In my, and many other's, opinions you should run as fast as you can to a real tea business where they will truly help you appreciate tea among tea lovers in your area. If you travel abroad for the experience then I suggest meeting the people who live there and see how they enjoy tea. This will be not only cheaper but a much more rewarding experience since regional tea enjoyment is not something you can learn in a class but must be experienced through a social exchange. Merely going to an exotic location to learn about tea doesn't really help you learn any better than going to a Hilton, local convention center, or a Starbucks.
Mr. Kroll didn't like the last edit to this post. He recently sent me this email.
Note: There are a few messed up images from Mr. Kroll's site. He seems to have changed business names from "American Tea Masters Association" to "International Tea Masters Association". I don't know if this is because of the bad publicity this post has gotten him or if it's because he's not welcome at the World Tea Expo held in America. Either way this is really messing up the links.
Stu
I just happened to notice your April 18th post on Diners, Dives and the Devine. I must tell you that I found it disgusting and inappropriate. Why you were unable to let this whole matter between us die a natural death after your previous post is a puzzlement. I'll simply leave it up to your readers to draw their own conclusions. Suffice it to say that I find this latest post unethical, supporting your controlling personality. Further, I challenge you to operate your blog under your real name in place of the pseudonym of Stu Omli that you are currently using.
The matter was about the organization but it would seem he's making no distinction between himself and the organization anymore, not that anyone can find anyone else running his organization anyway.. I would gladly ignore him and his organization if he would have just let me be.
As for unethical, that's just silly. I gain nothing by showing him up for what he is and I use a pseudonym for just this kind of situation where someone gets irate for a truthful review about him and his organization. It allows me to maintain journalistic integrity without fear of my well being. And for the who knows how many times now, it's Omli Stu, not that he cares to get it right ever.
Omli
Mr. Kroll has now decided that sending out mass spam is the best way to help his business. I have asked him several times to stop with no response. I have now removed any links to his site in his responses. As far as I can tell this was the only reason he bothered to contact me again.
All we can hope for is that he will find a better use of his time. With enough gullible people out there that's probably not going to happen.
His actions are a disgrace to the tea community and reputable businesses everywhere. He talks about the benefit to the children but the only thing I have seen from his communications is the love of the wads of cash he gets from the overpriced certifications he offers. It's no wonder his reputation is shot.
Omli
After many months of waiting and a very unfavorable comment left with this post regarding the American Tea Masters Association, Mr. Kroll has finally decided to respond to the questions posed and as promised we are updating the post to reflect such. Although not fully convinced we still need a national ceremony, the though behind it helps promote the love of tea.
We sincerely thank Mr. Kroll for his thorough response and insight.
The response was as follows:
Thank you for your email.
Concerning Bamboo Leaf Tea, you are correct. It is a tisane and not a true tea. I made reference to this important point in the article I published on our blog to clarify this point when I amended the article. The only reason I originally referred to it as a tea was because that was the nomenclature used by the woman who grows the bamboo in Florida and its the terminology she uses in both her company name and the name of her product. I should add that this particular article on our blog receives a very high number of views every month and is quite popular. (see: His site...).
Our use of the word decimated is a point well taken, and I have replaced it with your suggestion of using devastated.
Concerning our introduction of the American Tea Ceremony last April, I did quite a lot of research on this subject before moving forward with formalizing it. One of the things I learned was that Benjamin Franklin had proposed the concept of a formal tea ceremony in a letter to Congress back in 1779. Another thing I learned was that tea had a significant placed in American culture even before our country was founded. I went so far as to hire a tea historian to write an article about tea and its place in our culture. The article is now available on our web site (see: His site... ).
One of the primary attractions of the American Tea Ceremony as we define it is the use of glass teaware, which allows everyone present to observe the color of the tea develop as well as the leaves open gradually to release their flavor. We now use the ceremony as the protocol we follow for tasting and evaluating different teas when training individuals studying with us to become tea sommeliers and tea masters.
Perhaps of greatest significance has been my observation of the way children participate in the ceremony. Simply stated, the love both the process and the experience. It fosters love and respect, supports their growth and development, and strengthens their personal values.
I now steep all the teas I am privileged to taste and evaluate in either a glass gaiwan or a glass French press.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your original post on these matters.
Blessings,
Chas Kroll, ATMA Certified Tea Master™
Executive Director
American Tea Masters Association
Blessings,
Chas Kroll, ATMA Certified Tea Master™
Executive Director
American Tea Masters Association
We're going to go off topic a little to show how this organization does not hold any credibility.
After contacting the organization about a few little matters we got no real answers back. After a little looking into the organization and the executive director of the same it looks like they certify themselves as masters. At that point I can print out any certification I want and claim I am a certified nutritionist, carpenter, lawyer, monarch, or whatever...
Below is the string of emails sent out.
No further email has been received... (email received see above)
I was hoping to find out something that is redeeming about your organization. I figured you might actually have some reasons for what was stated. I don't type just to be acknowledged, I do it because I want people to think about what is written. So if you don't have anything that would be of benefit for the points brought up then don't bother to email back again. If on the other hand you have something that would help make sense of some of it then I look forward to hearing from you.
Omli
Omli
Stu,
Thank you for your emails. Your original email contained nothing but criticism. People, myself included, thrive on acknowledgement. Since you had nothing positive to say in that email, I choose not to have anything further to do with you.
Blessings,
Chas
I hope this was an automated response. Otherwise your entire organization has just dropped in my esteem to just below a knitting group.
When responding to a message, especially one pointing out problems, you should address the problems even if you don't see them as a problem on your end. in doing so you show a little respect to the feelings of others and it helps to at least resolve those.
This response makes me feel like you don't respect people, tea, or education.
If you wish to give a constructive and honest response I will be glad to read it.
Omli
Sid,
Thank you for sharing.
Blessings,
Chas Kroll, Certified Tea Master
Executive Director
American Tea Masters Association
Chas Kroll, Certified Tea Master
Executive Director
American Tea Masters Association
Achieving Professional Tea Mastery Through Training, Education & Certification
On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 12:44 PM, American Tea Masters Association <his site> wrote:
.
Subject: Bamboo Tea Article & American Tea Ceremony
Message Body:
First off an association that claims to be educating and training people should vet it's own articles.
There are several things in this article that shouldn't have gone out the door.
First off is the point that if you are making a drink out of bamboo at best it's a tisane.
Second, an area that's decimated is still in pretty good shape. To decimate is to bring humiliation upon by force to show superiority. Originally it was the reducing of an army by 10% or every tenth man. A more appropriate word may be devastated. It's another "d" word but means something completely different.
On a side note, I have heard about the American Tea Ceremony and think it's a joke. Ceremonies surrounding tea are cultural and are there for a reason, usually superstitious but with a reasonable beginning. To start a tea ceremony in this country is to make fun of real tea ceremonies around the world.
For instance pouring the tea on some of the old pots actually helped keep the pot in good shape. Instead of trying to explain this to a child though superstitions rose up as a quick way to say because I said so since the child can't refute what no one really can explain.
From the contact page
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This mail is sent via contact form on American Tea Masters hsi site
Email sent April 17, 2013 @ 7:44 pm
For any requests, please contact him...
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