By the time Anna Sullivan moved back to Greensboro in 2023, she had traveled to every continent except Antarctica and South America. While traveling, she tasted what she described as some of the best matcha she’s ever had. But it wasn’t in Japan or anywhere in Asia—it was in Italy.
She found a little coffee shop that served just three drinks. One of them was the popular Japanese powdered green tea beverage.
“I thought, ‘Oh. It has to be good,’” Sullivan said.
And it was.
This was the moment Sullivan fell in love with matcha.
The drink, made by combining hot water and finely ground green tea leaves, has become popular worldwide. Originally from Japan, matcha has been heralded for its health benefits despite its level of caffeine, which rivals coffee. You can find matcha in snacks, desserts, and now as a drink in many coffee shops across the world.
Sullivan had tried it before when she moved to New York shortly after graduating from college in 2017—she hated it.
“It was too grassy,” she said. “Which is what people complain about.”
Almost a decade later, Sullivan is reintroducing the drink and its ceremonial style to the Triad.
In March, she launched Littlefoot Matcha, an online company selling tins of the green tea powder. In September, she branched out and started pop-ups where she prepares matcha and sells drinks in an effort to cultivate more awareness around the beverage.
She understands those who have an aversion to the drink, like she once did. Its flavor is vegetal and can come across as bitter for the uninitiated.
It wasn’t until she had really good matcha, first at the shop in Italy and then in Japan, that she fully appreciated all that matcha could be, Sullivan said.
“After that, I was like, ‘I need this; I need to do this at home,’” she said.
She tried, but it didn’t taste the same.
“It was disgusting,” she said.
Like other specialty drinks—cocktails, espresso shots, a pour-over coffee—there are specific steps to making good matcha. But it starts with a good product.
When she first embarked on recreating the perfect matcha at home, Sullivan said, she bought the first tin she found at the grocery store. But after doing extensive research, she realized matcha, like coffee or wine, comes from different places, has different grades, and even varying tasting notes.
After watching videos online and looking up different cultivars, she realized matcha quality isn’t the same in most U.S. shops as it is abroad. Most shops here use culinary matcha for their drinks, not ceremonial grade, which is the norm in Japan, Sullivan said.
“Coffee shops have matcha here as an add-on,” she said. “It just wasn’t great. In Asian culture, they care so much about quality, and they don’t do that here.”
Sourcing its product directly from a handful of farms in Japan, Littlefoot Matcha has sold about 500 tins since Sullivan started the company.
Soon, Sullivan delved into technique. She learned what temperature the water should be (anywhere from 175-195 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the kind of matcha—not boiling) and how to whisk the powder (in a zig-zag, W-like motion to get it frothy).
Once she got that down, she started testing out drinks.
While traditional matcha is served with just hot water, many coffee shops make lattes with milk and sweetener. The problem, Sullivan said, is that most places don’t use enough powder. Cutting powder to cut costs results in a diluted matcha flavor overpowered by milk or syrups.
“If you’re going to the coffee shops here, it’s just milk,” she said. “I want you to be tasting mainly matcha. I don’t want you to be only tasting vanilla or milk.”
That’s why she uses at least four grams of matcha per drink. When you make it right, you get that really deep, green color, she said.
“This is going to be strong and bold, and I hope you like it,” she said.
Once she perfected her recipes, she started hosting pop-ups at The Abbey Taphouse downtown every Saturday.
She currently offers lattes with oat milk only, which she said is the best kind of “dairy” product because it doesn’t overpower the taste of the matcha. She also only uses agave for sweetening.
Popular drinks include Double Matcha (a matcha latte with a matcha cold foam), Coconut Cloud (matcha cold foam with coconut water), and Ube Matcha (a matcha latte with ube cold foam).
“The taste is not for everyone, but just like with coffee, wine, and beer, you can graduate to different flavors,” she said. “All matcha doesn’t have to be grassy. You can figure out which one is best for you. I am so passionate about this.”
As a queer white woman without ties to Asia or Japan, Sullivan said the thought of appropriation did enter her mind. Was it okay for her to be doing this?
“I don’t know if I’m in the wrong or the right,” she said.
But she has strong relationships with the farmers she sources from and works hard to be intentional about how the drinks are made, she said. She’s connected with other matcha entrepreneurs, including ones in Japan, with whom she discusses best practices. Sullivan wants to be a vessel for teaching newcomers about the complexity of matcha beyond its existence as a Starbucks trend. She teaches matcha-making workshops as well.
“I have the best intentions,” she said. “And if someone says, ‘You shouldn’t be appropriating it this way,’ I would say, ‘I want to learn.’”
She also looks at how coffee, which originated in Yemen, is now a global phenomenon. In a few decades, matcha may be the same way, she said. If that’s the case, she wants to be part of the trend sustainably and fairly.
She sources from farms that treat their workers well, and she donates $1 of every tin sold to Glenwood Together, a nonprofit benefiting the Glenwood neighborhood.
In March, just after she started her company, reports of a worldwide matcha shortage began circulating. Because of that, Littlefoot has been sold out of matcha tins for weeks. But that hasn’t stopped Sullivan from sharing her passion.
Recently, she’s expanded into hojicha, a roasted green tea. Its flavor is distinctly different from matcha. It’s more nutty and caramelly—perfect for the fall. Recently, she added a salted caramel miso hojicha latte to the menu.
Making and serving the drinks is fun, but what matters is teaching people about where matcha comes from, how to properly prepare it, and why it’s become such a beloved drink around the world, Sullivan said.
“I just spiraled,” she said. “I love this, and I want everyone to love this.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story mispelled the Littlefoot Matcha.