Tea Ceremonies 2023

Sabrina Chen

Graduating from South China Agricultural University with a major in tea science and ceremony, Sabrina Chen has engaged with the tea industry for more than 7 years. In 2008, she received the gold prize in tea ceremony competition. Since then, she has given tea trainings and performances in China, Macau and Canada, in order to share Chinese tea culture and bring this culture to new generations.
During 2011-2012, Sabrina worked at the Galaxy Macau as the tea sommelier and trained the “tea team”, setting up services for the resort.

Further she participated in scientific tea research and wrote “The microwave dry effects on oolong tea, 2011”.

Sabrina came to Canada in 2012 and finished her International Business Management Graduate Certificate at Seneca College and MBA in Schulich school of business. Now she is managing her company Tearoma(tearoma.com) which offers tea tasting class, tea ceremony class and premium Chinese tea in Toronto.

Momo Yoshida is a serious tea lover and owner of Momo Tea (www.momotea.co).

She is a certified TAC TEA SOMMELIER TM/SM professional since 2010.

Born and raised in Japan with traditional culture around her, she practices Japanese tea ceremony with passion.

Momo Yoshida
Momo Yoshida

Helen Kong is the owner of Secret Teatime, a clay maker space hidden in Scarborough. She specializes in making teawares for Japanese and Chinese Tea. She is also an ongoing student/practitioner of Chado (The Japanese Way of Tea). The way of tea is her guide in life and in her creative practice.  Tea has been the source of inspiration and sense of grounding during times of life/creative burnout. It’s a life long journey of learning and development. Currently, Helen is stepping into a new role in organizing collaborative group projects and creating multisensory tea experiences in hopes to mutually promote and support local makers and small businesses.

Her recent “Ichigo-ichie Tea” project launched on Nuit Blanche Toronto 2022 at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. It was a pop-up sunset to sunrise multisensory tea and art event, where guests were able to experience tea in small groups and connect to the unique Ichigo-ichie (once-in-a-lifetime) moment. 

Kimono

Hiroko Puopolo

Kimono Specialist / Discover Japan Kimono Program Coordinator / Tea sommelier

Hiroko was born and brought up in Niigata, which is one of the great kimono production areas in Japan. She completed kimono dressing courses and got the certificate of kimono specialist in her early 20’s. Since she moved to Asian and Middle Eastern countries, she has worked as a kimono dresser introducing Japanese culture. She established Salon de Tea + Kimono in2014 in Toronto, Canada. She is providing a complete service of all aspects of Japanese kimono including rentals, dressing services, classes, sales, photoshoots, and cultural events.

Saturday, January 28, 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm

Regenerative Tea Farming – Addressing Climate, Nature & People’s Actions

Moderator: Linda Gaylard, The Tea Stylist

Experts on panel: 

  • Kevin Gascoyne, Camellia Sinensis
  • Nadia De La Vega, DAVIDsTEA
  • Michelle Pierce Hamilton, BeTeas/The Tea Lounge

Sunday, January 29, 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm

Specialty Tea vs Commodity Tea – Which will prevail?

Moderator: Annabel Kalmar, Tea Rebellion

Experts on panel: 

  • Bill Kamula, Tea Guild of Canada
  • John Snell, NMTeaB Consultancy
  • Linda Gaylard, The Tea Stylist