Chatty Matcha is a new ready to drink nitro matcha beverage packaged in a 7.5 ounce can. While there’s only a single flavor today, the brand plans to launch additional SKUs and to add a Web3/NFT component.

Ingredients include water, agave, organic matcha, green tea extract, guar gum, xanthan gum, and gum acacia. Each can contains a modest 35 calories and 7 grams of sugar as well as 71 mg of caffeine. 

According to the company’s website, the founders created the drink because they were disappointed with the flavor of RTD matcha beverages that were presently on the market. As such, we were quite eager to try Chatty’s take — and honestly we were somewhat doubtful that they could really come up with something that’s more palatable than some of the other high quality matcha beverages out there.

Fortunately, Chatty Matcha delivers. The flavor is very smooth and the body is very soft (presumably from the nitro) and not grassy as many matcha beverages are. There’s just enough matcha flavor to please the palate, but it doesn’t completely consume your taste buds the way that some of the competition does. Added agave provides a light note of sweetness and  naturally earthy flavor to further smooth that of the matcha.  All in all, it’s really quite enjoyable.

They’ll clearly need to develop additional SKUs, which is something that has been a challenge for other matcha brands since unflavored is the dominant flavor in matcha. But we do think that this SKU, which would likely serve as the base flavor for line extensions, is one that might be easier to work with given that it doesn’t have a super grassy flavor profile. We are definitely curious to see what they come up with.

Packaged a slim 7.5 ounce can that uses a shrink sleeve label with a matte finish, Chatty Matcha’s aesthetic is definitely minimalist with its simple color palette and uncluttered front panel with only a small amount of text. 

The color palette is simple: two shades of green – a light pastel for the background and a darker green for label copy – and white for the Chatty Matcha logo. “Nitro matcha” is the only text that describes the product while callouts for caffeine and calories sit below the logo. It’s a very nice looking design and one that a consumer could quickly scan and figure out in just a few seconds.

The final piece of Chatty Matcha’s plans that’s worth noting is its upcoming NFT launch, which isn’t mentioned on the package, but is a key part of its website.  Once launched, this will unlock product discounts, access to merchandise, affiliate programs, and community driven charitable donations to AAPI causes. We’re curious to see how this works out for Chatty Matcha and if it is something that truly helps the brand establish itself.

In the end, Chatty Matcha’s initial SKU is very well-executed in terms of both flavor and branding. It’s a good starting point for the brand and while they will need to add additional SKUs to build out a real presence, we appreciate the simplicity and focus of launching with a single SKU that’s crafted as well as this one is.