Mako Matcha Mill Will Indeed Mill Matcha in Portland

Mako Matcha Mill is a new matcha cafe and mill coming to Southwest Portland’s West End section—and true to their name, they will be milling matcha there on site. I stopped by the cafe the other day (under construction at the time) and spoke with the two owners, Edison Zeng and Emily Dewey, to hear about their work with matcha and their plans for the cafe. Here is what I learned.

(Bonus: I had my first taste ever of Nong’s Khao Man Gai’s chicken and rice, located right across the street).

This Space Used To Be Home To Cacao

From 2006 to 2020 this location was known as Cacao, a well-regarded place to sip, discover, and buy chocolate. Owners Aubrey Lindley and Jesse Manis announced in October 2020 that they were closing—this would have been during the more chaotic days of the COVID pandemic.

Fun fact: I learned in an Oregonian article that Cacao was an incubator for Cloudforest (FKA Cocanu). Now established on SE Hawthorne Blvd, they’ve been known to make matcha lattes themselves.

I believe this space on SW 13th has been empty since the closing of Cacao, so having a new tenant is great for the neighborhood, and it’s nice for it to be another cafe space, too.

Matcha: Growing, Harvesting, and Culture

There are multiple stages involved in creating that green powder we know as matcha. When I arrived, we jumped in right away to talk about the harvesting stage.

Harvesting Matcha

Edison and Emily have grown their own matcha. “We actually harvested our first crop!” said Edison. They spoke a little bit about how time-consuming the harvesting is, as the top couple of leaves (the softest part of the plant) are traditionally picked by hand.

He showed me what the tea leaves looked like after they picked them. “That’s what it looks like before we shred it into tiny little crumbs, and then the crumbs are what goes in there,” pointing to the mill.

Shading

But before they start to harvest the matcha, they shade the plants three to four weeks prior to harvest. That stresses out the plant a bit, yielding tender and delicate leaves with a deep green color. “During the shading process, the plant goes into survival mode and it minimizes the stem and the veins,” explained Edison. “We need to maximize our chlorophyll and leaf surface area, too. The amino acid profile also changes during shading.”

“This is ultimately what like the tencha becomes,” said Edison. Tencha is the properly-shaded green tea that is the base for matcha.

Sorting

They also sort out the different colors of leaves into different grades, which, as you can imagine, is time-consuming and takes focus. “It’s like sorting LEGO blocks, but with tea,” explained Edison.

However, there is technology out there that can do the sorting, so they don’t have to do it by hand.

“We had to do that this year because we don’t have the machinery for it,” said Edison. “But I think for the future of matcha and tencha production in the U.S. to succeed, we have to invest in machinery that color-sorts.”

Growing Matcha in Oregon for Mako Matcha Mill

Edison and Emily have been growing matcha in Oregon, near Salem, which kind of blew me away.

“I’m a firm believer that we can create an organic, specific cultivar [in Oregon],” said Edison. “Right now, most of the cultivars are from Japan, mainly in the Kyoto region, which climate-wise is more like South Carolina or North Carolina, where it’s more humid. There are a couple of different cultivars from Russia, near Sochi, too.” Sochi is humid year-round and quite warm compared to most of Russia.

“I think the average person would probably be surprised to think matcha could be grown here. But we think it’s doable. Not only that, but I think we can have unique flavor profiles in Oregon. We want to create that. And now we have the first harvest and we have to mill it—no one knows yet what it tastes like.”

Grassy Matcha

Speaking of what matcha tastes like, I’ve heard from a number of people that they think all matcha tastes basically like grass. I asked Edison and Emily how they would counter that assertion, if at all.

“Well, grassy matcha is going to be the Yabukita cultivar,” he explained. “There are certain tea cultivars that are more hardy, more resistant to bugs. Those ones might taste more like grass because they are less sweet. The more umami and higher amino acid profile ones—those are sweeter.”

He added, “Not all of them are grassy tasting. It’s also very subjective.”

And, like with coffee, the altitude at which the tea is grown can affect things, including how delicate the flavor is. He cited Tibet or Nepal as being places where tea is grown, and because of their high altitude the tea’s flavors can be a lot more delicate.

