Valentine's Idea: Drop By This Free 3-Day Matcha Festival in Makati

(SPOT.ph) Valentine’s Day is upon us—and so are all the Valentine’s Day-themed events that are happening in and around the Metro. If you’re looking for a place to go with your partner, gals, or yourself (because yes, you can celebrate Valentine’s Day by yourself), Matchanese is making a strong case for celebrating with matcha. From February 13 to 15, the brand is hosting Love & Matcha, a three-day mini matcha festival in Makati City.

Love & Matcha marks the return of The Manila Matcha Fest—scaled down, softened up, and perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day. Happening February 13 to 15 at Nhue Creative Studio in Makati, the event brings together a curated lineup of matcha brands serving signature and exclusive drinks, plus hands-on activities like matcha bowl pottery, guided matcha-making, and mochi workshops.

If matcha runs your weekends—dictating your routes, your meet-ups, and caffeine intakes—Love & Matcha makes the green-tinted and micro-foamed pilgrimage a little more efficient. Instead of hopping from city to city and chasing the next good latte, you’ll conveniently find the following matcha cafés at the festival:

• Kumatcha: Kumatcha is having a pop-up at Love & Matcha, bringing their green drinks along with them—or you can buy their matcha tins. They have Honmei and Miru from Yame, and Yugen from Kyoto and Kirei from Kagoshima. They also have more single cultivars like Kanaya Midori from Kyoto, Okumidori from Fukuoka, Tsuyuhikari from Shizuoka, and an Okumidori 2.0 from Izumo.

• Take Five Slow Bar: Always late to the Take Five Slow Bar pop-ups? Consider this your redemption arc. They’re pouring their cult-fave matcha lineup—Classic Matcha, Ichigo Matcha, Early Grey Matcha, and Mango Matcha—alongside hojicha staples like Classic Hojicha and Double Hojicha Latte. You can also try the dessert-coded picks: Cereal Oat, Banana Pudding Matcha, Hojicha Oatchata, and Honeybomb Matcha.

• One Cup Matcha: One Cup Matcha keeps things simple—but not basic—with two distinct options. “An” is their standard matcha: smooth, balanced, and easy to drink daily. “Roishi,” on the other hand, is their featured blend made from saemidori, okumidori, yutakamidori, asanoka, and okuyutaka cultivars. The mix creates a more layered profile, combining brightness, umami, aroma, and depth in one cup. If you’re curious about tasting the difference, this is your chance. They’re also offering a Love & Matcha-exclusive slushie—an icy, refreshing take that highlights matcha in a more playful format worth trying.

• Matcha by Acay: Acay is the first Nitro Matcha in the Philippines—basically, matcha infused with nitrogen gas that makes it fizzy. You can try this different kind of matcha with Acay's signature drinks, or you can try something more creative with their Love & Matcha-exclusive drinks, the Corn Miso Nitro Matcha Latte and Cranberry Tarragon Nitro Matcha Latte.

• The Matcha Co: Matcha fans can treat themselves to The Matcha Co. lineup of drinks during the festival. They will serve their Extra Rich Matcha Latte, Ichigo Matcha Latte, and Sea Salt Cream Matcha Latte, and for the hojicha fans, there's the Hojicha Latte and Sea Salt Cream Hojicha Latte. If you're lucky, you should get their Dubai Chewy Cookie if it's still available. This is a chewy cookie made with a pistachio and knafeh filling wrapped in a stretchy marshmallow layer.

• Matchanese: Matchanese is serving a Valentine's Day special drink, the Strawberry Matcha Tiramisu Latte. Think of this as your regular matcha latte, but topped with a strawberry cream and a piece of ladyfinger balancing on the cup.

• Sari Matcha: Sari Matcha's popping up at Love & Matcha Festival with their core menu of different matcha lattes and hojicha lattes—plus bites, like cookies and their version of the Dubai chewy cokies. Just don't forget to check out their specials, too! They're serving a Brown Sugar Boba Matcha, Rose Matcha Latte (that's very Valentine's Day appropriate), and a Matcha Slushie.

If you've somehow spiraled down the matcha rabbit hole and have followed content creators with a focus on whisking, ceramics, or trying out the new matcha spots, you can catch these matcha creators take over a pop-up bar at Love & Matcha. These personalities will serve their own signature matcha menu for a limited time:

• February 14, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.: The Matcha Zed (@the.matcha.zed)

• February 14, from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Xy Dimaano (@matchagirl.ph)

• February 15, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Matcha Tones (@matcha.tones)

• February 15, from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Matcha Boi (@jethrobalaguer)

For those who want to pursue making their own matcha at home, you can take a beginner-friendly pottery workshop by Sinta Ceramics. Participants can hand-build their own matcha bowl and then take it home for use. This is priced at P3,500/head, and is scheduled on February 14, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

And this all connects to the actual matcha making workshop, which Matchanese will take over. Participants will learn how to make their own matcha and customize their own matcha drinks. This is priced at P1,850/head, and has several schedules all throughout February 13 and 14.

But if you want to complete the whole experience, you can also take Matchanese's Mochi Workshop. This is a hands-on tutorial on how to make dango and daifuku—which are perfect for matcha pairings—from scratch. This is priced at P2,950/head, and has two sessions scheduled on February 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

For reservations, visit Matchanese's website.