Angel Zheng from Isshiki Matcha in New York, NY on May 21, 2025.
Lisa Kailai Han | CNBC
Angel Zheng relies on the Japanese principle of “Ikigai” to make her passion for Matcha – a greenish tea with a unique taste and alleged health advantages – in the structure, which she hopes to be an iconic household brand of the future.
At the age of just 25, Zheng already owned at least five companies -six if they count their past as a social media influencer. Her latest endeavor can serve as the highest expression of her Ikigai – which defines no less authority than the Japanese government as “passion and joy”.
Zheng founded her first two business-one e-commerce brand for women's Wear brand and recording studio-while she still acquired her bachelor's degree in Business at Baruch College in New York. The clothing brand was an offshoot of her love for fashion, while the recording studio appeared when she realized that her co-founder, a music producer, only used her space once or twice a week.
In the following years, Zheng closed her first undertakings and used the winnings to open Sushi Bars Moko and Shiso. Last year, the two fine restaurants and her co-founder on the list of Forbes 30 under 30 gained a place for the food and beverage industry.
But although Zheng has already made waves in New York's gourmet scene, it is far from finished. Her most recent solo subfonge is Isshiki Matcha, a Matcha-dedicated café that is located in the middle of Manhattan's Trendy East Village Village.
Isshiki Matcha is inconspicuous from the outside – and shares the same room as Zheng's only other operating business, Moko, there is nowhere a sign in the shop front that indicates its presence. But if things are going as Zheng plans, the café could one day be a big zero of a spacious Matcha company.
“If you are thinking of coffee, you have these names like Lavazza, Illy, La Colombe. But if you close your eyes and think about Matcha, it is such a new market that there are no cultural stamps yet. And that's exactly what I want to be,” Zheng said in an interview with CNBC.
Isshiki Matcha in New York, NY on May 21, 2025.
Lisa from | CNBC
Popular in young adults
Isshiki is more than an attempt to jump on the Matcha train, from Zheng's own love for the drink.
Matcha, a powder from ground green tea leaves, was created from China, but was refined in its current form in Japan. Its popularity has increased in recent years, especially between millennials and younger generations. The Japanese Matcha production in 2023 was 4,176 tons – almost three times more than the 1,471 tons in 2010, reported Japan Times, referring to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. Kametani Tea quoted in the same article that he had increased its production by about 10% per year since 2019 to keep up with demand.
On Instagram, 8.8 million contributions are bound with the hashtag #matcha. on Tikkok, 2 million. Celebrities of Dua Lipa via Gwyneth Paltrow to Jessssica Alba have publicly approved the drink and turned it into a cornerstone of the health and wellness movement.
The popularity of Matcha has increased to the point where demand now exceeds the supply, which leads to a Matcha deficiency. Last autumn, two well-known Kyoto Tee companies, Ippodo and Marukyu Koyamaen, set strict purchase boundary.
These problems with the supply chain, combined with youngest tariffs that threaten higher prices for imports, have caused a lot of headaches in the past few weeks. Nevertheless, she remains steadfast in her mission to make Isshiki Matcha one day a well -known name.
Zen and purpose
Zheng, a Chinese immigrant of the first generation, grew up in Matcha and writes the tea to bring her Zen in an otherwise chaotic, entrepreneurial schedule.
“Life requires so much of them – school, work, family, relationships, friendships. It is important to have pillars,” she said. “'Isshiki' means a pillar. In your day you should have columns that you base -like going to the gym, make your skin care routine at night, make sure you have your time in the morning to make a matcha or you come here and we do your morning -matcha for you every day.”
Isshiki Matcha in New York, NY on May 21, 2025.
Lisa from | CNBC
This youngest business, said Zheng, feels different from her previous activities – especially because she believes that she has finally found her calling. And when Zheng persecuted something that she is really passionate about, she noticed that parts fit together.
