If you’ve ever been let down by a matcha latte that tastes more like milk, sugar, or – these days – strawberry syrup than actual tea, Kyoto-born Ayano Makino feels your pain.

The 36-year-old owner of the quirkily named Top Quali Tea Kyoto, a tiny takeaway tea shop in the CBD’s Oxley Tower, reacts with visible horror when we bring up Singapore’s strawberry matcha craze. “The strawberry flavour is so strong, you can’t taste the matcha. They don’t even need to put matcha in the drink!” she says, half laughing in exasperation.

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