A friend once asked me what my super-power is. My answer would be “curiosity”. My desire to go down the rabbit-hole is unlike any others and I want to test, taste, experience, fly, dive into anything and everything.

Matcha is a mystery for me - with so much marketing gimmicks and jargon, it was hard to navigate the world of matcha as a consumer. In my deep longing to understand it, SAN was born. Here are some take aways I gathered.

• - Term “ceremonial” is a Western marketing trick invented to sell matcha at a higher price

• - Cultivar, origin, and shading matter more than grade

• - Every matcha has its context - prepared correctly, every matcha will shine its true colors

Finally - a good matcha is what you enjoy. Never let anyone tell you your matcha is inferior because it’s not a certain grade.

I will never pretend to know everything about matcha or claim expertise - but simply a curious person looking to know more. I’d like to invite you to join SAN as we de-mystify 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 brings comfort and calmness. We hope that you come to San to slow down from your busy life and find relief in the stillness of a mountain.

In Asian traditions, parents are often described as a mountain. Immovable, constant, and ever-present. Mountains have resources and nourishments for life. This is a way of honoring our parents who sacrificed much to show us the world. We hope to be ‘a mountain’ to the next generation.