Our Pioneer Members, are the first Tea Fellows and Tea Catalysts to join our association. We really appreciate their early trust and support, when we were just at the beginning of the path. Thanks to them we were able to build a global Japanese tea community and start many new tea initiatives. We are proud to introduce them here.
Japan
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Ian Chun Yunomi |
Tea Catalyst |
Matsu seduced Ian into the tea industry in 2010, and he began promoting Japanese tea farmers and small factories globally establishing Yunomi.life as an online platform in 2013. Yunomi.life now offers a thousand teas from over a hundred Japanese tea producers. |
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Lilia Dzyk Fujini Shokai Kyoto |
Tea Fellow |
Lilia is an avid tea-lover and enthusiast. She has spent time volunteering on a Japanese tea farm and now works at a tea company in Kyoto. |
Kanako Furuhashi Maruzen Tea Co.,Ltd. |
Tea Fellow |
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George Guttridge-Smith Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms |
Tea Fellow |
George's fascination with tea started nearly 10 years ago. Since 2019 he has been working at Obubu Tea and leading several creative tea projects. |
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Helen Hayashi |
Tea Fellow |
Helen has been living in Japan for a long time and has been teaching yoga. In future she would like to open a take out tea shop in Sakai. |
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Yasuharu Matsumoto Global Japanese Tea Association, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms |
Tea Catalyst |
Matsumoto is one of our association founders. He has been working with Japanese tea since 2004, has been focusing on bringing Japanese tea to the world |
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Caven Mitchell SIVENTH |
Tea Fellow |
Caven is the CEO of SIVENTH, a technology focused consulting and mentorship provider. He is also developing a tool for sustainability evaluation in tea industry practices. |
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Ryo Morisaki Morifuku Chaen |
Tea Fellow |
Ryo is the first generation tea farmer in Wazuka, Kyoto. He focuses on making natural tea that is good for people and the environment. |
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Moe Nakashima Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms |
Tea Fellow |
Moe has a passion for tea and tourism. She has been working at Obubu Tea since 2019 and has been helping to manage several ta tourism activities. |
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Yoshihiro Sugimoto Wazuka Koucha |
Tea Fellow |
Sugimoto-san is a 5th generation tea farmer in Wazuka, Kyoto. He specializes in Japanese black tea - Wakoucha |
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Simona Suzuki (Zavadckyte) Global Japanese Tea Association, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms |
Tea Catalyst |
Simona is one of our association founders. She has been working with Japanese Tea since 2013. Her focus is on making Japanese tea more open and accessible to the world |
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Noriyasu Uejima Uejima Sourokuen |
Tea Fellow |
Uejima-san is a 5th generation tea farmer in Wazuka, Kyoto. He makes high-grade teas including Matcha and Gyokuro |
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Jun Watanabe Deai Noen |
Tea Catalyst |
Jun is the fourth generation tea farmer from Shimada, Shizuoka. He mostly makes deep steamed tea - fukamushicha, but he has also been experimenting with other kinds like Wakoucha, Oolongcha. |
Australia
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Bonnie Robin Parlor Tea |
Tea Fellow |
Bonnie is the co-founder of Parlor Tea, a Melbourne based tea brand, that focuses on organic green tea. |
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James Millward |
Tea Fellow |
James has been a long-term Japanese tea enthusiast since studying at Kochi University in 1997. He has recently completed a Japanese tea course with our association. |
Austria
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Claudia Befu Tea Room Stories |
Tea Fellow |
Claudia is a tea lover and tea ceremony practitioner, who shares here passion through here page Tea Room Stories. |
Belgium
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Carol Bailleul The Art of Tea Brewing |
Tea Fellow |
Carol has been working with tea since 2013. She runs a Wabi Sabi Guest house, provides tea consulting and has published a book called "Afternoon Tea or High Tea?" |
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Erik De Keersmaecker Wakoucha |
Tea Fellow |
Erik is a certified ITMA Tea Sommelier. He has been fascinated by Wakoucha and has built the whole website for it. |
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Cinzia Merlin The Tea Circle |
Tea Catalyst |
Cinzia's background is in professional translation, but she is also a co-founder of the Tea Circle - a space for tea culture and education in Brussels. |
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Sofie Vercauteren Tearista |
Tea Fellow |
Sofie spent nearly a year travelling through Asia and learning about tea. Now she teaches about tea to others and organizes trips to tea regions. |
Canada
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Lee Jolliffe University of New Brunswick |
Tea Fellow |
Lee is a professor of hospitality and tourism. She has been deeply interested in tea tourism and has also published a book about it 'Tea and Tourism'. |
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Han Le Salon de Thé Oasis |
Tea Catalyst |
Han is a founder and the owner of Salon de The Oasis in Montreal, Canada. Han is deeply invested in tea education, and over the years has held many workshops and events |
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Francois Mathieu Hojicha.co |
Tea Fellow |
Francois is a founder of Hojicha.co and is working on introducing Japanese roasted tea all across North America. |
China
China Teacora Teacora |
Tea Fellow |
France
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Lucie Pinzano |
Tea Fellow |
Lucie has a great passion for Japanese tea. A few years ago she travelled across Japan to experience and learn more about Japanese tea. |
Germany
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Susanne Lang Horenso Consulting |
Tea Fellow |
Susanne is the founder of Horenso Consulting. Combining her experience in hospitality sector and her interest in tea, she is working to help other businesses succeed. More here. |
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Beatriz Rodriguez |
Tea Fellow |
Beatriz has been passionate about Japanese tea for a long time and she is looking for new ways how to help introduce it more in Germany |
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Olesya Rudolff |
Tea Fellow |
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Marten Verch |
