Inside the new Café Matcha in Studio City, Los Angeles. Photo by Noah Webb, courtesy of Café Matcha.
The people behind the popular Los Angeles coffee chain Alfred are going all in on matcha for a new cafe called Café Matcha. The new espresso-free concept shop held a grand opening late last fall and is now open in Studio City.
“Alfred opened on Melrose Place in 2013 with a simple mission: be Los Angeles’s neighborhood coffee shop,” Alfred founder and CEO Josh Zad recently told Daily Coffee News. “Over time we’ve grown into a multi-location brand while keeping that same neighborhood feel.”
Zad said Café Matcha extends that concept into more of a vintage diner format, while keeping matcha front and center in the drink and food menu.
Photo by Emma Jane Kepley, courtesy of Café Matcha.
The interior design leans into classic diner cues — bright Formica tabletops, colorful accents and some nostalgic elements — while flipping the script on what customers typically expect from the Alfred brand. The concept combines the familiarity of a classic coffee cafe with a fresh focus on modern matcha preparation.
“We wanted to recreate that accidentally cool feeling those spaces have — the ones that feel lived-in, a little mismatched and completely welcoming,” Zad said. “Ultimately, the goal was to create a space that invites everyone to sit down, slow down and savor something timeless, reimagined through a matcha lens.”
Although matcha costs have escalated due to traditional production constraints and booming demand — especially among younger consumers — Zad said Café Matcha is leaning into existing sourcing partnerships and not necessarily chasing trends.
Photo by Emma Jane Kepley, courtesy of Café Matcha.
“Matcha has always lived in Alfred’s DNA. We were one of the first, if not the actual first, coffee shops in Los Angeles to serve matcha on our menu, 10-plus years ago. Since then, the demand has only grown,” said Zad. “Matcha rewards precision — the grade, the water, the whisk, the milk all matter — so dedicating a concept to it made sense.”
The drink lineup ranges from stripped-down matcha lattes and cortados to dessert-like signatures with flavored matcha cream-cloud tops. There is also the nostalgic malted milkshake (matcha, housemade vanilla ice cream, malt and whipped cream) and “affogato-style pours” that swap out espresso for matcha. Others who prefer “brighter or bubblier” profiles can try matcha-complemented sodas or juices.
“Matcha isn’t a trend; it’s a shift,” said Zad. “Consumers today want energy without anxiety, and matcha delivers that. Its rise mirrors what coffee went through a generation ago — a move from commodity to craft.”
Photo by Emma Jane Kepley, courtesy of Café Matcha.
On the food side, the cafe is blending familiar diner-style staples with Japanese ingredients and techniques. Chef Kiyoshi Tsukamoto, the former executive pastry chef at Konbi, is leading the pastry program. Prominent items include the ham and Japanese curry bun with sesame, a hojicha apple galette in a flaky sablé-crumbled shell, a koji-glazed miso cinnamon roll, toast and jam on fluffy milk bread and hot waffles topped with matcha-infused ice creams.
Café Matcha’s older sibling, Alfred, currently has at least 24 locations, with eight more openings planned over the next 12 months. Since the first opening on Melrose Place in 2013, roasted coffee has come through Stumptown Coffee Roasters before passing through La Marzocco espresso machines. Meanwhile, Zad said the growth plan for Café Matcha may follow different roads.
Photo by Yudi Ela, courtesy of Café Matcha.
“An all-matcha menu allows us to lean into the category and build an entire omnichannel brand, with a look and feel that no one else is doing,” Zad said. “Our current plan is to have one, iconic flagship and build the brand on the D2C and wholesale side.”
Café Matcha is located at 12070 Ventura Blvd in Studio City, California.
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Daria Toptygina
Daria Toptygina is a freelance writer, avid coffee lover and social media manager of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
