Nithipha “Teru” Thongputchot

Founder, The Sake Room

Industry : Advocacy

For Nithipha “Teru” Thongputchot, creating a sake culture requires considerably more than introducing people to what is in the glass. Through The Sake Room, her sake bar and bottle shop, she has made education, professional exchange and collaboration central to widening the drink’s place in Thailand.
Teru is a certified instructor with the Japan Sake Association and a Certified Sommelier with the Sake Sommelier Association. She leads courses, workshops and food-pairing events for hospitality professionals, restaurants and consumers, building knowledge that can travel from classroom to dining room and bar.
Her role also reaches directly across borders. As Thailand’s coordinator for Japan’s National Tax Agency, she organises seminars, business-matching events and tasting programmes connecting Japanese breweries with Thai importers and the wider food and beverage industry. The work creates commercial opportunities while deepening understanding between the two markets.
Teru has been equally intent on bringing together a Thai sake community she saw developing in relative isolation. Producers, importers, bartenders and restaurateurs all have a place in the ecosystem she is helping cultivate, while educational events are taking sake beyond the traditional Japanese-restaurant setting and into Thailand’s bar scene. Her premise is clear: a lasting culture is built not by one advocate, but through knowledge shared across an industry.