How Two Novocastrians Built a Matcha Brand From a Single Bulk Order
By Sophie Pigott, Co-founder | Raw Matcha
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Raw Matcha wasn't born in a boardroom or a business plan. It was born from a genuine obsession.
I discovered matcha over 12 years ago, long before it appeared on cafe menus or filled anyone's Instagram feed. I fell for it immediately. The calm, focused energy it gave me. The ritual of preparing it. The way it made me feel grounded and clear-headed in a way that coffee never quite managed. For me, matcha wasn't a trend to follow. It was something I'd already been living.
While studying Nutritional Medicine at university, the idea of building a matcha brand was never far from my mind. Lectures competed with logo sketches. Assignments competed with hours spent researching tea farms in Japan. I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that this was where I was headed.
In 2021, my then-boyfriend Mat, just one year into our relationship and I went halves on our first bulk matcha order. It was equal parts romantic and ridiculous. Neither of us had run a product business before. But we believed in the product completely, and that was enough to start.
The early days were humbling and wonderful in equal measure. We spent weekends at local markets, setting up our little operation and making matcha lattes on the spot for anyone who would try one. Most people had no idea what matcha was. We explained it again and again, patiently and enthusiastically, to anyone who would listen.
At the time I was working at The Kiosk on Newcastle Beach and even there, I was the only one drinking matcha. I'd bring my own to work and sip on what my colleagues affectionately called "that weird green stuff." The laughs were plentiful. But I was convinced matcha was going to take off, and eventually I convinced my boss to put it on the menu.
He took the risk. The Kiosk became Raw Matcha's very first cafe stockist and it still holds a very special place in our hearts.
The word spread from there.
Today, Raw Matcha is stocked in over 40 cafes across NSW and supported by a community of online customers who care deeply about quality, wellness, and knowing where their food comes from. Mat and I — now engaged — run the business together, with the same values we started with: source only the best, be completely transparent about what's in the tin, and share the beauty of matcha with as many people as possible.
Every batch is first harvest, ceremonial grade matcha from a small, family-run farm in Uji, Japan. No fillers. No added flavours. No shortcuts. Just pure, stone-ground green tea leaves, prepared the way they've been prepared in Japan for centuries.
One cup at a time, that's the mission and it still feels like it's just getting started.
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