For Katie Cyr, it’s always tea time
When Katie Cyr sat down for tea with her Irish grandmother as a five-year-old girl, she had no idea it would lead her to running tea workshops for some of the world’s biggest brands.
Today, Cyr is a certified tea sommelier and founder of Monarch Tea Co., a Hamilton-based tea business she’s been building for 13 years, selling artisan tea blends and leading educational workshops for companies in Canada and around the world.
Cyr has won the Mohawk SURGE Pitch It to Win It! competition and the FirstOntario Credit Union 1Awards, both in 2021, and the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2022. She received a Desjardins GoodSpark Grant of $20,000 in 2024, and she was also a finalist for a Meridian Credit Union award last year.
She is a certified tea sommelier through the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC). She took the course in 2018 at Mohawk College and is now the instructor at THAC’s Toronto location.
“As a teacher, it’s rewarding to see someone come into class not knowing the difference between a white tea and a black tea,” says Cyr. “And then when they graduate from the program, they’re able to understand a high-mountain oolong versus a low-elevation oolong, light oxidized versus long oxidized. It’s great to see that growth.”
Read the full story in Hamilton City Magazine: For Katie Cyr, it’s always tea time