{"id":363894,"date":"2026-04-04T20:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T20:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/363894\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T20:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T20:24:08","slug":"nomu-matcha-how-a-bay-of-plenty-start-up-is-riding-the-matcha-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/363894\/","title":{"rendered":"Nomu Matcha: How a Bay of Plenty start-up is riding the matcha boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Stockdale tried a matcha in London, she discovered a problem: high-priced, low-quality options dominating the market.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional green tea, matcha is shade-grown, carefully harvested, dried and then finely ground into a vibrant powder.<\/p>\n

Matcha contains caffeine<\/a>, making it a popular alternative to coffee.<\/p>\n

Stockdale said she and Parsons fell in love with matcha five years ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne morning, I ordered a decaf at 7am, and the barista was like, are you okay, ordering a decaf at 7am? And I explained why, and he asked if I had heard about matcha.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave it a try, and I was like, wow, this is awesome, but I also loved the fact that it has great health benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stockdale spent two years travelling before settling in London, where she observed a significant rise in matcha\u2019s popularity across Western markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s been around in the Eastern world for hundreds if not thousands of years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"NomuNomu Matcha has rapidly expanded nationwide. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really interesting to see the popularity, but we both struggled with the same thing. We were going out and spending $8 on essentially what was s*** matcha.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nomu Matcha started with a simple sketch of a spoon that could simplify matcha preparation, which typically involves precise serving sizes, sifting and whisking.<\/p>\n

That sketch evolved into a multi-functional spoon designed to measure, level and sift matcha in one device.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spoon really comes back to being the catalyst for why we started Nomu,\u201d Stockdale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in the tagline of the business, which is \u2018never drink a s*** matcha again\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said travelling to Japan and connecting with growers and producers was \u201cfundamental\u201d in building knowledge and respect for the craft of matcha<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important to go to the heart of the place where the product comes from to truly understand it, not just for matcha but for any product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stockdale said the business approach had been done in a \u201cunique way\u201d and put community at the heart of everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding where matcha comes from, meeting the farmers, understanding the process, and what really lies behind it has been a fundamental element of Nomu Matcha.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NomuNomu Matcha co-founders Tessa Stockdale (centre) and Karen Parsons (right) visited Japan, where the product originated from.<\/p>\n

Gaining recognition at the Tauranga Business Awards<\/a> \u201cvalidated\u201d the business to keep doing what it was doing, Stockdale said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely have a pretty bold and unique approach to marketing, I mean, we\u2019ve got the word s*** in our tagline.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what the biggest factor was in Nomu Matcha\u2019s growth, Stockdale said it was their \u201crelentless pursuit\u201d to drive accessibility to great matcha.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes back to just being absolutely, positively in love with your brand and backing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Stockdale said the focus was on scaling and expanding distribution networks, with strong interest emerging from international markets. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we do, we do well, so we\u2019re scoping out those markets at the moment and seeing what will work for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the end of the day, it\u2019s about continuing to drive accessibility to great matcha for our drinkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Stockdale tried a matcha in London, she discovered a problem: high-priced, low-quality options dominating the market. Unlike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1561,16424,138,221,185,170518,111,139,191351,69,1118,1562,31124,1037,223],"class_list":["post-363894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bay","tag-boom","tag-business","tag-how","tag-is","tag-matcha","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nomu","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-plenty","tag-riding","tag-startup","tag-the"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}