For Katie Cyr, it’s always tea time

Since 2013, tea sommelier Katie Cyr has built Monarch Tea Co. into an artisan brand and workshop educator for leading companies.

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.

When picking a name for the business, Cyr wanted something that was elegant, modern, and whimsical, with a nod to British tea-time tradition. The name also reflects the early ritual of drinking tea with her family.

“I remember I had this child-size butterfly teacup with wings for the handle,” says Cyr. “It felt so special to be able to take out those delicate family heirlooms and enjoy the reverence of tea time.”

Her love of tea continued into adulthood. In her late teens, she worked at Starbucks, a chain known for its coffee, but gravitated towards the Tazo tea blends. She also had a second job at a vegan restaurant in Burlington that featured an entire wall of loose-leaf herbal teas, ginger and hibiscus, teas she had never heard of before.

Those experiences opened her eyes to varieties beyond Tetley. She began buying loose-leaf teas and making her own blends, like lemongrass with cinnamon, serving them to friends and family.

A natural entrepreneur, by age 20, she knew she could turn her love of tea into a business. As a kid, she’d sell Costco tea, coffee, and muffins during garage sales, and later launched Katie’s Kitchen, delivering homemade bread with warm pats of butter to neighbours at dinnertime.

In 2013, her dad lent her $400 to launch Monarch Tea Co., an amount that felt significant at the time. She put it toward packaging and a graphic designer. She also started buying tea from wholesalers in bulk and creating her own recipes. 

“A lot of the teas I blend myself. Beauty Sleep is simply chamomile and lavender, and it’s still one of our top sellers. We also have one called Garden Party, which is peppermint, organic rose petals, and chamomile, and our Anniversary Blend is a creamy vanilla black tea with strawberries and cacao.”

Cyr started the business as a side hustle while working at a local coffee equipment supply store, and later managing an aromatherapy shop. When she wasn’t at work, she was selling Monarch products online and in boutiques, and running local workshops at the LCBO, Goodness Me, and other locations in Burlington and Hamilton.

The business was gaining momentum, but when COVID hit, it changed everything. 

“All of a sudden, we started seeing an influx of online orders,” says Cyr. “Because people were just wanting to drink tea, or they needed that ritual for comfort and clarity, or they had some money to spend, or they just really wanted something to come to their house in the mail.” 

Corporations were starting to look for virtual events to keep teams engaged while working remotely. Monarch was also among the first businesses featured on Airbnb’s Online Experiences, a platform that connected people around the world with live, interactive classes and workshops, driving a stream of new inquiries.

Cyr also pivoted her tea talks online. She started incorporating gift sets as part of the workshop experience, including her own custom tea blends and products from local Hamilton makers. Today, her gift boxes, shipped around the world, are filled with products made right here at home, including candles from Wax + Fire Co., bonbons from Madam Bonbon on Locke Street, honey from Humble Bee, and bath bombs from Beyond the Bomb.

By February 2021, Cyr decided to quit her job at the apothecary store and pursue her business full-time. The same night she formally resigned, Warner Brothers called to book a corporate event, one of her biggest bookings at the time.

Monarch Tea Co. has since run workshops for a number of big-name brands, including Google, Meta, The New York Times, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Loblaws. 

“I’ve presented at conferences of up to 1,000 people,” says Cyr. “Public speaking is something that just comes naturally to me. To this day, I will do my entire presentation with no notes. Sometimes a venue will say they can’t play slides, and I’m like, ‘No problem, I can do the entire talk from memory.’” 

Cyr has refined her program and now incorporates her own vintage tea sets, trivia, and audience participation. 

“Almost all the corporate event planners I speak with say they are looking for the same thing,” says Cyr. “Something wellness-based that’s fun, hands-on, and a takeaway at the end of the session. They also want something with a learning and educational element, and they’re looking for something that doesn’t involve alcohol. So a tea workshop hits on everything.” 

Born in Burlington, Cyr would visit Hamilton to volunteer at Good Shepherd as a teen, and it wasn’t until later, when some of her friends invited her to visit Hamilton, that she fell in love with the city. She’s lived in Corktown for 13 years and credits the Hamilton business community, and the local female business group the Fempreneurs, for helping her succeed. 

“I would not be where I am today without Hamilton,” says Cyr. “Thirteen years ago, when I started my business, there was so much creativity and art here. The first store I got into was James North General Store, and the original owners were the first to welcome me and carry my product. They were so receptive to small businesses.”

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.”

For all her success with big-name brands, Cyr is still dedicated to supporting the community in Hamilton. Cyr has built a tiered pricing model that allows corporate revenue to subsidize free and low-cost programming.

“Something that’s really important to me is fighting food scarcity and loneliness among seniors,” she says. “We offer free tea talks to long-term care homes and senior centres, and we have community-based pricing for nonprofits. I also volunteer with Meals on Wheels in Hamilton, and we’re doing a free in-person workshop in July for anyone who is a caregiver for someone with dementia, Alzheimer’s, or cognitive decline. I want people to be able to take a moment out of the stresses from their daily life and enjoy themselves.”

Cyr works out of the commercial kitchen at Tea At The White House in Waterdown to package her teas and host tea talks. Her next project is an afternoon tea experience featuring mini-boxes with scones, Devonshire cream, and shortbread, all made by Tea At The White House.

So what does Cyr love to sip on? Her everyday comforting cup is her bestseller – Cream Earl Grey. “I also love making a nice iced ceremonial matcha. It’s my ritual. Right now, I’m drinking Iced Peach Pie Green Tea. Being summer, I tell people the best way to enjoy your tea is to have a pitcher of iced tea ready, and you’ll be able to hydrate and have something refreshing on hand that’s also really fun.”