A friend once asked me what my superpower was. My answer was simple: curiosity.

My desire to go down the rabbit hole is unlike most. I want to test, taste, experience, fly into, dive into, and fully explore anything and everything that captures my attention.

Matcha has always felt like a mystery to me. As a consumer, it was hard to navigate a world filled with marketing gimmicks, vague jargon, and confusing claims. Out of a deep desire to understand it more honestly, SAN was born.

Here are a few takeaways I’ve gathered along the way:

“Ceremonial” is often a Western marketing term used to sell matcha at a higher price
Cultivar, origin, and shading matter more than grade.
Every matcha has its own context. When prepared thoughtfully, each one can reveal its true character.

And finally, good matcha is the matcha you enjoy. Never let anyone tell you your matcha is inferior simply because it does not fit into a certain grade or category. I will never pretend to know everything about matcha or claim to be the ultimate expert. I am simply a curious person who wants to keep learning.

I’d like to invite you to join SAN as we demystify the world of matcha together.

Phil Byun
Founder of Kin Coffee Company, San by Kin

what is “san” ?

San (산, 山, さん) means ‘mountain’ in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. SAN is a word that carries a sense of comfort and calm. Our hope is that when you come to SAN, you are invited to slow down from the pace of everyday life and find rest in the stillness of a mountain.

In many Asian traditions, parents are often described as mountains: immovable, constant, and ever-present. Mountains provide shelter, nourishment, and the resources needed for life to flourish. For us, this image is a way of honoring our parents, who sacrificed so much to help us see and experience the world. And now, we hope to become a mountain for the next generation — a steady presence, a place of care, and a source of quiet strength.