A software engineer named Michelle Yeung, earning $250,000 ( ₹2.36 crore) a year, took a life changing decision to leave her job and launch Matcha House in Manhattan. From working ‘undercover’ at Starbucks to researching powder-to-water ratios to arriving at best results for matcha business, here's a look at Yeung's journey.
The techie, who felt increasingly disconnected from work, wanted to transition into something where she was "making someone’s day better or making someone happier in some way,” CNBC reported. She spent months exploring, researching and studying the intricacies of matcha making instead of quitting right away.
The first serious move Yeung made to follow her dream of opening matcha cafe can be traced back to summer of 2024. After careful observation, she came to the realisation that there was a lack of high-quality matcha cafe options in the city and questioned herself “Why is my own matcha better?”
Since, the decision to give up her high-paying job without a plan seemed scary, she worked 5:00 AM shifts until 10:00 AM to learn cafe operations at Starbucks before logging on for software engineering meetings later in the morning. She even traveled to Japan to explore the world of matcha and do her research. Before launching the business in 2025, she made sure that she had enough savings to follow her dreams.
Currently, her Matcha House located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is on track to be profitable in its first year. As the business is gradually recouping its startup costs, Yeung expects to pay herself about $33,000 this year because she spends less than $2,500 in a typical month, keeping her personal expenses low. She plans to reinvesting much of the business’s earnings back into the company.
“My life is less about how much money I’m making right now and more about what I’m doing every day,” Yeung said, adding, “A year into the business, I’m just grateful that we’ve survived a year and we can survive another year.”
Suggesting that she is "much happier now than I was before,” she revealed the efforts she had put in before launching Matcha House in July 2025. Her trip to Japan was focused on learning how matcha was sourced, prepared and served. She learnt about the harvesting techniques, whisking methods and different powder-to-water ratios of the drink made from finely ground green tea powder.
Before starting with the venture, she accumulated more than $200,000 ( ₹1.9 crore) in savings till March 2025. Her months long search yielded results when she found the "perfect” — small, well-located and relatively affordable storefront for her mission. Situated on a side street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, this store was a difficult find as many landlords were reluctant to rent to a first-time business owner.
Initially, she worked 12 hours a day and personally whisked every drink herself until she learned to hand off responsibilities to others. Notably, the Matcha House now employs about 10 part-time workers, the report said.