Are Matcha Men the New Soy Boys?

You’ve probably seen a man with a matcha latte in your feed recently. The creamy green tea has emerged as a healthier, more eye-catching alternative to coffee, gaining so much international popularity that there may be a matcha shortage in our midst.

But is it acceptable for men to enjoy what many have deemed a girl drink? This is the latest question making the rounds online thanks to a handful of posts about the bright green beverage. It’s sparked conversations about food and gender. But most notably, it has given us a new type of guy: a matcha man.

A matcha man is simply someone who enjoys the glorious bitter hit of some pulverized green tea, preferably on ice and, if they’ve properly developed their palate, an alternative form of milk. Given the fact that matcha has been around since the 1100s, men who drink it have always lived among us, and, for a lot of Asian cultures, that’s completely unremarkable.

But the gendered conversation comes at a moment of a global matcha boom, and the concept of the matcha man appears to have originated here in the U.S. from two viral videos earlier this year, the first from digital creator Kyle Umemba declaring his loyalty to the drink and riffing that “it’s cooler, it’s smoother, it’s matcha.” (He has since launched a collection of merch with the catchphrase.)

The second is from 29-year-old TikTok comedian Muhammed Hussain and his impersonation of what he described to GQ as a mosque board member who is suspicious of the beverage: “You are a man? You’re getting a matcha?” goes the audio, which has since been used for many a matcha-themed TikTok. Why not can you be a macho? His character goes on to lambast oat milk.

In all corners of the internet, people are repeating the phrase: “Men used to go to war, now they drink matcha.” Some are doing so in what appears to be an assertion that the drink is feminine. In one viral TikTok, one woman writes, “Don’t let no man who drinks matcha raise his voice at you. You talk to him…woman to woman.”