Café and chain
Blank Street Matcha
Blank Street is the chain that made matcha its signature rather than an item on the tea list, and the construction reflects that. The powder is unsweetened ceremonial grade, the sweetener goes in at the bar, and the same tin is sold retail at around thirty dollars. That combination — separate sweetener, stated grade, retail availability — puts it closer to a specialty café than to Starbucks, and it is the reason the drink is a fair introduction to matcha in a way that pre-sweetened chain blends are not.
The short answer
Blank Street uses unsweetened ceremonial-grade matcha, which it says is sourced from small multi-generational farms in Japan. Because the powder contains no sugar, drinks can be ordered unsweetened and sweetness is adjusted per order. The same ceremonial matcha is sold in a retail tin at around $32, so you can make the café drink at home.
At a glance
- Is it real matcha?
- Yes — unsweetened ceremonial grade
- Pre-sweetened powder?
- No
- Unsweetened available?
- Yes — sweetener added to order
- Stated grade
- Ceremonial
- Stated sourcing
- Small multi-generational farms in Japan
- Producer named?
- No
- Sold retail?
- Yes — tin at around $32
- Best for
- Chain matcha that tastes like matcha
Details verified August 2026. Formulations, sourcing and prices change — check the current label before buying. We don't sell any of these products and take no commission on them.
Is Blank Street matcha real matcha?
Yes, and at a higher stated grade than any other chain on this site. Blank Street describes its matcha as ceremonial grade sourced from small multi-generational farms in Japan, and sells that same powder unsweetened in a retail tin — which is a meaningful signal, because a sweetened latte mix cannot be sold as a standalone ceremonial product. The limit of the claim is that no producer, prefecture or harvest date is published, so ceremonial grade here rests on the company's word rather than on anything you can check.
What you're getting
A specialty-café construction at chain scale. Unsweetened ceremonial powder, whisked or machine-prepared, with syrup added per drink. In practice this means the menu can carry genuinely different sweetness levels rather than one fixed blend with variations layered on top, and it means an unsweetened order actually produces an unsweetened drink. What you do not get is verifiability: ceremonial grade is not a regulated term, and without a named producer or harvest there is no way to place the powder against, say, a tin from Marukyu Koyamaen or Ippodo.
How it tastes
Fresh and vegetal with a sweetness that reads as coming from the tea rather than from the tin — the hallmark of matcha that has not been sitting oxidising. The colour is a strong jade rather than the muted olive of later-harvest blends. Against milk it holds up well, which is what a ceremonial-grade powder should do. In the flavoured drinks — the strawberry and similar seasonal builds that Blank Street is known for — the syrup does take over, but that is a choice made per drink rather than one baked into the powder.
What you can order
Matcha Latte (hot or iced)
The core drink. Unsweetened ceremonial matcha with milk, sweetened to order or not at all.
Flavoured matcha lattes
Strawberry, blueberry and rotating seasonal syrups. Popular, and the point at which the tea stops leading.
Ceremonial Matcha Powder (retail tin)
Around $32 per tin
The same unsweetened powder sold for home use. Unusual among chains, and the honest way to keep drinking it.
Matcha soft serve and seasonal items
Rotating. Built on the same base powder.
What it does well
- The powder is unsweetened, so an unsweetened order is a real unsweetened drink.
- Ceremonial grade is stated rather than left vague, and the retail tin corroborates it — a sweetened mix could not be sold that way.
- Sourcing is at least described: small multi-generational farms in Japan.
- The same matcha is available to buy, so there is no mystery about what you are drinking.
- One of very few chains where the matcha is the product rather than a line on the tea menu.
Where it falls short
- No named producer, prefecture or harvest date, so ceremonial grade cannot be independently checked.
- Ceremonial grade is an unregulated marketing term across the whole industry, not just here.
- The flavoured drinks that drive most of the volume bury the tea the company sources carefully.
- Expensive per drink, and the retail tin is priced against specialty matcha rather than against chain convenience.
- Store coverage is concentrated in a handful of cities — mostly London and the US Northeast.
How it compares
vs Starbucks matcha
Not really the same category. Starbucks blends sugar into the powder; Blank Street sells its powder unsweetened by the tin. The comparison is chain convenience against chain convenience, not matcha against matcha.
vs Tim Hortons matcha
Same construction — unsweetened powder, syrup at the bar — but Blank Street states a higher grade and sells the powder retail, while Tim Hortons publishes fuller per-drink ingredient breakdowns.
vs a Japanese tea house brand
Ippodo and Marukyu Koyamaen name the producer, the region and often the specific blend. Blank Street names none of those. For a café that is normal; for a $32 tin it is a real gap.
vs making it at home
You can, with the identical powder. At $32 a tin plus a whisk, the per-cup cost falls dramatically against the café price.
Buy it if
Anyone who wants to find out what matcha actually tastes like but only has chain options — this is the fairest test on any high street, because the unsweetened version is genuinely unsweetened. Also anyone who already likes matcha and wants a reliable version of it away from home.
Skip it if
Anyone buying the retail tin as their main matcha. At $32 with no named producer, prefecture or harvest, a Japanese tea house tin at a similar price gives you all of that information and usually a better powder. Buy the tin because you liked the café drink, not as a way to buy good matcha.
Frequently asked
What matcha does Blank Street use?
Unsweetened ceremonial-grade matcha which the company says is sourced from small multi-generational farms in Japan. No specific producer, prefecture or harvest date is published. The same powder is sold in a retail tin at around $32, which is a useful signal — a pre-sweetened latte mix could not be sold as a standalone ceremonial product.
Is Blank Street matcha sweetened?
The powder is not. Sweetener is added per drink at the bar, so matcha lattes can be ordered unsweetened and the sweetness level is genuinely adjustable. This is the opposite of Starbucks and Dunkin', where sugar is blended into the powder by the supplier and cannot be removed.
Is Blank Street matcha good quality?
By chain standards, yes — it is unsweetened, stated as ceremonial grade, and sold retail, which is more than any large chain offers. The limit is verification: ceremonial grade is not a regulated term and no producer or harvest is named, so the claim rests on the company's word rather than on anything checkable.
Can you buy Blank Street matcha powder?
Yes. The ceremonial matcha tin sells for around $32 and is the same unsweetened powder used in stores. If you like the café drink, this reproduces it exactly. If you are shopping for good matcha generally, a Japanese tea house tin at the same price will name its producer and harvest, which this does not.
Is Blank Street matcha ceremonial grade?
That is what the company states, and the retail tin supports it in the sense that unsweetened single-ingredient powder is what ceremonial grade means. Bear in mind that ceremonial grade has no legal definition anywhere in the industry — it is a marketing tier, not a certification, and it is used loosely by many sellers.
Why is Blank Street matcha so expensive?
Partly because unsweetened ceremonial-grade powder costs several times what a sugar-first café blend costs, and partly because matcha is the brand's identity rather than a menu filler. Whether the price is justified depends on which drink you order — the unsweetened latte gets you what you paid for, the flavoured ones largely do not.
Compare with
Ippodo Matcha
A 300-year-old Kyoto house selling named blends. Start with Sayaka, not the top of the range.
Marukyu Koyamaen Matcha
One of the two great Uji houses. Start mid-range with Aoarashi or Kinrin — and mind the name confusion.
Starbucks Matcha
Sugar is the first ingredient on the label. Everything people dislike about it follows from that one fact.
Read more
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