A matcha made in heaven

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/04/2022 (1439 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s around 8 a.m. in Tokyo.

It’s March 16, and Avery Hastings has had a long night. There was an earthquake near Fukushima, and she temporarily lost power. But, she’s alright, so she’s video calling her mother — and business partner — back in Manitoba.

Both sip matcha tea. They say they fell in love with the green drink in Japan, and they want Canadians to have the same experience. So, they’ve created Bonsai Cha.

“We get to try a bunch of great teas and introduce them to our friends, and I think that’s been the most fun part,” Avery said.

Donna Hastings, Avery’s mother, sips a matcha latte from her East Selkirk home during the call. An ocean away, Avery dumps water and a spoonful of matcha powder into Bonsai Cha’s matcha maker. After hitting a button and waiting 90 seconds, Avery pours herself some tea.

Neither family member guessed they’d start a business based on their mother-daughter meet up in Japan.

“I had always wanted to work overseas,” Avery, 32, said.

She’s been in Japan for four years, working at an international bank. She originally transferred to Fukuoka, a city near Japan’s southern tip. She spent free time exploring.

Avery said she attended a tea ceremony in Kyoto, in a traditional tea house.

“The matcha that they served me there was unlike anything I’ve ever had in my entire life,” she said. “It has this beautiful balance of flavours.”

Donna visited in 2019. She tried Japanese matcha tea with Avery.

“It’s like night and day (compared to Canada’s),” Donna, 58, said. “I said, ‘You know what, we’ve got to do something here. We’ve got a product here that we have to bring to Canada.’”

The idea was put on a shelf. Then, COVID-19 struck and slashed Donna’s income: she runs Windsock Lodge, a fishing camp in Nopiming Provincial Park, and her customer traffic hit zero.

She and Avery resumed talks about a matcha tea business in 2020.

Avery said she began meeting with farmers in different regions of Japan.

“I don’t know how many teas I’ve sampled already,” she said. “I think my cupboards are still full of samples from all of our different partners.”

She’s been learning Japanese and said she converses with her colleagues in the language. What she doesn’t understand, her husband — who’s Japanese — can translate for her, she said.

Bonsai Cha has chosen matcha from several areas, including Kyoto, Fukuoka, Shizuoka and the island of Kyushu. They take tea leaves from the first harvest, which is typically in May, Avery said.

The leaves are then steamed, dried, deveined and ultimately ground into a fine powder, she said.

“Once we had found the exact teas we were looking for… It was actually Donna’s idea… to come up with something a little bit more convenient,” Avery said.

Matcha drinkers must boil their water and whisk powder in to make the tea.

“I said to (Avery), ‘That’s going to take too much time. I’m not going to be making any matcha,’” Donna said.

She dreamed up a matcha maker; then, the Hastings reached out to manufacturers. The product is patent pending, Donna said.

The pair talk daily. While building their brand — creating a website, sourcing teas, networking with potential buyers — they make sure to video call often, they said.

Donna might phone at 2 or 3 a.m. Manitoba time if an idea arises.

“We’re a 24-7 operation,” she said with a laugh.

She and Avery have been co-workers before. A young Avery worked in Windsock Lodge, helping her mother in the kitchen.

“Getting into a food business just seemed like a natural fit,” Avery said, adding it’s “been so fun” working with her mom again.

They sell the tea on Bonsai Cha’s website and in BREWTeas on Dakota Street. A 30-gram pack costs $35 to $66, which is comparable to other high-quality matcha powders, Avery said.

“It’s like fine wine,” she said, adding the matcha’s flavour is influenced by how and where it’s grown.

Avery said there are health benefits to matcha, and that she doesn’t feel the caffeine crash she does when drinking coffee.

Good quality reviews have shown green tea — which includes matcha — can lower blood pressure by a small extent, according to Dylan Mackay, a food and human nutritional sciences professor at the University of Manitoba.

There are many studies associating green tea with positive health outcomes, but they aren’t necessarily reliable, he added. Some studies are based off work done on animals, while others have small clinical trials or “not always optimum” designs, Mackay said.

“Most of the associations… show that (green tea) doesn’t do anything, or that when it does, it does something positive, but… not a huge impact,” he said.

Still, green tea is Mackay’s tea of choice.

“There’s certainly no evidence that it’s bad,” he said.

A pop-up shop could be part of Bonsai Cha’s future, according to Avery.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com