"SO, err, is someone gonna tell me when to stop?" The question that accidentally pops out from my mouth as I huffed and puffed over the granite grinder on the table elicits a hearty chuckle from the merry group seated in front of me in a cosy corner of this pastel-hued cafe.
"Yes, yes, you don't have to keep turning," replies the buff-looking young man standing next to me, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Thankfully, we don't need to do this every day. We just buy our matcha powder. Do you know you can be turning this for an hour and only get 40g of powder?" he adds, a hint of amusement in his voice. While this process may seem arduous, it's necessary in order to ensure that every single grain of the matcha powder is as nutritionally-rich as possible, and its taste profile, clean, delicate and sweet.
Rolling my eyes in mock indignation , I return to my seat, allowing Choong Kar Heng, co-founder of the recently-opened Oh Cha Matcha (OCM), located in the bustling neighbourhood of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur to continue with the process of hand-grinding the remainder of the matcha leaves.
"Ok, done!" exclaims the 30-year-old, before abandoning the grinder to resume our chat about his latest adventure in the world of matcha — that finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves, traditionally consumed in East Asia.
Founded by Kar Heng and his elder brother, Choong Kar Wai, this eye-catching cafe, with its bespoke feel and decorated with feathery plumes of pampas grass, mirrors and plenty of whimsical touches, is the first boutique matcha cafe in the country.
It prides itself on offering a plethora of healthy, playful and quirky matcha beverage options made with premium grade matcha, in addition to a flavoursome selection of rice bowl meals. The line of premium grade matcha are concocted into delicious and healthy beverages to energise the body and soul naturally.
Purists will delight in the traditional favourites while adventurous foodies and fitness buffs might opt for the exciting combinations under the Drink Your Colours and Beauty Series (collagen-infused) categories. Their ever-popular ceremonial grade matcha, grown on the holy land of matcha in Uji, Kyoto, Japan is of the highest grade and the choice of the Japanese Emperor.
As we chat, I'm duly surprised to learn that the entrepreneurial Kar Heng and his brother, whose background is in business management, are actually "coffee people" to begin with. Prior to embarking on this matcha business, the duo had founded a slew of hip coffee joints. Coffee enthusiasts will be familiar with CoffeeSociete in Publika, Underground Societe, and Garage 51 in Sunway, all of which have the brothers' innovative stamps on them.
GLIMMER OF GREEN
"This is actually our fifth brand, but our first matcha venture," begins Kar Heng, whose passion for coffee was triggered — and honed — during his stint in Melbourne, where he was studying design. Sheepishly, he admits that he had little knowledge of matcha when they decided to undertake this new venture.
"I didn't even drink matcha to begin with because I've always found it to be quite bitter. I'd seen it used to flavour desserts and ice-cream… that was about it," he muses. But a trip to Japan made him realise that there was a lot more to this rich, green powder than he'd imagined.
Continues Kar Heng: "All matcha comes from green tea but not all green tea can be matcha because matcha-grade green tea leaves are especially grown. I was in a sushi restaurant in Japan and I remember them serving me water with matcha powder in it. It was really thick and tasted very nice. I didn't know you could drink matcha like that. And that piqued my interest and led me to explore further."
Through his research, he discovered that the higher the grade of matcha, the less bitter it is. What's served in Oh Cha Matcha is Uji Matcha, considered the pearl of Japanese green tea. And another thing which surprised this coffee-enthusiast? The fact that this traditional Japanese stone-ground powdered green tea has a similar caffeine level as coffee.
"I used to drink black coffee a lot," shares Kar Heng, adding: "So when I learnt that the caffeine level in matcha is just the same as coffee, I thought why not I try to switch for a bit. After all, matcha is supposed to have all these powerful antioxidants and vitamin compositions."
So that's what he did. Every time before heading to the gym (and after workout), this outdoor-loving 30-year-old would down a glass of matcha instead of his usual tipple. Smiling, he muses: "I realise that with coffee, you get that instant rush or high. But an hour later, you crash. With matcha, you get a slow and steady release of energy that lasts for hours."
EXPERIMENTS AND EXPLORATIONS
Excited by its many potentials, Kar Heng and his brother decided to explore matcha with their existing cafes. They started off by introducing it into their affogato. The response was good, he recalls. "But we didn't want to just leave it at that. I remember from our travels around Europe that cafes would also add ginger, turmeric etc into their drinks. Apparently, it was a health trend."
