Still, there’s always room for innovation and playfulness. 12 offers matcha ice cream and matcha cheesecake, and Jin Jin Matcha in Tacoma, in addition to offering unsweetened water-based matcha, also has the newly popular strawberry matcha latte on its menu (albeit theirs comes with no artificial coloring and only fruit extract). And this summer, Make is partnering with a few different restaurants on a matcha martini and a matcha ice cream sandwich. “Creative flavor pairings like this have long been commonplace in Japan,” Murray notes. “On my most recent trip there, I tried a matcha beer and a matcha KitKat bar.”

The West Coast is also joining the authentic matcha renaissance. Kettl, a Brooklyn tea shop and cafe focused on top-quality Japanese tea, including matcha, recently opened a Los Angeles outpost. Rocky’s Matcha is an online matcha brand based in Los Angeles selling first harvest tea and ceramic accessories, that, since 2022, pops up at events, cafes, and stores around L.A., Chicago, New York, and Miami, and Tea Master of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles focuses on Japanese green tea and matcha sourced from first-harvest family farms in Yame, Shizuoka, and Mei.

Stonemill Matcha in San Francisco debuted in 2018 by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, with a mission to highlight attention to detail and omotenashi, the Japanese concept that translates to hospitality—from harvest to packaging and brewing—and to provide top-quality, unadulterated matcha to customers. “The thought is to meet guests where it is recognizable and familiar, so while we do provide hand-whisked matcha service, we make matcha lattes as well,” says Sakaguchi.

And sourcing is of utmost importance. “You may have experienced matcha in the past when you take a sip, there’s a slightly sour note, or there is an excess of bitterness,” says Sakaguchi. “It’s important for people to experience—especially for their first time—the umami and grassiness and earthiness of what real quality matcha should be. At least in the U.S., there are varying qualities, and we want people to understand the standard firsthand.”

Jin Jin Matcha is preparing to open its second location in Seattle. Owner Sarah Oh moved back to her native Washington after living in New York, where, as a matcha drinker, she became a Kettl regular. When she returned to Tacoma during the pandemic, she realized the only Asian tea shops around were focused on boba, and with coffee as king in Seattle, she decided to open her own matcha café, where she focuses on sustainable sourcing and authentic service.