This is the cafe for folks who like their matcha as matcha-y as possible. But don't miss the duck shit oolong. by Katherine Chew Hamilton It seems like matcha is in everything these days, from tiramisu to soft serve to overnight oat s (looking at you, NYT Cooking). But what about straight-up matcha for matcha’s sake? Enter Mako Matcha Mill, where matcha itself is the focus—not the cloud foams, fruit flavors, or swirls of soft serve that often accompany it. Mako Matcha Mill opened in mid-February at 414 SW 13th Avenue in the former Cacao space. Owners Edison Zeng and Emily Dewey source their tea directly from farmers, and because they're not relying on middlemen, they can offer most drinks for around $4, a much lower price point than other cafes. They’re also involved in the tea process at multiple stages, from visiting farms in Japan to milling to brewing—and they want to let the product shine. ‘We want to represent their tea in a good light, in the way it’s supposed to be consumed,” says Zeng. “If we’re mixing it with too many things like strawberry syrup, then that becomes the star of the show, and that’s not what we’re about.” The menu is short and sweet: matcha served with or without milk, hojicha lattes, espresso drinks, and a handful of non-matcha teas. (Among the non-matcha teas is the prized duck shit oolong, which according to some legends, was intentionally mislabeled by tea farmers to ward off potential thieves. Contrary to the name, it’s honey-like, toasty, and delicious.) Everything comes unsweetened by default, though simple syrup is available upon request. Of course, it’s not just straight-up matcha and no fun—current add-on options include housemade ube syrup, cherry purée, jasmine syrup, and cold foam—but it’s a much shorter list of flavors than you’ll find at many other matcha cafes, where fruity accompaniments might include banana pudding, strawberry, blueberry-lavender, and mango. The food lineup consists of egg salad sandos and onigiri from upstairs neighbor Masu Sushi, plus wagashi from Gena Renaud of Yume Confections. Soft serve ice cream is expected to debut in the next few days; so far, they’re playing with ideas like offering ice cream at different tea concentrations from 30% to 90%, flavoring their ice cream with unique combos like sweet corn and condensed milk, or going for the much-requested strawberry-matcha flavor. “This is literally just us having fun, doing drinks that I want, experimenting with flavors. This is just an extension of myself,” says Zeng. Edison Zeng and Emily Dewey harvest their first batch of Oregon-grown tencha.  Zeng and Dewey’s involvement with the tea process starts with tea farming. Along with visiting tea farms in Japan, they also worked with Salem’s Minto Island Tea Company to grow an experimental batch of tencha, the shade-grown tea leaves that are milled to make matcha, right here in Oregon. They harvested the tencha in the spring of 2025 and milled it into matcha using their custom-built, in-house mill just a couple weeks ago. Dewey and Zeng believe it’s the first time that tencha has been successfully grown and milled in the United States—if it’s not the first, it’s definitely one of the first. Their harvest yielded about five pounds of tea; it’ll soon be packaged into little red white and blue tins with bald eagles on them. Some will be put up for auction, with proceeds donated to charity. That granite mill in the store, spinning hypnotically behind the bar, is mostly for demonstration purposes. It can only grind about 15 grams per hour, Zeng says, which is only enough to make a few drinks (Mako handles its larger-scale milling off-site). Asked about their future plans for growing and milling matcha in Oregon, Zeng and Dewey are tight-lipped—apparently there are a lot of trade secrets in this industry. But the matcha here is extremely affordable and very good, and judging by the long lines here on the weekend, that particular secret is already out of the bag. ...read more read less