Matcha tea has taken the world by storm. Traditionally grown in Japan and China, it’s become a flavour of the moment that’s been folded into all manner of drinks and desserts by businesses leaping on the trend.
Unfortunately for a newly-opened coffee shop in Seattle, matcha has proved an unfortunate sticking point in some of its online reviews.
Phê, based on East Pine Street in Seattle, features matcha as one of its headline ingredients. Supply issues have put paid to several items on its menu, and a flurry of negative reviews have prompted the coffee shop to issue a statement.
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“We are so sorry everyone but we have completely run out of matcha,” said Phê on its Instagram page. “Because of your guys overwhelming support and love the past weeks we sold out much faster than we expected. We’re currently working on restocking, but since our matcha comes directly from Japan, we have to wait for the next harvest before we can bring in more.
“We truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we do our best to continue serving you the highest quality matcha.
“Please be patient with us once more. We did not predict that there would be so many of you guys coming and supporting us! We are beyond grateful and are doing our best to accommodate and adapt accordingly. So thank you a million times over. We promise we will have matcha soon but we do not know an exact date yet so please stay tuned for updates!
“In the meantime, we’re still open during regular hours and will be serving our full food menu, hojicha, and coffee — so come by and try something new!”
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It’s certainly been a major sticking point among recent reviews. Over on Yelp an element of understanding kept customers from being too damning.
“I was so excited for the matcha but they sold out everything and banana pudding drinks. It's pretty disappointing to be honest,” said one three-star review.
“Out of matcha,” began another.
“Super crowded and they run out of their signature drink (the banana pudding matcha) right away but are happy for people to sit in line without making that clear,” said a two-star review that suggested the café could have made things clearer.
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Over on Google Reviews, however, people weren’t so forgiving.
A brutal one-star review said: Don’t bother coming here if you want Matcha, they have been out since they opened. Seems like they are having serious supply chain issues.” Let’s hope tarring an independent business with a one-star review resolves supply chain issues outside of its control, eh?
“Attempted to come here four times and they’re always out of matcha,” said a two-star write-up. “Disappointing if that’s the main draw of the business. Probably won’t bother for a while now.”
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Another scathing review said: “I’ve been here 3 times already — around 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM — and not even once did they have matcha available. Honestly, I wonder why they even run this business if they never have what people actually come for.”
The influx of negativity has been felt by the coffee shop, with Vy Le, partner in the company telling The Columbian: “A lot of people, they get mad because they come here for matcha and we don’t have matcha.
“We got a lot of bad reviews. But it is what it is.”
Disappointment is understandable, but let’s not go for the throat over such things. Nobody will be feeling the frustration of those supply issues more than the business owners, and receiving potentially business-damaging reviews certainly won’t help matters.
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Matcha, or a lack of it, seems to bring out the worst in some people.
Phê has been approached for comment.
Rachael Davis