Eight Grams Matcha, a cafe specializing in matcha-based drinks and desserts, opened on Bancroft Way across the street from Eshleman Hall on Jan. 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cafe features soft green and white decor with a clean interior. Already, Eight Grams has seen lines extending past the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cafe is currently in its soft opening phase, which means the menu and recipes are undergoing small adjustments.\u00a0Currently, the menu comprises different matcha flavor variations, including strawberry, rose syrup, lavender and banana milk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Customers can order their matcha as a classic latte, in smoothie form or over water, dubbed a \u201cmatcha-cano.\u201dEight Grams also serves matcha and hojicha pudding and cheese tarts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to cofounder Selena Le, the name Eight Grams refers to the amount of matcha the founders would pour in their own lattes \u2014 which is about two or more shots of espresso. Not all of the drinks actually contain eight grams of matcha, though some do, Le clarified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMatcha has been something that we have loved for a long time,\u201d Le said. \u201cAnd with the rise in (its) popularity, we wanted to bring a different concept to matcha that\u2019s solely focused on matcha (in) being able to have different varieties, different cultivars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cafe allows customers to choose from three different blends: kiso, sabi and haku. Le described kiso as a less bitter, introductory matcha; sabi as middling on the spectrum with brighter notes; and haku as the most premium blend out of the three, with more bitterness and nuttiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sophia Brunet, a campus junior, said she was drawn to Eight Grams because she enjoys its matcha\u2019s sweeter flavor profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI also like fun combinations,\u201d Brunet said. \u201cI really like this place and (Binge Coffee House) because they always have fun flavors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eight Grams is taking over what was formerly a RareTea storefront, which specialized in boba. RareTea is also owned by Eight Grams cofounder Tony Lei, who said he decided to convert the store after seeing how saturated Berkeley was with boba.<\/p>\n
Although Lei said he has also noticed more matcha stores opening in the Bay Area, he said Eight Grams has more of an advantage in its relationship with matcha farmers. Because it sources matcha by the harvest directly from Japan, he said, it doesn\u2019t need to pay a middleman distributor and there is less risk of impact from matcha shortages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lei had been planning to open a matcha shop for a while, and decided on Berkeley because of his personal connection to the place. He graduated with a degree in economics from UC Berkeley in 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cI graduated from (UC) Berkeley, I started my business here in Berkeley,\u201d Lei said. \u201cWe decided to come back to Berkeley because it\u2019s just more special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eight Grams is tentatively set to have its grand opening the week of Feb. 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight Grams Matcha, a cafe specializing in matcha-based drinks and desserts, opened on Bancroft Way across the street…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[30517,74377,30103,143,145,144,74381,74378,74379,74380],"class_list":{"0":"post-150091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-bancroft-way","9":"tag-eight-grams-matcha","10":"tag-eshleman-hall","11":"tag-oakland","12":"tag-oakland-headlines","13":"tag-oakland-news","14":"tag-raretea","15":"tag-selena-le","16":"tag-sophia-brunet","17":"tag-tony-lei"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}