Speakers and Tea Ceremony Masters

Kimiko Uriu

Kimiko Uriu from KIMICHA.com is the creator and founder of the Ottawa Tea Festival. She is a certified Tea Specialist from the Speciality Tea Institute, New York. She has done each part of the tea process from working in the tea field, factory, sales. She has worked with chocolate, ice cream producers, tea houses in Europe and introduced Matcha as a food ingredient to develop new products with them. She works closely with businesses not only offering her tea, but as a partner in order to create tailor-made solutions for different types of customers (hotels, retailers, spas and online retailers).
She teaches tea businesses and tea aficionados about tea and conducts tea sommelier courses and workshops in Europe. She is now offering her courses in Ottawa as well.

Yoon Hee Kim

Recognized as a leading specialty tea expert, Yoon Hee Kim is an international tea educator, photographer, tea importer, chef and tea ceremony artist.  Born into a family of entrepreneurs, social activists and creative minds, with a long history of tea that spans many generations, she has had a lifelong passion for all things tea. As president of TeaClassics and Hancha Tea, Yoon Hee’s pursuit of the finest teas & tisanes takes her from remote Chinese villages devoted entirely to artisanal tea production to tearooms across Asia, North America, Europe and Africa.

Yoon Hee Kim is a certified Tea Master and the Founding Director of the Korean Tea CultureFoundation, which she established to educate and promote a better understanding and appreciation among people of all backgrounds of the 2000-years rich history, philosophy, traditional practices and cultural heritage of Korea's teas, tea culture and the study of Korean Dado. (FOR FULL BIO PLEASE SEE BELOW).

Louise Roberge

Louise Roberge is the President of Tea Association of Canada and has been the guiding force for over 10 years. Louise Roberge has a Bachelor's Degree in Science from the University of Montreal and a Masters of Business (MBA) from Sherbrook University. Louise continues her efforts in the non profit realm and is a Certified Association Executive (CAE), from the Canadian Society of Association Executives.

Venk Prabhu

Venk, the Director and co-founder of Shanti Tea, holds a Master of Architecture degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, and indulged his belief that "everything is architecture" by using his ideals of sustainability, ritual space, and craftsmanship as the raw materials for the construction of a business through which these could be expressed. Shanti Tea attempts to reflect this immaterial ritualistic space which we inhabit when we participate in the preparation of tea. Immersion in the ritual of loose-leaf tea pulls the participant into the incredible story and history of tea, a space often unnoticed in a culture driven towards speed, efficiency, and economy.

Kyoko Kosaki

Kyoko Kosaki obtained her Teacher's Certificate of Omotesenke seiha chado (the Omotesenke seiha school of Japanese Tea Ceremony) after 12 years study in Japan before she came to Canada 1967. Since the late 1970's, she has offered demonstrations at Japanese Embassy events, for Canadian and international diplomatic officials and other organizations. During the 1980's she conducted chado group lessons at community centres around the National Capital Region. She now instructs Omotesenke seiha chado classes at her chashitsu (a special tea room) in her home.

Luke Oldham

Luke Oldham obtained his Teacher's Certificate of Omotesenke seiha chado after four years of intensive training in Japan. He is also an experienced practitioner of Kamakura-bori (a special wood-carving technique originating in Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture) which he studied during his time in Japan. He carved the Kamakura-bori style tea caddy being used in today's demonstration. He is the host of today's tea ceremony.

Kyoko Tsunetomi

Kyoko Tsunetomi has been practicing chado for over ten years with Mrs. Kosaki. She has extensive experience in demonstrating chado in the Ottawa community and is the head guest in today’s tea ceremony.

Yumiko Tsunakawa

Yumiko Tsunakawa is an Ikebana Artist and Certified Teacher and teaches over 160 classes, where over 3,000 ikebana arrangements at her Sakura Studio are created per year. Over 300 students have studied at her studio.

Tao Wu

Known best for his extensive loose Chinese Tea selection, Tao Tea Leaf is an award-winning, full-service tea store located in the fashionable Yorkville area of Toronto. Founded by Certified Canadian Tea Sommelier Tao Wu in 2009, Tao Tea Leaf offers over 130 varieties of loose teas and over 50 Certified Organic teas. In addition to offering fresh tea, Tao Tea Leaf hosts regular tea workshops for beginners and experienced tea drinkers, conduct traditional Chinese style tea ceremonies and offer an Annual Tea Tour to China.

FULL BIOGRAPHY Yoon Hee Kim

Founder/President, TeaClassics & Hancha Tea

Certified Tea Master & Founding Director, Korean Tea Culture Foundation

Recognized as a leading specialty tea expert, Yoon Hee Kim is an international tea educator, photographer, tea importer, chef and tea ceremony artist. Born into a family of entrepreneurs, social activists and creative minds, with a long history of tea that spans many generations, she has had a lifelong passion for all things tea. As president of TeaClassics and Hancha Tea, Yoon Hee’s pursuit of the finest teas & tisanes takes her from remote Chinese villages devoted entirely to artisanal tea production to tearooms across Asia, North America, Europe and Africa.

An international speaker at tea conferences, corporate trainings and educational institutions, Ms. Kim has presented at a wide range of venues including the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, KAIST, the World Tea Expo, and the Getty Center Museum. As a faculty instructor for the U.S. Tea Association’s Specialty Tea Institute (STI), and former STI Advisory Board member serving as one of two Co-Chairs of its Education & Certification Committee, Yoon Hee was instrumental in helping develop and grow STI’s professional certification program.

A certified tea master with the Tea Culture Association of Korea, Yoon Hee serves as its North American Director, teaches and performs the traditional art of Korean Tea Ceremony, and is the founding director of the Korean Tea Culture Foundation. For her dedicated efforts in promoting and educating tea enthusiasts worldwide about the rich history and culture of Korea’s Way of Tea, Ms. Kim was appointed as “Korea’s Tea Ambassador” by the Governor of Korea’s largest tea growing province, JeollaNamdo.

Ms. Kim holds a B.A. from Smith College in Education with minors in Asian studies and Government, a M.A from Monterey Institute of International Studies in International Public Policy, and has done post-graduate studies in Public Administration and Business. As an experienced chef, she is also a graduate of New York's Institute of Culinary Education. Prior to transitioning to the tea industry full time, Yoon Hee was a highly regarded Asian Pacific American community leader and civil rights advocate, helping to build communities around the country and connect people from diverse backgrounds. By sourcing fine teas and sharing her stories of tea from across the regions, Yoon Hee’s lifelong passion for tea and deep-seated desire to create positive social change and help connect the world is being realized, one delicious cup at a time.