Megan Lore is changing tea time with her premium brand, Muracha
You launched your business in June of this year. What inspired you?
I started drinking matcha for energy while running my former marketing agency and realized how great it made me feel. Now I want to market Muracha to the modern-day consumer and offer an elevated product that looks beautiful on a kitchen counter.
Ultimately, our goal is to bring more transparency to the industry and elevate the at-home experience. But we’re working with hospitality outlets to help consumers discover us. Locally, you can buy our tins at Lucy’s Market in Buckhead, Bella Cucina in Buckhead Village, Gather’d Market on Roswell Road and Wanderstate in Chamblee.
Tell us about your first two matchas, Yame No. 89 and Uji No. 18.
Matcha has a lot of similarities to wine because the region creates the flavor notes. My sister, co-owner Katie Roth, and I met farmers by going to Japan and talking to people. A lot of these farms don’t have websites. Yame is from the southern region, and the flavor is savory and nutty. Our second release, Uji No. 18, from the Uji region, will be sweeter and brighter, more floral.
All of our matcha packaging notes four things: the harvest because we source only the first harvest when leaves are most nutrient-dense, the cultivar, the terroir and the milling method, which is stone. Both releases are single cultivar. Matcha blends can be beautiful, but we decided on single cultivars for our first releases.
What’s on the horizon for the brand?
Our plan is to go to Japan at least once a year. We think it’s important to keep in touch with our farms. We’re also looking to other regions and working on our own custom blend. We’re adding accessories, too. We have a whisk and a chashaku, a slender bamboo scoop. We’ll eventually have a bowl. For the holidays, we wrapped a painting from local artist Kristen Giorgi around our seasonal gift box containing both strains of tea, a whisk and a chasaku.
drinkmuracha.com
@drinkmuracha
STORY: Denise K. James
