The Maturing of Matcha: The New (Old) Wave of Matcha Sweeping the Country

Vogue

3 hours ago

Green is in: Matcha has become ubiquitous among the fashion set, millennials, and Gen Z—even my boomer mom is obsessed—with nearly every cafe offering it alongside coffee, and plenty of cafes dedicated solely to matcha. From national matcha-devoted chains like Cha Cha Matcha, Matcha Café Maiko, and Kyo Matcha, to nearly every coffee shop from Starbucks to Blue Bottle to even Dunkin' Donuts offering matcha lattes, it's safe to say matcha is firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist.
Matcha is a vibrant green tea drink born in China and Japan thousands of years ago. It's made from grinding green tea leaves—which can be varying grades of quality—into a fine powder, which is then whisked with hot water to create a thick, frothy liquid. In many modern cafes around the world, it's combined with milk or an alternative milk to create a latte, and this is typically what you'll find in most cafes serving matcha in the U.S.
But are you getting an authentic matcha at Dunkin' Donuts? Definitely not (it's green tea powder mixed with 32 grams of sugar, milk, and fruit pectin, according to their website). Even at most matcha-devoted places, your drink will likely be sweetened and watered down as a way to help cover up the bitter taste of lower-grade matcha. Over the last decade, in most of the U.S., matcha has become so far removed from its roots that it has become a coffee alternative at best and a TikTok trend at worst. And while these drinks might be tasty, if you're looking for authentic, unadulterated matcha, it has been harder to find in the U.S.—until now.
While chains like Cha Cha Matcha, which opened in New York City in 2016 and has expanded to seven New York City and four Los Angeles locations, show no signs of slowing down, there has been a recent spate of more authentic matcha cafes utilizing extremely high-quality matcha unadulterated by sugar and other mix-ins. These boutique shops typically partner with a specific farm in Japan or Korea for sourcing, as opposed to the Japanese corporate distributors that the larger chains use.
But what exactly is the difference between a matcha latte from Starbucks and a so-called authentic matcha? We checked in with Darla Murray, the co-founder of Make, a premium matcha brand selling hand-selected tea direct to consumers.