Yoonique Tea opened in April 2020, an inauspicious date for any new business venture, let alone a small tea shop on a stretch of SE Foster that alternates between dive bars and light industry by the block. But Sue Nguyen, who co-owns Yoonique along with Cindy Tran, says packing it in wasn’t an option: “Me and my partner, we used to work in a restaurant together. We were like, ‘It’s been a long time being an employee, it’s time for us to be owners.’”

They weathered lockdown, opened a second location dedicated to pho, and in September 2024 Nguyen launched a new venture: Whisk & Bloom, a pop-up cafe dedicated specifically to matcha, a style of green tea that involves grinding shade-grown leaves into a vibrant green powder. In July, Nguyen, Tran, and a Beaverton coffee shop that hosted a Whisk & Bloom event all received letters in the mail threatening legal action if they didn’t stop selling Marukyu Koyamaen, a brand of high-end matcha often considered the gold standard of Japanese tea makers. The dispute illustrates the complexity of the import business, as well as the complicated side of the matcha boom.

Yoonique Tea is filled with plush armchairs and a wall shelf full of orderly white rows of Japanese manga volumes. Nguyen says she got into Japanese comics via cafes in Vietnam with a similar inviting atmosphere: “In Vietnam [manga and anime] are everywhere. It’s there for you to read when you go into the coffee shop.”

International matcha sales are currently surging, and there’s a lot of technique involved in a cup beyond simply acquiring the powder itself, which can run into the hundreds of dollars for a few ounces. There are entire traditions devoted to the whisk involved in preparation (known as a “chasen” in Japanese), down to specific cultivars of plants, proprietary blends, and various sweeteners, all of which makes having a bit of matcha know-how in-demand.

Whisk & Bloom primarily operates on weekends out of Yoonique, as a way for customers to try specific brands of matcha, and occasionally out of other locations like My People’s Market. Nguyen says Whisk & Bloom mostly sells made-to-order matcha drinks, but some of her customers have asked to purchase the powder itself, including from hard-to-source brands like Marukyu Koyamaen. As a courtesy Nguyen says she occasionally orders some extra tins to sell at a small markup to cover taxes and shipping. That’s when the trouble started.

The cease and desist letters were signed by Mari Wada, founder and CEO of Nara Tea Co./LYC Japanese Artisan Gifts, which occupies a second-level storefront in the posh NW 23rd shopping district. Nara initially claimed to be the exclusive distributor of Marukyu Koyamaen products in the United States and threatened that the Japanese matcha brand itself would be “forced to pursue legal action” should unauthorized sales continue. Nguyen emailed Marukyu Koyamaen seeking clarification, at which point she received another letter from Nara walking back its previous claims: Nara does not actually hold exclusive distribution rights for Marukyu Koyamaen products and was not speaking on its behalf, but maintained that “as a brand partner, we are responsible for supporting proper brand representation and ensuring appropriate distribution in the U.S. market.”

Wada declined a formal interview, but in a lengthy email exchange made several arguments for why she felt empowered to demand that tea shops like Nguyen’s stop selling Marukyu Koyamaen. First, there’s Marukyu Koyamaen’s own policy discouraging resale. According to the FAQ on the international sales website, “all kinds of purchasing that might be suspected of resale will be rejected.” In addition, Wada points out that Whisk & Bloom appears on a list of unauthorized distributors Marukyu Koyamaen published in August, noting that some resellers are repackaging products and misusing the Marukyu Koyamaen logo — though Whisk & Bloom is not alleged to have engaged in either of these practices.

Nguyen says she’s made every effort to follow the rules: purchasing Marukyu Koyamaen products over the counter in Japan through an agent, paying the relevant taxes and duties, and selling the tins factory-sealed and otherwise unaltered. This sort of thing is hardly unique — small-scale “gray market” importers move everything from college textbooks to Trader Joe’s to Krispy Kreme doughnuts across borders to accommodate consumer demand. Marukyu Koyamaen’s list of unauthorized resellers stretches out to dozens of names, an illustration of just how hot the matcha tea market is right now.

Marukyu Koyamaen did not respond to requests for comment. In email communications with Nguyen the Japanese firm wrote that the letters “hold no legal effects.” But it also expressed worry “about the matcha boom and unauthorized reselling issue on the Internet.”

Traditional agricultural products like matcha don’t always integrate well with expanding global marketplaces. “Matcha is not just a beverage—it represents a deep part of Japanese culture and spirituality,” Wada says. According to the Guardian, there are concerns that it’s not the kind of industry that can be scaled up quickly to meet unexpected demand. The surge in international matcha sales may represent a short-term boon for Marukyu Koyamaen’s account books, but it risks disrupting a delicate ecosystem that has grown slowly over hundreds of years. The practice dates back centuries, and Marukyu Koyamaen itself traces its founding back to 1704, long before online marketplaces, Instagram influencers, or the United States itself.

Nguyen says she’s concerned about small businesses that have hosted Whisk & Bloom events getting caught up in the tea drama, but is trying to maintain a positive outlook: “I just want to focus on my dream, more than focus or something like this.”

Wada, for her part, acknowledged that the initial letters “may have been a little too strong in tone” and plans to let Marukyu Koyamaen fight its own battles in the future.

This may indicate at least the beginnings of detente, and Nguyen says she’s not in the business of making enemies. “Whenever [anyone] asks for a pop-up, I’ll go there,” Nguyen says, including, she concedes, Nara Tea if they’re open to it.