One design drew inspiration from A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, the famed Song Dynasty landscape painting in blue-green tones. Silk fabrics in jade and turquoise tones surrounded a single celadon teacup.

Another installation, titled Forest Time, abandoned conventional tea settings altogether. Glass cups, white lace and soft green accents created a relaxed atmosphere that felt closer to a contemporary cafe than a traditional tea room.

"People today are under a lot of pressure," Zhang says. "Tea gives them a moment to slow down."

She explains that students must earn three national certifications before graduation, covering tea art, tea evaluation and tea beverage preparation.

"They first learn the standards," she says. "Then they learn how to innovate based on those."

A short drive away, Jingshan village has turned those ideas into a thriving rural tourism business. Visitors can pick tea leaves with local farmers, roast them in woks using traditional methods, and take the finished tea home.

"What tourists experience is exactly the same process we use," says Sheng Dong, the village's Party secretary.

When the village began promoting tourism in 2019, most villagers simply sold tea leaves.