Viral matcha drinks are worth the trip to this south Sacramento tea cafe

Green tea reigns supreme at a popular cafe in south Sacramento, despite having a somewhat coffee-associated name.

Matcha Cafe Maiko, at 6905 Stockton Blvd., Suite 240, doesn’t serve a single espresso-based drink.

“We do get some people that come in ... and when they hear ‘cafe,’ they think we sell coffee,” said Adrian Tam, manager and co-owner of the Sacramento Maiko location. “We recommend (matcha to them), and they usually like it.”

As its name more accurately suggests, the cafe centers its menu on matcha, the brilliantly green-powdered green tea commonly turned into a creamy beverage with milk. Still, for people who can’t fathom not having a taste of their daily joe, Maiko does serve matcha drinks infused with a splash of brewed coffee.

The Honolulu-based matcha cafe opened its third outpost in 2021 as the only Central Valley spot, according to Tam. But business suddenly boomed when matcha picked up steam as a social media trend, he said.

Most recently, crowds have flocked to the cafe for a viral banana-flavored green tea drink, the banana matcha latte ($6.50 for regular, $7 for large).

“People didn’t expect that banana and matcha would be a good mix,” Tam said. “(Some customers) say it tastes like banana milk.”

The saccharine, fruity taste that dominates the banana matcha latte is a stark contrast to the subdued, earthy flavors of high-quality matcha.

Some of Maiko’s other popular offerings allow matcha’s fragrant floral notes to shine through, including a plain matcha latte ($5.20 for regular, $5.70 for large) and the intense matcha soft serve ($5.90), which is swirled high with the tea-based ice cream in a rolled waffle cone.

Although Tam has found success at his cafe tapping into popular trends, matcha’s storied history vastly predates TikTok food influencers’ love for bright green beverage.

According to Maiko’s website, matcha has been cultivated in Uji, Japan, for more than five centuries, thanks to fertile soil and ideal weather for growing tea leaves. Maiko sources its matcha from Harima Garden, a tea plantation in the town not far from Kyoto that grows tencha (tea) leaves using natural fertilizer and no pesticides, according to the cafe’s website.

Japan began experiencing a matcha shortage in late 2024, as global interest in the powdered green tea spiked, according to the Global Japanese Tea Association. The organization reported in January that matcha exports had steadily risen over the past two decades, driven by growing international popularity. However, the seasonal nature of tencha leaf cultivation — the raw material for matcha — may not be keeping pace with demand.

Tam said Maiko was relatively unaffected by the shortage, experiencing some delayed shipments but quickly recovering.

In addition to traditional and trendy matcha drinks and ice cream, Maiko serves items featuring other flavors commonly used at bubble tea and milk tea shops, such as its black sesame latte ($5.20 for regular, $5.70 for large) and a calpico-lychee soft serve ($5.90) — a seasonal flavor for June.

There are now five Maiko locations across the state, with one in San Francisco and three in the south state — San Diego, Escondido and Rowland Heights. Tam said the business has reached a point where it is ready to continue expanding in Northern California, but plans are still being cultivated.

“We hear people are driving from like Roseville, Folsom, Stockton, Lodi just (to come) here, I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s so far away’,” he said. “It makes me feel good, like our stuff is working.”

What I’m Eating

If you aren’t hungry when you enter Oz Korean BBQ in the Stonelake Landing shopping center in Elk Grove, walking past a chorus of synchronously sizzling grills on the way to your table will surely whet your appetite.

Having an all-you-can-eat dinner at the tabletop barbecue restaurant costs $35.99 per adult and $20.99 per child ages 4-10. At lunchtime, kids eat for the same price while adults pay $25.99.

It’s hard to not fill up on a selection of cooked appetizers and side dishes — like crunchy, tangy pickled daikon radish and japchae, a sweet and chewy stir-fry made with sweet potato glass noodles — while waiting for large bowls of plain or marinated meat and vegetables to arrive.

Rolled up slices of dried woobaesal (beef belly) and daepae samgyeopsal (thin pork belly) are fun to watch unfurl and brown on the scorching grill. Spicy woobaesal isn’t very hot, despite being drizzled with an alarm-red sauce, but it has a rich warmth and smokiness that the non-marinated version could never achieve.

It’s even more entertaining to watch buttery, chewy garlic shrimp turn from gray to coral pink before your eyes and to wait for the sauce to start bubbling in the shell of spicy mussels — that’s how you know it’s warmed up.

Oz Korean BBQ

Address: 2605 Riparian Drive, Elk Grove; 3343 Bradshaw Road, Rancho Cordova

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Phone: 916-478-9292

Website: ozkoreanbbq.com

Drinks: Full-service bar with cocktails, beer, wine, liquor, sake and soju, soft drinks, tea, juices, soda floats, and specialty mocktails

Vegetarian options: Vegetables for grilling, vegetarian side dishes, stir-fried vegetables for lunch

Noise level: Loud

Outdoor seating: None

Openings & Closings

▪ Bambi Vegan Tacos, 1725 I St. in midtown Sacramento, announced its permanent closure on Friday after months of online silence. Chad Novick and Lizz Gibb’s vegan food-truck-turned-restaurant in Boulevard Park amassed a cult following and more than 10,000 Instagram followers over a decade of operation.

▪ Sun House Cafe, 611 16th St. in Boulevard Park, opened Saturday after months of hosting temporary pop-ups around town. The menu features specialty matcha drinks alongside coffee and other tea offerings. Sun House is still in its soft-opening phase and will be open again June 21 and 22, according to the cafe’s Instagram.

▪ Taqueria El Taco Naco closed its Yuba City outpost, at 968 Cooper Ave., on Tuesday, the restaurant posted on Facebook. The taco spot’s owner said in their post that “issues totally out of my control” forced the restaurant to close, but they are planning on finding a new location in the city. Until then, the business will only run its Olivehurst restaurant at 4256 Fleming Way.

▪ A new eatery replacing Dad’s Kitchen in Land Park has officially stepped up. Stepdad’s, at 2968 Freeport Blvd. in Land Park, held a soft opening on Wednesday, the restaurant’s Instagram showed. According to posts uploaded by attendees, the restaurant will be open to the public beginning Father’s Day.

Camila Pedrosa

The Sacramento Bee

Camila Pedrosa is the California Diversions Reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She previously worked on The Bee’s service journalism team and was a summer reporting intern for The Bee in 2024. She graduated from Arizona State University with a master’s degree in mass communication.