Chuckling, he muses that despite having so many things in our own backyard, it was surprising that back then, no one had actually thought to do something with them.
"Like, we have the famous Bentong ginger but I didn't see cafes pouncing on this," says Kar Heng, before continuing: "That was when we decided to take a good look at what we had in our own back garden."
Sure enough — and soon enough — the delights of watermelon, pandan, lemon grass, Bentong ginger, ginseng et al soon found their way into the special concoctions crafted by the team at Oh Cha Matcha when the cafe opened its doors just before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced.
"Certainly, it might sound weird to have these things paired with matcha, but the more we experimented, the more excited we got by what we found," confides Kar Heng, eyes shining. They kicked off their first R&D with the combination of Bentong ginger, turmeric and matcha, which happens to be his favourite concoction.
"This one was one of our more challenging experiments," he confesses, adding that the biggest challenge was trying to find the right balance between the three ingredients.
"It wasn't easy, "he concedes, adding: "The balance of flavour is so very difficult to achieve because you want the Bentong ginger and turmeric taste, but at the same time, you don't want to overpower the matcha. Or vice versa."
The R&D on all the beverages was done completely by the brothers, over a period of one year. With close to 10 years of experience in F&B, this part of their business process — of research and experiments — wasn't alien to them.
"As part of our research, we actually flew to Japan. We went to different farms and attended tea schools. From someone who didn't know anything about matcha, I've grown to love it now. In fact, everyday we're drinking this ceremonial-grade matcha. My brother even adds collagen into it because he has joint pains."
There are three grades of matcha in the world — Ceremonial, Premium and Culinary. And here at Oh Cha Matcha, they have all three. The Premium doesn't have the same sweet flavour as the Ceremonial matcha, but neither does it possess the strong and bitter taste of the Culinary-grade variety.
"The Ceremonial grade is the most expensive and is preferred by the Emperor of Japan for tea ceremonies," explains Kar Heng before elaborating that what makes it special is the high level of umami and sweetness contained within. It's also not very bitter.
Smiling broadly, Kar Heng continues: "We know that matcha itself can be quite intimidating — at least it was to me. So we make sure that our drinks are colourful and every layer serves a health function. We don't use sugar; just a natural sweetener called Stevia."
Suddenly turning to me, he asks: "Do you know that the health benefits of matcha tea exceeds those of green tea?" A coffee snob through and through, I shake my head in reply. "This is because when you drink matcha you ingest the whole leaf, not just the brewed water," he adds, triumphantly.
HIS STORY
The affable Aquarian grew up in a big house with his parents, two siblings and grandparents in Sri Kembangan, Selangor. He remembers an idyllic childhood in a kampung, where life didn't revolve around the TV.
"I didn't even watch cartoons when I was growing up," he confides, chuckling at the memory before adding with mirth that it was probably because his grandfather used to hog the TV in the house watching the news.
"My siblings and I ended up just playing with whatever we could get our hands on, like sticks and stones!"
By the time he reached high school, the family moved to Sri Petaling. "I was never a studious guy at school," he recalls. "I only got 3As at SPM. But I did love to learn from YouTube and would teach myself so many things. I was particularly intrigued by special effects and animation."
After college, he told his parents of his desire to pursue a design course. "I was the first batch for this at Taylor's College. As I'd already been teaching myself stuff from YouTube, I found my course a breeze. I was on the Dean's List several times," says Kar Heng, matter-of-factly.
Although he studied design, Kar Heng didn't actually want to pursue a career in design. "I just wanted to learn," he says, with a shrug of his muscled shoulders. "I couldn't imagine sitting in front of the computer for hours, poring over design. The leap into business only came because my brother had started it and I was roped in to help."
But he hasn't regretted it one bit. He's been able to apply his design knowledge into the designs of their various ventures and put to full use his training from design school of always thinking out of the box.
Concluding with a broad smile, Kar Heng, whose life these days revolves around the cafe and gym, says softly: "Put in the effort, be really disciplined and push yourself… Success will come. Never be afraid to think out of the box. That way, you'll stand out from the rest!"
Oh Cha Matcha
WHERE: 130, Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, KL
CALL: 03 7732 0397
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