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Mako Matcha Mill: What’s In a Name?

To my ears, the name is a little unusual, so I asked them why they chose to name it “Mako Matcha Mill.” Especially the “mako” part.

“‘Mako’ means a number of different things, but this is a specific reference,” said Emily. “Edison is a gamer and loves Final Fantasy VI in particular. And [the connection is] really sweet.” He played it a lot in the 1990s on PlayStation.

“In the game, the Mako is the life force of the planet, and it’s green,” said Edison. Just like matcha.

Location of Mako Matcha Mill

Emily and Edison were really excited to find this location—they had been wanting to open a spot in Portland, a city they love. They’ve been working with Liminal Shift to help with flow and build the counter area that includes space for the mill behind it.

They’ve been working with them on the interior design as well, which will have some influences from Japan (“Japanese with restraint”), like Japanese silks hanging in the room, some relevant color schemes on the walls.

What To Expect at the Mako Matcha Mill Cafe

Emily and Edison bring important experience to running the cafe. “I have done food service all over and in Chicago, where I’m from,” said Emily. “So I’ve got a lot of front of house and customer experience.”

Edison has been selling matcha for 13 years. His company Magus Brands in California has been manufacturing it overseas, and he has been selling it here in the U.S.

They look forward to providing a place where drinking and learning about matcha feels accessible, not intimidating. They’d also like it to be a place where people can stop in, enjoy friendly service and excellent things to drink and eat, and sit and stay for a while. A true third place. They’ll have a mix of tables and chairs, seats at the bar, and couches/upholstered furniture.

“And we want people to engage with us and look at the mill,” said Edison. “We want to understand where they are and answer questions they have about it.”

To Drink

At the very basic level they will sell hot and cold matcha drinks. The matcha latte—hot or cold—will be a staple.

Additionally on the cold side they will offer cold brew matcha, as well as eight other tea types—Earl Grey, Hojicha, and other Asian teas like Taiwanese milk oolong (grown high in the mountains of Taiwan, it tastes milky) are just a few—that they will rotate in and out of their two taps. They are really looking forward to introducing interesting and perhaps less common teas to their customers.

“We’re going to be doing fun things and stuff no one’s ever had before,” said Edison. “I think, even on the West Coast, we’re the first people that are going to be approaching implementing tea in unique ways, with our own recipes and flavors.”

They also plan to use syrups in their matcha drinks. Note: there will be no strawberry because Emily is allergic to them, so they are considering something like marionberry, instead which is very much an Oregon flavor, and is certainly delicious.

Emily talked about their tea infusions, too, which I needed to better understand. She says they are almost like a syrup or a concentrate. “Imagine a matcha latte with Hojcha flavor,” she explained. “When we first thought of this, I was so surprised as to how amazing and very unique it is. And I think being able to showcase different tea flavors alongside matcha, people are going to be really excited about those drinks.”

They noted that people love the fruity and ube matcha drinks, in particular. “We’re catering to a variety of audiences, because as you know, matcha has gotten super popular,” said Edison.

Grades of Matcha and Price

Although the matcha latte is probably the most popular matcha drink in Portland, they will offer matcha on its own in its most straightforward form. There will be matcha flights where people can taste the different kinds of matcha together in smaller portions.

And they will be serving three different grades of matcha—and three tiers to make the price accessible. “The lowest would probably be around $5,” explained Edison. “And then we have our higher grades.” They’re looking at offering some award-winning matchas, too.

“I think $7 matcha lattes are blasphemy,” said Edison. “So we’re trying to bring that price down throughout Portland—maybe like five bucks, maybe four bucks if we can squeeze it for a 12 ounce drink.”

Sacrificial Grade Matcha

Edison told me about a special drink they’ll offer, and one he is a big fan of. “My favorite drink is the sacrificial grade matcha,” he said. “You’re going to have to sign a waiver for it because there’s so much matcha content.” [I’m not sure if he’s kidding or not, ngl.]

Apparently it has somewhere between 350 to 500 milligrams of caffeine in it, due to the fact that they are using 10 grams of matcha. “It will have a matcha foam top, and matcha jelly. It’s 20 ounces of pure matcha. It’s like rocket fuel,” he said.

