For its third year, the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative Symposium was expanded to two days with tea scholars and researchers, purveyors and growers gathering to talk tea.

With Starbucks opening thousands more stores and spreading latte lore across China, will the country’s centuries-old tea-drinking tradition evaporate?

That was a question mulled by UC Davis sociologist Xiaoling Shu as coffee sales began percolating in her native country, starting with the arrival of Starbucks, McCafe, KFC and other Western restaurant and café chains over the last three decades.

Fully experiencing tea involves not just five senses but six, says tea master Wingchi Ip: “The sixth sense is the mind.” A tea tasting led by the Hong Kong importer of Chinese teas kicked off the second annual colloquium of the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for the Study of Tea Culture and Science.

Tea tasters talk about using all fives senses in experiencing a cup of tea. The UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for the Study of Tea Culture and Science will take that concept to new levels on Jan. 19, 2017—bringing experts from an array of disciplines to campus to talk about "The Sensory Aspects of Tea."

Terroir, that “sense of place” so important to making great wines, matters in tea too. Kevin Gascoyne, a tea taster and co-author of the book Tea: "History, Terroir, Varieties," gave an overview Nov. 4, 2016, on how soil, topography, climate and other environmental factors influence the characteristics of nonherbal teas.

UC Davis will launch its Global Tea Culture and Science Initiative with a symposium bringing together the cultural and scientific aspects of the world’s most popular prepared beverage.