Tea Fellow |
Marten has worked in several tea companies and associations in Germany. He is really passionate and enthusiastic about tea. |
Hong Kong
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Yeuk Shing Chiu |
Tea Fellow |
Otto used to help at his grandfather's tea shop where he developed interest in tea. Now he is learning about and exploring Japanese tea more proactively. |
Ireland
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Shane Flynn The Plant Based Cafe |
Tea Fellow |
Shane is the founder of The Plant Based Cafe. In future he would like to introduce more Japanese tea to Ireland. |
Honduras
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Jose Guillermo Te Invito |
Tea Fellow |
At the age of 17 Jose founded a tea company, and is working on re-culturalizing people in the coffee country -Honduras towards tea. |
Italy
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Sara Cherchi Tea Squirrel |
Tea Fellow |
Sara's passion for Japanese tea started during her university years. She lived in Osaka for several years and hopes to start a tea business in the near future. More here. |
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Maria Giulia Rigon |
Tea Fellow |
While working with languages professionally Maria has a great passion for tea and has been collaborating with local teashops in holding tea events. |
Lebanon
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Caren Chawa |
Tea Fellow |
While professionally involved in a different field Caren has been a tea lover for a long time and in future hopes to have her own teashop. |
Lithuania
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Giedrė Trumpienė Yugen Tea |
Tea Fellow |
Giedrė's interest in tea began over 10 years ago. In 2020 she started a tea company Yugen Tea, and now is promoting Japanese tea in Lithuania. |
Malaysia
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Andri Ciang Hojichaya |
Tea Fellow |
Andri is the founder of Hojichaya. He works on promoting Hojicha and other Japanese teas in Malaysia. |
Philippines
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Sharee Mae Te Chingkee Tea |
Tea Fellow |
Sharee is the founder of Chingkee Tea. She started her tea business at the age of 21 and now runs 4 locations. |
Portugal
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Nina Gruntkowski Chá Camélia |
Tea Fellow |
Nina has a great passion for tea. She is a co-founder of Chá Camélia and one of the first tea growers in Europe. |
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Maarten Roos Lightcurve Films |
Tea Fellow |
Maarten's background is in science and film making. He also loves tea, of course, and is looking for ways to combine these passions. |
Singapore
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Julie Wang |
Tea Fellow |
Julie has been involved in several tea education and consulting projects. She is also a graduate of the Japanese Tea Master Course |
Spain
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Anna Poian Global Japanese Tea Association, Mindful Teas |
Tea Catalyst |
Anna is one of our association founders. By attending tea festivals and holding tea workshops she has been introducing Japanese tea throughout Europe. |
Sweden
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Xenia Bianco Japanese Tea Hub |
Tea Fellow |
Xenia is the founder of the Japanese Tea Hub and she is working on promoting Japanese tea in Sweden and across all Europe. More here. |
Thailand
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Nixon Chen Mahidol University International College |
Tea Catalyst |
Nixon is an assistant professor in Mahidol University International College. He teaches about Sales, Marketing, Fashion, Society, Wine Studies and of course Tea! |
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Thomas Greese Chaseki |
Tea Fellow |
Thomas is a co-founder of Chaseki - a Japanese tea shop in Chiang Mai. They focus on quality and source their teas directly from the tea farmers. |
The Netherlands
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Philippine Kahn |
Tea Fellow |
Most of Philippine's career was in the field of law, but she is looking for a future in tea, and has been actively studying about Japanese tea. She is also very interested in wagashi. |
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Richard Schukkink International Tea and Coffee Academy |
Tea Catalyst |
Richard is the founder of the International Tea and Coffee Academy. For over a decade, he has been teaching and inspiring a new generation of tea and coffee professionals. |
Turkey
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Eray Ergenc |
Tea Fellow |
Eray has roots in a tea producing region of Turkey and in future would like to have a tea farm to produce green tea. |
UAE
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Viktoryia Toma Ikigai-shu |
Tea Fellow |
Viktoryia is a food & beverage specialist. She is also a WSET wine & sake educator. |
USA
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Michaeline Becker Mickbeauty |
Tea Fellow |
Michaeline is a professional hair & makeup artist. She would also like to start curating and selling Matcha. |
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Dan Bolton Tea Journey |
Tea Patron |
Dan is the founder of the digital Tea Journey magazine, and he is also the chief editor of several other tea magazines. |
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Seth Griffin |
Tea Fellow |
Seth is a professional Chinese translator and a keen tea drinker. |
David Lavecchia Tezumi |
Tea Fellow |
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Patrick Leonard |
Tea Fellow |
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Christopher Lum Tea Master Matcha Cafe & Green Tea Shop |
Tea Fellow |
Christopher works at a tea shop in LA - Tea Master. He is a true Japanese tea lover and Matcha is his passion. |
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Marzi Pecen Pecen & Associates |
Tea Fellow |
Marzi is a independent tea professional consulting about the tea, fragrance, flavoring, culinary & beverage industries |
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Cathy Reyes-Gallardo Cathy Ana |
Tea Fellow |
Cathy has a great passion for Japanese tea. She has spent nearly a year in a tea town in Kyoto, and hopes to open her own tea shop one day. |
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Tess Thormodsgaard LA Tea Sommelier |
Tea Fellow |
While professionally working in a different field, Tess is passionate about tea and is happy to organize tea activities and workshops in LA. |
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Erin Toyoshima Matchaful |
Tea Fellow |
Erin manages Operations and Sustainability at Matchaful, a female-founded, mission-driven matcha and wellness company based in New York City. |
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Adrian Vega |
Tea Fellow |
Adrian has been working in the tea industry for a number of years and now he is creating a new tea company |