I’ve always had a complicated relationship with matcha.
It started a few years ago when my mom brought some matcha home for us to try. We had never tried it before, but had heard of its benefits, so we thought we’d see if it tasted good. It was an at-home version, so we did not have any of the wonderful other flavored syrups and cold foams baristas typically add at coffee shops. Just milk and sugar.
With just one sip, I felt like a cow roaming a grassy pasture. I immediately spit it out.
From that moment on, I became a self-proclaimed matcha hater, passionately roasting my matcha-loving friends for sipping on grass.
Little did I know, my first experience trying matcha was full of mistakes. I didn’t realize that there is such a thing as good-quality and bad-quality matcha and that the one I tried was probably bad-quality given its sketchy color. When I learned this years later, I decided to give it another shot by trying a matcha at a newer cafe by my house in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It’s called Hudson’s Place, in case any of you live nearby!
It was absolutely wonderful. It was a different color than the matcha I made at home, a much brighter green, and it had pink beetroot cold foam! It looked so pretty, and to top it off, it tasted really good. While I did taste the grassy taste typical of matcha, it didn’t taste overly bitter. It was just right, a perfect balance.
All of a sudden, my years-long matcha-hating status changed. I really like matcha now.
Now, I need to find a matcha to fill the void while I am in Ann Arbor. I tried four coffee shops near the Diag for convenience because I had classes to attend throughout the week in the general area. Throughout this article, I am going to provide my thoughts and ratings of matcha at each coffee shop I’ve tried. If I end up trying more places further from the Diag in the future, I’ll write another article with my ratings! I know you’re probably going to wonder why Starbucks isn’t on this list; it’s because Starbucks is everywhere and I’d rather try local coffee shops in Ann Arbor.
For reference, here are some notes on what I typically ordered at each location. I am lactose intolerant (for real, I’m not one of those fakers), so I order oat milk with each matcha, which may alter the quality and taste. Also, I tried to keep orders consistent by ordering each matcha in a small size with ice and vanilla syrup.
Without further ado, here are the ratings!
M36 Coffee Roasters
Rating: 6/10
It was pretty good! Did it compare to the glorious matcha of Hudson’s Place? No, but it was decent.
I didn’t feel like I was drinking blended grass at all because it tasted very sweet, almost too sweet for me. I think that it could have benefited from less sweetness and a touch of that classic grassy taste to balance it out because the taste was so vanilla-y (most likely from the syrup) that it tasted like candy, and not in a good way. As I did homework, letting it sit and water it down a little helped a lot with the sweetness.
It was super light green, which surprised me. It was light-colored enough that it bordered on pastel green, which most likely also came from the sweetness.
Overall, I don’t think I would order a matcha from here again. However, if it’s cold outside, I highly recommend their hot chocolate.
The UMMA Cafe
Rating: 5/10
Honestly, I did not have the highest expectations, so at least I wasn’t very surprised. Similar to M36, it tasted very sweet, and I only tasted milk and vanilla. In addition, the matcha was very light colored, even lighter than M36.
I would knock it down to a 4/10, but they were very busy when I ordered so I’m not sure if that’s the reason why the quality of the drink was low. I bumped them up a point because the baristas were working hard and they were very respectful despite the busy chaos.
I know some people like a lot of sweetness in their drinks, but I am not one of those people. I like my drinks balanced. I need a good grass-to-sweetness ratio, otherwise I either get overwhelmed with grass or a headache from sugar.
Also, it tasted chalky for some reason on some sips. Was that the matcha I was tasting?
Similar to M36, I highly recommend their hot chocolate—it’s great. When they’re not busy, they have great London Fogs as well!
Misfit Society Coffee Club
Rating: 8/10
So far, this is my favorite. It was not overly sweet, which I like, and there was a good sweetness-to-grass ratio. It was balanced! Both the vanilla and milk and the matcha were subtle enough that I was not overwhelmed with one over the other.
It was darker green than M36, which gives me good vibes and explains the better level of sweetness.
Does it compare to the place by my house? No. But it’s still pretty solid!
Maybe it’ll become a staple if it’s the highest-rated on this list. *gasps!*
Ondo
Rating: N/A
Getting matcha from this place is like fighting on Ticketmaster for Taylor Swift tickets.
I went each day for a week, and every single time I went to try to get some matcha, they were sold out! Funny enough, I always noticed that they had matcha in stock before I had the idea for this article, so perhaps I just kept going at the wrong time of day or it’s not Ondo’s time to get reviewed! I really wanted to try their matcha because I’ve heard good things about it and their cloud cream matcha, matcha latte in general, raspberry matcha, and strawberry matcha green tea sound really good.
However, my friend ordered matcha from here with similar instructions as what I usually get, except she gets hers with whole milk. She said that it’s hit or miss; sometimes tasting like too much grass or having too much sweetener, or it’s really good. Eventually, I’ll try a matcha from here and I’ll let you know what I think about it!
As of now, my top matcha place in Ann Arbor is the Misfits Society Coffee Club, but that is subject to change! I still have to try Ondo and explore other cafes farther away from the Diag to find the perfect matcha in Ann Arbor. I have a good feeling about Ondo because it’s already wonderful in its other drinks and foods, so I have high expectations!