Matter Brews serves up a sweet line-up of matcha and coffee

🍵 The matcha craze has left a bold, grassy-green mark on the world of specialty coffee and indulgent drinks. Yet despite its growing popularity, few in Cairo’s F&B scene have made the green powder the foundation of a concept all on its own. Minimalist and unmistakably green, Matcha house Matter Brews called to us and we had to find out whether it lived up to the hype.

Matcha, coffee, and sweet concoctions: Matter’s menu doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to inventive matcha drinks. Available hot, iced, and blended, the selection ranges from your classic vanilla latte and matcha milk to crowd-favorite strawberry and sea-salt blends. Fresh matcha-flavor blends brewed by Matter include banana bread, mango, pistachio, dirty matcha, and toasted cereal. To complement its matcha offerings, it serves an equally extensive coffee menu featuring similar blends.

What we ordered: Being our first visit to the matcha house, we kept things simple with a regular iced matcha latte and the staff-recommended sea-salt blend to put Matter’s pure matcha to the test — before venturing into the experimental creations. As self-proclaimed coffee addicts ourselves, we also couldn’t pass up a coffee sample, so we ordered our usual iced Spanish latte for an extra caffeine dose.

Our thoughts: The iced Spanish latte delivered exactly what we look for: a bold coffee flavor balanced by a solid coffee-to-milk ratio. It’s a drink we’d happily order again. The matchas, however, left us a little less impressed than we’d anticipated. The iced matcha latte had a good, earthy flavor, though the milk slightly overshadowed the matcha.

While we pleasantly sipped through it, it wasn’t the best sample of the green tea we’ve had by any means. The blended sea-salt matcha offered a similar pleasant matcha base with a noticeably sweet note from the sea-salt blend. Those who prefer a stronger matcha kick or a more pronounced salty contrast may find it leaning a little too sweet. The banana cake called to us, and strongly delivered — it was perfectly fluffy, sweet, and fresh.

The verdict: Given its matcha-first concept, Matter Brews set high expectations that, for us, weren’t met. All in all, our caffeine cravings were satisfied, though the matcha didn’t leave a lasting impression. If you’re after a reliably good sweet matcha or coffee, by all means, Matter is worth a visit. If you’re a devoted matcha connoisseur with particularly high standards, however, temper your expectations and you’re still likely to enjoy a pleasant matcha sip.

WHERE TO FIND IT- You can find Matter in New Cairo at Waterway 1 and inside U Venues’ Be-Indie store. On the North Coast, Matter has locations in Hacienda Red and Marassi Marina. You can also order through Talabat.