MATCHA MATCHA — Restaurant in Toronto

As a person who loves Matcha and has had it from many Japanese cafés (as well as making it at home daily) I was looking forward to trying this place. I first tried their strawberry Matcha and hated it. I expected the strawberry to be a topping at the bottom, but it was about 90% what tasted like strawberry milk and 10% Matcha. The final texture was grainy and barely tasted like Matcha. It was also filled to the brim with ice even when the cup was totally empty.

I really did want to like this place so I decided to give it another try and a few weeks later got the Matcha latte with oat milk. I asked them to put half ice and the employee immediately told me that was impossible … what does that even mean?? I have never been to a matcha place where they put even close to this much ice or have said that you can’t do half ice. When I asked why, another employee came over and said they just don’t do that (which to me sounds like they’re just trying to fill up the cup with ice to give you less of the actual drink) and that ‘because the matcha is warm when it goes in the cup all the ice will melt anyway’ - the drink was freezing cold the entire time I drank it, and I was left with more than half a cup of ice when it was finished.

As for the actual taste of the Matcha, I was also disappointed. I am an avid Matcha lover and have asked for no or very little sugar in my drinks before. Here they only have a default sugar option or the option of no sugar, and the lady at the front said there is a sugar syrup on the counter that I can add my own sugar to taste when I get my order. High quality matcha has a natural sweetness to it, and I found myself having to add a ridiculous amount of liquid sugar to make it drinkable - and I am not someone with a sweet tooth at all. After two very disappointing tries at this place, It is safe to say I am not returning. If you are a matcha lover or want to be one try...

Worth coming to admire the interior and the vibes in general but unfortunately not the drinks. I’m a big fan of matcha, and have tried a plenty while living in Japan and here in Toronto, got really curious about the place that “specializes” on it, but I was surprised how bad it was. Here’s what I think:

• The place is on the peak of its popularity rn, and gets very busy. I would hope that they have a person who checks the cleanliness of the space regularly but doesn’t seem to be the case? Lowkey got McDonalds vibes, a little bit messy. A bunch of small trash lying around and dirty surfaces.

• Again, the place gets really busy, but the order turnaround is pretty quick, which is great, the quality of it is very questionable though. They seem to be a tad understaffed it seems, three people who are making the drinks were looking exhausted around noon when I came there, and unfortunately the technique of whisking (the have electric whiskers) was really off. I got so many clumps in my drink.

• About the drink. I got the most basic stuff to start with, Matcha Latte. I thought you can’t really go wrong with matcha latte but turns out I was wrong. Once upon a time I was really desperate and got a matcha latte from Tim Hortons and it was much better than this one. Here I could only taste the sweetened milk. The only matcha flavor I got was in those clumps I talked about earlier, and it’s not a great experience cuz matcha is bitter. I’m not exactly sure if it’s because the ratio between the matcha and the milk was very off, or the matcha itself is not the best quality, but the matcha was not matchaing.

I don’t know if people get any more luck with other drinks, but this was my experience, so if you can go somewhere else to get matcha, please do that. Not worth spending 7+ dollars...

To get things straight, their mix is a pleasant balance, very mild on both the bitterness and sweetness scale.

Now, there are two huge problems:

1. From the store design perspective, the ordering screen being a space 2 meters square wide right in front of the door is a disaster. That is why people have to wait outside and get confused about where to go when they enter the place. The staffs are not also trained in service beyond tea mixing. We the people cannot blame them for the number of customers they serve, but the manager needs a system to take-make-deliver orders, fast! (rather than letting them just drop a finished cup at the stall and maybe remember to call someone's name a minute later)

2. From the tea drinkers' perspective, the "hype" or whatever it is with people claiming to be matcha lovers is in bad form. Matcha was originally perfected by zen monks to help with their long meditation session, and to denounce the elaborated culture of the imperial court. Matcha was made to be simple: You boil some water, mix, drink, and wash it. Repeat. Repeat. A good matcha bowl is optional. A good pot is optional. Everything is optional but the peace. Lining up for hours for a cup of matcha during the store opening is a foreign experience to the culture. If you see a long line, forget it, it is not the purpose of matcha. Go to your local store, get some matcha powder, maybe buy some milk if you want a latte, get home,...