Coffee at the Mako Matcha Mill Cafe

They will also serve espresso drinks at the cafe. Beans will come from multiple roasters but at the writing of this article they have not decided which ones.

I asked them about mixing matcha and expresso. And while Edison is not the biggest fan, he knows others like it. “We’re thinking about it,” he said. “We’ve seen it on other menus. It’s called ‘military style.'” In his opinion, the mix of matcha and coffee throws things out of balance, where the matcha gets completely consumed by the more assertive coffee flavor.

On the Topic of Milk and Matcha

They will be offering oat milk for their plant-based option. “Soy covers the flavor of matcha,” said Edison. “It really changes it. If we find other alternatives in the future, we’ll introduce them, but oat is so good with matcha.”

When it comes to dairy, they say they’ll be sourcing it from local creameries—those with smaller herds, who treat their cows humanely (though vegans will no doubt disagree). They visit each of the creameries to see how the animals are being raised. And they believe the milk tastes better.

To Eat

They plan to have tea soft serve, which can be used in an afogatto with coffee or tea. Also look for additional savory and sweet snacks, including wagashi made by one of the best wagashi artists around. She lives right here in the Portland area: Yume Confections.

“We want to make that like a legit experience,” said Emily.

Mako Matcha Mill Retail

Mako Matcha Mill will also include a retail element, which will be located on the north side of the space. “We’re working with local pottery artisans, and there’s going to be tea plants in there that people can bring at home,” explained Edison. The’ll also be selling tins of matcha—their own custom blends.

And matcha whisks will also be for sale. “We will work with artisans that will give us what I think will be the proper matcha whisk,” said Edison.

Learning About Matcha

There will be an educational element to Mako Matcha Mill. “We plan on bringing in Urasenke instructors,” said Edison. “Basically, that’s like the artistic and cultural aspect of matcha consumption—it’s more about the gift of and the preparation of tea.”

He continued, “And then there’s another class that we want to do, where at the bar counter it is like an omakase type of thing. You come here and then we’ll just give you stuff.

“We also want to offer classes where you can learn to mill your own matcha—we’ll teach you how to do it. I have a little granite mill—obviously, the grind’s not going to be as fine as an actual machine. But we want to teach people about what matcha is, how it’s grown, and then get really deep into the cultivation and preparation of it, different tasting types, how to differentiate between them (kind of like coffee), and how to differentiate between different cultivars.

“We want to cater to people that are really interested in learning about matcha.”

The Matcha Milling

It’s no surprise that one of the things that makes Mako Matcha Mill cafe unique is that they are milling matcha at the cafe. And as I mentioned earlier, they are growing their own matcha here in Oregon. However, they will not be able to operate the cafe solely with their own product, because the harvest was small.

“We’ll be importing most of the matcha because our harvest this year was only like two and a half kgs. Very small, experimental, but I’m really happy,” said Edison.

Regarding the mill at the cafe, “So these things produce 30 grams per hour,” Edison explained. “We’re making it super slow, like 20 grams an hour, so that we get a nicer grind. I don’t think it’s going to meet the demand because 20 grams an hour, we’re using four grams of drink at least, so that’s like five drinks per hour.”

So it makes sense to use matcha that’s already prepared and ready to go. “I’ve been importing it for a long time, so we have a lot of matcha relationships with suppliers,” Edison remarked.

Final Thoughts

“My vision for [Mako Matcha Mill] is that we want to be the first matcha house in the U.S. to take matcha to a whole other level,” explained Edison. “That’s what particularly inspired us to go out and grow and make it here, and then to mill it and process it here. To get our hands on every aspect of it.”

He continued, “And the cafe is a place for us to test out our little experiment, both with flavors of tea and with the actual industry. We have a matcha consumption industry in the U.S. I feel like we can also have a really robust matcha production industry, as well. So that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

Their plan is to open in late 2025. They want to be open every day, and ideally they’d like to end up as a 24/7 kind of place, but they need to see how things go first.

It was an interesting and satisfying time learning about matcha from Edison and Emily. Wishing them the best as they prepare the place to open and offer their matcha options to Portland.

Mako Matcha Mill [projected opening late 2025]
414 SW 13th Avenue, Portland
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