, any particular resourceful people, and the aspects of terroir you can learn about at this place. If you choose to include Olympia Coffee Roasters or Batdorf & Bronson (coffee field sites from fall quarter) make certain to identify and distinguish new data related specifically to tea.

NOTE: **3b is to be completed by students NOT participating in the weeks 3 and 4 CA field trip.  That is, 3b provides an opportunity for completing the required 40 hours of field work for those doing field study locally during weeks 3 and 4.

3c) Create a 1 (one) minute video of your group savoring tea during a tea field site visit, which might include in your own kitchens. What is tea culture compared and contrasted with our PNW coffee culture?  What is your experience of the terroir of tea? One minute of a video addressing some aspect of at least one of these questions MUST be excerpted and posted to your website.

3d) Create a post of the favorite tea-related thing you tasted.  Describe what it was in detail. Next, describe WHY this was your favorite taste.  To build on Proust’s “The Madeleine” and Zuzuki’s “Zen and the Art of Tea” in The Taste Culture Reader as examples, please describe as precisely as possible where you tasted what and how it tasted and why it was your favorite taste of tea.  Proust and Zuzuki’s pieces of highly crafted “tasting” demonstrate possibilities for writing that makes present a key component of taste: the objectivities of human subjectivity (foibles and all). In addition to our seminar text, The Darjeeling Distinction, and its extensive bibliography, here are some electronic resources for learning to taste and to describe the taste of tea:

James Norwood Pratt http://www.jamesnorwoodpratt.com/members/jnptea

Young Mountain Tea Company http://www.youngmountaintea.com/

NW Tea Festival http://www.nwteafestival.com/

MIro Tea Company http://mirotea.com/about/our-story/

Serious Eats http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/03/how-to-taste-tea.html

3e) The Plantation History and Contemporary Business of Tea:  In this component provide images and text that demonstrate what you learned during your Olympia tea tasting and seminar work regarding the relationship between the colonial history and contemporary business aspects of tea.  In particular, and based on your experience in relation to Beskey’s The Darjeeling Distinction, please address how “terroir” (or components of terroir, such as tea variety, where grown) is/are being used to increase value, establish authenticity, highlight gastronomic pleasure, and a sense of place in relationship to the business aspects of tea within a historical and global context.

Component 4: Terroir + _____ (tea)

4a) What is your group’s preferred definition of “terroir”? Answer in under 50 words and cite who you borrowed ideas from. Add your references to the “Terroir” Zotero cumulative bibliography located in the website sidebar.

4b) Now that you have tasted different teas, can you attribute the taste differences to terroir? Explain why or why not and do so in a way that convinces your reader. Your goal is to write in such a way that your reader experiences through your words the experience you had (or didn’t have) of the terroir of tea. Again, limit your writing to 75- 125 words. 

Component 5: Terroir Case Study Cumulative Bibliography

The cumulative bibliography is where each group adds resources regarding the terroir of tea using zotero. See the fall quarter Case Study resources for handouts provided by Paul McMillan, one of TESC’s Librarians, during his facilitation of two zotero workshops, weeks 6 and 7 of fall quarter.

Component 6: Instagram

A gallery of your group’s Instagram photos from your field studies can be displayed on your website. However, if your images contain people, only images of people who have signed your Media Release Form or have agreed through faculty arrangement (announced of applicable) may be displayed on your website using Instagram. Remember to apply and develop the photo editing capacities of Instagram.