Published 25th December 2025
LUANG PRABANG, Laos: A few years ago, matcha was an unfamiliar name to most coffee drinkers in Luang Prabang. Today, the vivid green beverage is taking over menus, drawing in both local youth and international tourists to the city.
From freshly whisked lattes to innovative desserts, matcha powerhouses like Formula B and Beyond Cafe are pioneering a growing matcha culture, which is only starting to flourish. As competition heats up, these cafés are proving that in Luang Prabang, matcha is not just a passing trend - it is becoming a permanent fixture in the city’s vibrant café scene.
For Formula B, owner Atsaryaphong Boupha, known as Bee, 38, made the pivot to matcha while researching his primary interest, coffee.
“I can’t stand how coffee always makes me feel jittery, so I switched to matcha since it’s smoother, no jitters.”
Inspired by this experience, Bee began creating his own matcha drinks and revamped the menu for Formula B- already a coffee powerhouse for 4 years by that point. Two years on, he continues to uphold this business practice, as he continues his research and development of new ideas at home before introducing them to the menu.
“Every few months, we will release new products. We have our classic menu, but we also try to catch on trends. This gives us a competitive advantage”
With more than 35,000 followers on Tiktok and Instagram, Bee also recognises the crucial role social media plays for his business. According to Bee, matcha is becoming more “mainstream” in Laos partly due to the influence of social media, and with his target audience now being youth, Bee is always on the lookout for viral foods and beverages that he can incorporate into his menu. By riding onto these waves of virality and the craze that comes from matcha itself, Bee has seen his business grow especially so from youth “matcha lovers”.
Bee plans to open another outlet in Luang Prabang with a new store concept while offering a more premium grade of matcha in the future.
“Now, people are interested in more premium matcha, because of the price and unique taste,” said Bee. “Since people want to try the more expensive type, I’m open to including it in the future.”
These sentiments were also shared by co-owner of Beyond Café, Ms Manivanh Phommachanthone, known as Yulo, 24. Having been in the yumicha tea business just a few years ago, she pivoted to selling matcha drinks during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the growing interest shown on social media at that time.
While Beyond Café is still in it’s infancy period, it took a lot of time and trial and error on her part leading up to the establishment of the café.
“It took three years to find the right recipe and right ratio of matcha to water. I try a lot of different types of matcha, and the one that tastes good is too expensive for customers in Luang Prabang. So I took a lot of time to find the right quality and price,” Yulo said.
Learning from her experience running Yumicha, she notes how social media and the aesthetics of a café are big contributors to the success of a business. While Yulo was creating recipes, she also carefully planned the design and décor of the café. This fulfilled her vision of Beyond café looking polished and well-prepared, while appealing to both locals and tourists alike.
“We are looking for places that are familiar to home,” said Israelis Shir, 30, and Jonathan, 34, who were on their backpacking trip. “We were just looking for an aesthetic place and we happened to see Beyond Café, and decided to walk in."
Yulo observes that the period from October to April is when tourists tend to frequent the shop more often, while in other months, locals patronise the café more. Due to this ever-changing customer base, Yulo aims to release one new item on their menu every other month and revamps the menu every season, to retain interest and appeal.
For Yulo, the direction she wants to bring Beyond Café next is in expansion of the shop and developing a new signature line of mainstay Matcha Frappe products. With this, she hopes to increase the production capacities for Beyond Café and rope in even more customers to the establishment.
However, being a land-locked country, sourcing for quality matcha remains a constant challenge for both Formula B and Beyond Café. Bee imports matcha from Japan through middlemen in Thailand and Vietnam and navigating this supply chain can be difficult. According to Bee, the cost of matcha is steep, and is subject to unstable pricing, especially during winter seasons where matcha plants do not grow, limiting supply. Similarly, Yulo experienced a shortage of matcha during the launch of Beyond Café and had to source for alternative supplier options.
According to Yulo, the matcha industry is now “booming” in Laos and only seems to “keep growing”. This is what drives her to keep innovating and coming up with new ways to attract the widening pool of customers. For many Laotians as well, the matcha culture is beginning to ingrain into Lao life and appears to become a mainstay.
“Matcha (drinking) is very casual for people like us. We found out about it on Tiktok and now we drink it quite regularly” said Miew and Lina, two Laotian twenty year olds while drinking Matcha at Beyond Café.
Credits List:
WKWSCI Volunteer Programme
Formula B
Beyond Café & Restaurant
Featuring
Atsaryaphong Boupha (Bee)
Manivanh Phommachanthone (Yulo)
Written by
Muhammad Hazwani Danish
Edited by
Choo Le Ching, Michelle
Annabelle Tan Hui Ying
Photography
Goi Ruo En
Choo Le Ching, Michelle
Photos Edited by
Aiman Bin Zahid
Special Thanks
WKWSCI Tech Team
Uncle Allan
Souphanouvong University
Wee Kim Wee School