Monday April 6th, 2026 - Thursday April 9th, 2026
- Ines Sun - Tea Hut Installation: 2nd Floor Shannon Library, space outside Asian Reading Rooms
Thursday April 9th, 2026 | 3:00pm - 7:00pm
Fralin Museum
-
Tea Tasting! | 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- Sensory lecture | 3:00pm | Ann Colonna, Oregon State University
- “The Sensory Evaluation of Tea and What Sensory Qualities and Emotion Responses do U.S. Tea Consumers Want in Specialty Green Tea (Camellia Sinensis)?
Campbell Hall 158
- Opening remarks - Campbell Hall 158| 5:15pm | Beth Meyer, UVA School of Architecture
- Keynote lecture | 5:30pm | Victor Mair, University of Pennsylvania
- “The Domestication and Aestheticization of Camellia Sinensis
Friday April 10, 2026 | 9:00am - 5:00pm |
Shannon Library 330
Panel Discussions:
1. Tea and Health | 9:15am - 10:15am | (Chair: Dorothy Wong; Interlocutor: Manuel Lerdau)
- Richard Bruno, Ohio State University
- "Green Tea and Heart Health: The Science Behind the Sip"
- Sandra D. Adams, Montclair State University, NJ
- “Tea Extracts as Antivirals”
- Coffee Break -
2. Tea and Architecture | 10:30am - 11:45am | (Chair: Phoebe Crisman; Interlocutor: Shiqiao Li)
- Hui Zou, University of Florida
- “Tea in the Garden Literature of Qing China”
- Ken Tadashi Oshima, University of Washington
- “Evolution of Tea Architecture in Japan”
- Jessica Sewell, University of Virginia
- “Femininity and Class in Anglo-American Tea Rooms”
- LUNCH -
3. Tea and Material/Visual Culture | 1:00pm - 2:15pm | (Chair: Jessica Sewell; Interlocutor: Amanda Phillips)
- Katharine Burnett, UC Davis
- “Teapots Shaped by Cultural Forces: 17th-Century Art Theory and Innovative Yixing Teapot Design”
- Meghen Jones, Alfred University, NY
- “Radical Tea Ceramics: Kuwata Takurō’s "Dual Sensitivity" and the Contemporary Discourse of Chanoyu”
- Romita Ray, Syracuse University
- "Leafy Matter: Tracking the Materiality of the Tea Bush"
4. Tea Production and Environment | 2:15pm - 3:30pm | (Chair: Manuel Lerdau; Interlocutor: Phoebe Crisman)
- Morgan Pitelka, UNC Chapel Hill
- “Seventeenth-Century Kyoto Culture and Tea Production in the Yamashiro Basin”
- Colin Orians, Tufts University
- “Climate, Herbivory and Tea: When a Pest is Not a Pest”
- Shermain Hardesty, UC Davis
- “The Worldwide Production of Tea”
- Coffee Break -
5. Disseminating Tea and Tea Culture | 3:45pm - 4:45pm | (Chair: Gus Heldt; Interlocutor: Dimitri Kastritsis)
- Eric Ramirez-Weaver, University of Virginia
- “Rims, Remnants and Reasons: A Critical Bibliography of Tasseography from Lu Yu to the Highland Seer”
- Joseph Sorensen, UC Davis
- “Global Tea and the University Curriculum: Some Notes from the Field”
*The chairs and interlocutors of various panels are all faculty members of UVA.
Saturday April 11, 2026 | 9:30am - 1:00pm
- Morven Visit:
- Morning excursion to visit the Japanese Garden and Teahouse at Morven for conference participants, followed by discussions and catered lunch.
** In conjunction with the conference, there will be an exhibition entitled “Crafted for Tea: Connecting Cultures with Teaware and Traditions” at the Fralin Museum (with public tours) and a digital exhibit related to tea at the UVa Library in spring 2026. Ines Sun, an artist whose works relates with tea, will have a silk tea hut and paintings on a temporary exhibit in Shannon Library from noon April 6 to noon April 9.**