Whisk & Bloom, a Portland pop-up café dedicated to matcha, faced legal action threats from Marukyu Koyamaen for selling their matcha. This incident reflects the challenges of the import business and the complexities surrounding the rising popularity of matcha. Yoonique Tea, co-owned by Sue Nguyen and Cindy Tran, opened in April 2020 and managed to adapt through the pandemic, with plans to expand. Nguyen emphasizes their commitment to ownership and creating an inviting space for customers, inspired by their prior experiences in restaurant work and Vietnamese café culture.
In July, Nguyen, Tran, and a Beaverton coffee shop that hosted a Whisk & Bloom event all received letters in the mail threatening legal action if they didn't stop selling Marukyu Koyamaen, a brand of high-end matcha often considered the gold standard of Japanese tea makers.
Yoonique Tea opened in April 2020, an inauspicious date for any new business venture, let alone a small tea shop on a stretch of SE Foster that alternates between dive bars and light industry by the block.
Nguyen says packing it in wasn't an option: 'Me and my partner, we used to work in a restaurant together. We were like, 'It's been a long time being an employee, it's time for us to be owners.'
In September 2024 Nguyen launched a new venture: Whisk & Bloom, a pop-up cafe dedicated specifically to matcha, a style of green tea that involves grinding shade-grown leaves into a vibrant green powder.
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