This story first appeared in The Daily Illini on October 8, 2025.
(Graphic by Atina Yang/The Daily Illini)
Last year, Haley Kharvari, a senior in LAS, was scrolling through Instagram when she saw Ananya Gupta, a senior in Business, using a matcha brand from a different region than hers. She sent Gupta a direct message, and the two met up and tried each other’s matcha. Just two weeks later, they hosted their first matcha cafe in Gupta’s apartment for all their friends, and their small business, GatchaMatcha, was born.
Since then, Kharvari and Gupta have hosted hundreds of customers in their apartment for matcha parties, workshops and RSO team-building events. Although GatchaMatcha has garnered economic success over the past year, Kharvari and Gupta emphasize their love for their community, friends and matcha above all else.
“We are pretty entrepreneurial people,” Kharvari said. “But we’re not just doing this because we love entrepreneurship. We’re doing it because we love matcha and making friends.”
Paper chains, handmade signs and star-shaped balloons decorated the University YMCA for GatchaMatcha’s latest pop-up, a Fancy Nancy-themed “thrift and sip” on Sept. 26. They designed the event in partnership with student-run businesses MadSol Vintage, Gia’s Thrifting and Jewels by Jo. Colorful clothes from the 2000s lined the clothing racks, vintage bags laid on tables and customers picked through handmade jewelry pieces while drinking the popular Japanese drink.
“It’s really great, because all of our businesses kind of target similar audiences,” Gupta said. “My friends like to call it a ‘girl convention.’”
The event drew hundreds of customers, packing the venue. The line for matcha stretched outside the door.
“The events we put on are things we would want to attend ourselves, things that are very authentic,” Gupta said. “I think that’s what really kind of drives home how people can trust our brand.”
One customer, Khayria Avumaye, junior in LAS, sipped on a matcha while looking through curated vintage pieces. Avumaye said good-quality matcha powder and high-quality syrups are non-negotiable to them.
“I came (to this event) because when I saw their Instagram, I saw their brand of matcha,” Avumaye said. “I was like, ‘Wait, how did they get their hands on that?’”
Gupta and Kharvari currently use Kanbayashi matcha, a brand imported from Japan. The two also work together to create custom syrups for their events.
Though Kharvari and Gupta organize all of GatchaMatcha’s events, they have a team of friends assisting them. At their thrift and sip, an assembly line of their friends assisted them in making iced matchas. One friend took orders, another wrote on the cups, someone stirred the matcha, and at the end, one friend asked if the customer wanted sprinkles on top. Their friends don’t get paid for helping but still attend every event.
“Whoever’s helping there is just there because they love what we do, and they just love us,” Kharvari said.
Through these events, Kharvari and Gupta have met new people of all majors and backgrounds, something they say is their favorite part of running the business.
In fact, their customers end up becoming a part of their business — they become regulars and even start helping with events, like providing free baked goods that match the theme of different events.
“It is just a really big community,” Kharvari said. “When people walk in, we remember their names. It’s like, ‘Hey, oh my gosh, you again.’ It’s getting to see all these people that you don’t see on a daily basis and being able to connect with them.”
The founders are graduating this year: Gupta will start a new job and Kharvari will be attending law school, but their story won’t end here. GatchaMatcha plans to do farmers market pop-ups post-graduation. In the meantime, the founders will continue to focus on their love for the community.
“We do spend so many hours together on GatchaMatcha, but it never felt like work in the first place, or a burden or a chore, just because we love matcha so much, and we also really like making friends,” Gupta said. “So, I think it really works with the value proposition of our business being very community-oriented.”
Penelope Roewe is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a contributing writer for The Daily Illini.