🍵😳 Boston’s café scene goes green

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

🐀 You know what they say: You can’t spell “Star Market” without RAT. Just ask the Banksy-esque artist who added some adorable(?) rat-themed art to Somerville’s long-abandoned Star Market.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Hurricane Erin makes waves

• NYT’s best Boston bites

• A “rat safari” in Allston

Up first…

FOOD AND DRINK

Matcha’s main character moment

Step aside, cold brew, there’s a new hot girl drink in town. Enter: Matcha. The green drink that’s been on the U.S. scene since the mid-2010s has entered a new stratosphere this year, bringing several new matcha spots to Boston (and prompting a literal global matcha shortage). 

Here’s what to know:

🍵 It’s hard to find a café without matcha on the menu these days. A handful of new matcha shops and pop-ups have appeared on Boston’s cafe scene in 2025  — even national chains like Dunkin’ and Café Nero have hopped on the bandwagon. Local café aficionado Olivia Mueller, a.k.a. @caffeinatedliv, tracks her café drink consumption and has already tried three times more matcha this year than last year. 

😋 Why is it popping off? Gen Z loves a “guilt-free indulgence.” At least according to Ronald Liu, the partner and founder of Matcha Loves Boba. It’s a tale as old as … prebiotic soda: Young consumers love a delicious treat that’s convincingly marketed as healthy. And with a laundry list of potential health benefits, matcha fits the bill. That said, most Americans are probably diluting it with milk, sugar, and flavorings to make it taste like dessert (see: cookies n’ cream matcha) …

📲 Plus, the drinks are basically influencer cat nip. Its bright green color + the hypnotizing matcha-making process = a recipe for virality. “I can think of a couple viral videos right off the top of my head that I think have single-handedly galvanized entire communities,” said Liu. Babson student David Chae, who runs pop-up matcha truck by Chae, compared posting about matcha to posting a trendy outfit: “If you post a matcha latte, you know what's up, you're cool,” he said. 

☕ Trendiness aside, matcha is filling a major gap in the market. Specifically, “a gap between people who need caffeine, but who don't like coffee,” Chae said. Matcha brings something new to the U.S.’ massive coffee market: A smoother, longer-lasting caffeine buzz, and a brighter, less bitter base that complements fruity flavor profiles, opening the door for new flavor combos like ube, strawberry, and lavender. “Where it will find staying power is eating into that coffee consumer,” Liu said.

😌 And that’s why industry pros are optimistic it’ll stick around. “I'm sure the virility will stop at some point, but I think that it will be enough to permanently change behaviors,” Liu said. Or, as Mueller put it: “If you're using Dunkin’ as an indicator of Boston's appetite for new things, it's definitely becoming mainstream.”

QUICK QUESTION!

🍂 What B-Side event would you be most excited about in the fall?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🌀Hurricane Erin will make some waves in Massachusetts. Literally. While the massive storm is projected to miss the East Coast by hundreds of miles, it’ll send some gnarly 6-to-10-foot waves and dangerous rip currents our way this week. So if you’re heading to the beach, it’s *very* important to check the surf and rip current risk. As of Monday evening, most of Mass.’ coastline was already listed as “moderate,” which means “life-threatening rips are possible.” The good news? The weather will be FANTASTIC on land.

🏆 The best restaurants in Boston … according to New Yorkers. The New York Times dropped a refreshed version of its 25 best restaurants in Boston list, complete with three new entries. The newbies include: Baleia, the South End’s new Portuguese spot with killer seafood and dreamy desserts; Quincy’s Lê Madeline, bringing “Viet-New England” cuisine to "exhilarating heights” with dishes like ginger-scallion-dressed lobster rolls; and Downtown Crossing’s Somaek, showcasing a “master class in banchan.” Brb, making reservations at all three.

🛒 Boston’s only grocery store co-op needs help. And by help, we mean $$$. Dorchester Food Co-op is asking customers to help them stay afloat as its cash reserves dwindle. The worker- and member-owned co-op opened in 2023 with the noble mission of making high-quality food accessible and affordable. But in a recent letter, it announced it’ll be facing closure within two months unless it sees a SERIOUS boost in sales. So how can you help? Shopping there IRL or online is the easiest way, but you can also donate directly to them here.

⚾ Braintree struck out at the Little League World Series. The local team’s Cinderella-story season has come to an end after a narrow loss to Washington state Sunday morning. ICYMI: The team went on a historic winning streak to punch a ticket to the series, where they finished with a 1-2 record, the first Mass. team to win there since 2009. As for Braintree locals (who have basically treated the run like it’s the regular World Series), they’re just proud of how far the team got, and are even planning a celebratory parade. No, YOU’RE crying.

ONE LAST THING

Allston’s “rat safari”

Allston has officially out Allston-ed itself: On Thursday evening, about 60 people and a handful of volunteer “rat rangers” donned rat-themed outfits and gathered in a liquor store parking lot for an Allston “rat safari.” It’s *exactly* as chaotic as it sounds. 

We’re talking about the Rat City Arts Festival’s bi-annual Rat Walk. The goal? See as many rats as possible in the hopes of (literally) illuminating Allston-Brighton’s rat problem … and having a little fun while they’re at it.

To that end, alongside “Ratatouille” headbands and rat bingo cards, actual Boston Inspectional Services Department reps offered tips to keep the rats away, like cleaning up dog poop, which is apparently “like their cake.” Gross!

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🐀 Thanks for reading! As a former Allston resident, Gia can’t overstate the bravery at play here.

👖 The results are in: 66% of readers do NOT like low-rise jeans. One reader said: “Some traumas are best left in the early 2000s.” Hard agree.

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