For Ryan Brito-Garcia, CEO of Sunlight Air, matcha started as an alternative to coffee. Today, it has become something more: a product worth obsessing over, a reason to slow down, and the foundation of CHAHAUS, an intimate Japanese tea room in Makati built around the art of preparing and appreciating tea.
How Ryna Found a Business Opportunity in Her Matcha Routine
Ryna used to be an avid coffee drinker. Having lived in Australia, she found herself immersed in an environment shaped by Italian immigrants and a serious appreciation for good coffee. She carried the habit back to the Philippines, habitually downing five cups of black coffee a day. Then came the frequent migraines.
After consulting a doctor, she was advised to avoid three things: coffee first thing in the morning, cashew nuts, and stress. The first two were relatively easy to cut out. Coffee, however, was another story.
In 2022, Brito began his matcha journey and gave up her black brew. With the local matcha scene still relatively limited at the time, she sourced powders from Japan, brought them home, and whisked her own cup every morning. It was a ritual she came to enjoy, but one that did not always fit her schedule.
“I’m the type that, when work starts at 9 a.m., I wake up at 8:20,” she says.
Eventually, the time-consuming ritual gave way to convenience, and Brito returned to coffee. The experience, however, made her discover a business opportunity and got her thinking about how to make matcha more accessible to people who, like her, wanted to enjoy it but did not always have the time to prepare it from scratch. That thinking helped lead to PODHAUS, which offered a more convenient way to get a matcha fix.
But convenience was only one side of the story.
How a Shared Love of Matcha Inspired the Creation of CHAHAUS
As she and her husband Robbie approached their mid-30s, they began to appreciate the need to slow down and destress from the demands of everyday life. Preparing matcha by hand offered precisely that: a chance to put the phone down, focus on the process, and let the mind settle. It was an experience they wanted to share with others. That led to the idea behind CHAHAUS.
The plan had always been to open a quiet, café-like space someday, perhaps when they were in their 50s or 60s. The opportunity arrived earlier than expected when a Japanese supplier with connections to the aviation industry—and who had trained to become a pilot in Cebu—got in touch with Ryna after returning from Japan. The young couple agreed on a simple condition: that they would only open a space only if they found a powder that met their standards.
They tested 30 and two made the cut: one for everyday drinking and another for their premium line. Months later, their tea room was born.
Where Specialty Matcha Meets the Art of Slow Living
For CHAHAUS, the quality of the tea would always come first. The concept also gave them room to introduce customers to a wider range of matcha, including specialty, first-flush seasonal powders that they distribute exclusively in the Philippines. New selections are planned for release every quarter, allowing the menu to evolve with the harvests and the character of each powder.
At the moment, they are carrying Yuki, a seasonal, single-origin powder from Shizuoka as their premium option. Its balanced umami, natural sweetness, gentle astringency, bright-green color, and smooth texture offer a clean expression of the tea.
Their for-everyday powder is Homura, a core blend from a producer with a century of experience in the industry. It combines matcha from Shizuoka, Uji, and Kagoshima. The blend has a roasted, nutty aroma, an umami-forward profile, moderate sweetness, and a fresh finish.
For their matcha latte, it is cold-whisked and served with oat milk and honey. There are no alternative milks or sweeteners on offer; the team has settled on a formula they believe best expresses the drink.
The space itself reflects the experience they want to offer. Tucked inside a dress-rental shop owned by her sister, CHAHAUS is deliberately intimate and a little hidden away. Rather than chasing foot traffic or positioning itself as another grab-and-go stop, the tea room invites people to linger—and either meet new people or indulge in a moment of solitude.
They’re trying to build a community with matcha as the one that glues everyone together. “The matcha community is so kind, and patient and understanding because they know that matcha is supposed to be made slow. It’s people’s license to slow down,” she says. “I saw this post saying warriors used to whisk matcha before war because it’s the time for their mind to be in silence, in stillness. That moment is just yours.”
At CHAHAUS, the invitation is simple: come for the tea, stay for the ritual, and give yourself permission not to rush.
Chahaus is located at Inside RNT Studio, 2F, YMC Building, Chino Roces, Makati
Frequently Asked Questions
CHAHAUS is an intimate Japanese tea room in Makati built around the art of preparing and appreciating tea, inviting customers to slow down and embrace a slower pace of life. It was founded by Sunlight Air CEO Ryan “Ryna” Brito-Garcia and her husband Robbie.
CHAHAUS is located inside RNT Studio on the 2nd floor of the YMC Building on Chino Roces, Makati. The tea room is tucked inside a dress-rental shop owned by Ryna’s sister.
As Ryna and her husband Robbie approached their mid-30s, they recognized the need to slow down and destress from daily life, finding that preparing matcha by hand offered a way to let the mind settle. The opportunity to open the tea room arrived earlier than expected when a Japanese supplier with aviation connections reached out to Ryna after returning from Japan.
Their current offerings include Yuki, a seasonal single-origin premium powder from Shizuoka, and Homura, an everyday core blend combining matcha from Shizuoka, Uji, and Kagoshima from a producer with a century of experience.
Ryna used to drink five cups of black coffee a day, which led to frequent migraines. After consulting a doctor who advised her to avoid coffee first thing in the morning, cashew nuts, and stress, she gave up her coffee brew and began her matcha journey in 2022 by sourcing powders from Japan.