“If you pour your love and heart into something, it is a very big difference, especially if it is something you consume like eating,” she said. “I have my purpose. There is this Japanese philosophy that I take and live every day, and it means” Ikigai “. It means to find what you have best, which helps most people and brings them the greatest joy, the world the greatest joy, and everything else will be the money, the money and success, they will never live a fulfilling life.”
For the first time, Zheng came up with the idea of opening a Matcha café on New Year's Day 2024 when they thought about their resolutions for the year. Soon after Japan, she happened to sitting at dinner next to the head of communication on a Matcha farm.
Since the beginning of last year's debut, Zheng has expanded the presence of Isshiki Matcha with careful event curation and digital branding. The online footprint of a brand can make it or break it, she told CNBC, which is why it still remains up to date from time to time.
“It helps a lot in business,” added Zheng. “I have the feeling that social media and the landscape in which we now have life-a digital presence and a digital currency is just as valuable as a practical presence.”
ISSSHIKI officially takes over the room from 5 p.m. from 5 p.m. and 3 p.m. from 5 p.m. from 5 p.m. and 3 p.m. and serves fresh sushi for up to 150 customers.
A digital and physical presence works together because Zheng is published by the numerous events that she organizes at Isshiki on her social media. The visibility of the local Asian community is also important for Zheng, many of which are free and accessible to the public. Many of the brands that she worked with were Asian or focused.
Events that she recently hosted fits into the category, including a New Year's party and a popup for Valentine's Day with the Asian dating app Yuzu. Other events ranged from special Morning Matcha courses to rave with a local DJ to the capsule clothing collection to tea tea tasting courses. Zheng's influence on the New York community online and personal Hat Isshiki caused events for brands such as Uniqlo, Mastercard, Puma and Goop.
An Isshiki Matcha -led Matcha tasting with press and influencers to highlight the new Sport Utility Collection from Uniqlo on May 28th in New York, New York, NY.
Kind approval: Isshiki Matcha
Fomo
Zheng attributes her success of the preparation, hard work and happiness – which sometimes comes to meet the right person at the right time.
At the beginning of this year, Zheng's next foray, which the owner of a lemonade company filled in bottles, The Lucky Ox, has another Asian beverage brand to get into her café in order to record some of his products for your evening menu. Zheng showed interest in getting into the area of skill, and the two soon worked together on a new, filled Matcha lemonade.
While Zheng is already selling Matcha Powder's wholesale, the motivation behind the finished-drinking version was to create a comfortable and easily accessible product. The Matcha Lemonade, which was launched only a month ago, is already available in 120 shops, Zheng said and aims to link Isshiki so closely with Matcha because La Colombe is coffee.
Isshiki Matcha in New York, NY on May 21, 2025.
Lisa from | CNBC
If you are a successful business owner who you know, Zheng said that it was not necessarily a bad thing to suffer from the fear, or to miss Fomo. In the past, she has found brand partnerships through other participants at various events. In fact, she got her first internship after came across the founder of a magazine company. The two stopped to chat after noticed that they were wearing the same perfume.
“Your network is literally your network value. It gives me a paralyzing fear of missing something,” laughed Zheng.
It is also worthwhile to jump on unique opportunities when they appear. Last autumn Isshiki Matcha Viral became Viral after Zheng managed to deliver a delivery of the famous Olympic Village Chocolate Muffins into the US endurance, as if the Omicron variant of COVID-19 raged only one month after the official opening of Moko's official opening by New York City.
In her career, Zheng is now at the point where she can advise entrepreneurs for the first time to embody the trust and boldness. This was particularly important as an entrepreneur: to believe in her skills not to sell herself briefly and to provide for opportunities for which she is on the market, said Zheng. Sometimes Zheng felt helpful if you meet potential business partners so as not to reveal your age in advance.
“The best thing about Asian is that I can look the same old from 16 to 50,” she joked. “So you don't know how old I am and I always wore.”
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