Matcha Cafe in King's Cross: MATCHADO at Coal Drops Yard

MATCHADO's King's Cross window, which the brand's own locations page lists at 119 Lower Stable Street, London N1C 4DR (some map apps shorten it to 119 Stable Street), opens at 9am on weekdays and sells matcha from the same Japanese farms whose teas won Great Taste stars in 2026. It is a takeaway counter rather than a sit-down cafe, tucked into the heart of Coal Drops Yard, and the Infatuation called its matcha pretty flawless, balanced and full-bodied. For anyone searching for a matcha cafe near me between the station and Granary Square, this window is a short walk from the station.

From King's Cross St Pancras, walk north past the station along King's Boulevard toward Granary Square, cross the Regent's Canal, and turn into Coal Drops Yard, the pair of Victorian coal warehouses now filled with shops and restaurants. Lower Stable Street runs along the yard, and MATCHADO's window sits among its brick arches. Google Maps puts the walk from the station at around five minutes. Commuters arriving on the Northern, Piccadilly or Victoria lines can be holding a cup well before their first meeting in the offices around the square.

The founder's whole idea is that the matcha itself is the difference. MATCHADO works directly with tea farms across Japan, and its shelf reads like a wine list of regions and cultivars. The Kyoto Saemidori, Kyoto Okumidori and Kyoto Gokou unsweetened matchas all won two Great Taste stars in 2026 and cost £42, £39 and £38 to take home. The more everyday Classic Kagoshima Unsweetened Matcha is £24. Every product on the website is available for pickup in the shops, so you can taste a latte at the window and collect a tin on the way out.

The cafe's own website has no drinks menu, but its King's Cross listing on Deliveroo prices an unsweetened matcha latte at £6.00, an Iced Brown Sugar Matcha Latte at £6.50 and an Iced Strawberry Matcha Latte at £7.00, with a classic hojicha latte at £6.00 and a straight Matcha Tea at £5.00. The Infatuation singled out the fruit flavours such as mango and blueberry as fruity without being sickly. Our pick is the unsweetened latte, because it shows off the single-origin leaf the business is built around.

If you want to taste the tea without milk, the Matcha Tea is the order. Matcha whisked with water alone is unforgiving, so it is the clearest way to judge whether the farm-direct sourcing makes a difference, and at King's Cross it does. The iced strawberry version is pretty and popular in summer, but at a pound more than the plain latte, it trades the subtlety of the matcha for jam, which is a poor deal when the base is this good.

Hiromi Matsunobu ran a baking business in Sydney before she founded MATCHADO, and the sweets reflect that. This winter's special is a gluten-free Chestnut Matcha Brownie at £4.50, and the crunchy almond and caramel Matcha Florentine is also £4.50. Matcha canelés, the bronzed French pastry given a green tea twist, are a staple of the range and appear on the King's Cross delivery menu at £3.50, alongside a matcha cheesecake slice at £5.00. Fans of the brownie can buy a gluten-free bake-at-home mix, a Great Taste 2022 winner, for £10.

Opening hours change with the clocks. Until 24 October the window runs 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 7pm on Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday; from 25 October it closes an hour earlier, at 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays and 5pm on Sundays. The Infatuation notes that it gets busy around lunchtime, so the matcha is whisked and prepped in advance every couple of hours. If you want a cup whisked to order, come mid-morning or mid-afternoon rather than at 1pm, when the King's Cross office crowd descends.

If the line is long or you want a seat, MATCHADO's Bloomsbury cafe at Unit 3, Sicilian Avenue, London WC1A 2QH, opens 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm at weekends, about twenty minutes' walk south. A different style of tea room, Katsute 100 at 100 Islington High Street near Angel, is a similar distance east and has proper tables for a slower pot. On a wet Sunday after 5pm in winter, those are your only matcha options nearby, because the window will already be shut.

Do not expect a lounge. The Infatuation describes the King's Cross site as a breezy full-time takeaway window, and the action happens at the counter: drinks handed out through the hatch, shelves of tins, bowls and whisks behind. The equipment is worth a look. MATCHADO sells a heat-resistant glass katakuchi spouted matcha bowl for £43, an 80-prong entry-level bamboo whisk for £30 and a handmade bamboo chashaku spoon for £18, a complete home set if the latte converts you.

Hiromi Matsunobu grew up with tea; her family roots are in Yame, in Fukuoka, a region known for premium green tea. She founded MATCHADO in London in 2019 and first won fans at the Lower Stable Street market. According to the Japanese government's Taste of Japan feature, that success led to a permanent kiosk in King's Cross in October 2023, followed two months later by a cafe with seating in Chiswick. The brand now runs six London sites, from Herne Hill to Seven Dials Market, and the King's Cross window has since moved to its current unit.

Carry your cup through the redevelopment. Granary Square, with its choreographed fountains and canal steps, is two minutes away and the best place to sit outdoors. From there, the Regent's Canal towpath leads east toward Camley Street Natural Park, a pocket wildlife reserve beside the gasholders. For something more substantial after your matcha, Dishoom King's Cross is at 5 Stable Street in the same development, and Barrafina's Coal Drops Yard branch is around the corner if you fancy tapas at the counter.

The window has no indoor seating, so on a cold day plan to drink on the move or head to Granary Square's canal steps. MATCHADO does not publish a phone number on its website; contact is by email at contact@matchado.co.uk. Online orders for teas, sweets and tools can be collected in store. Classes are also part of the business: this October, MATCHADO's Acton cafe is hosting a Kyoto matcha masterclass with Shuhari Kyoto on 17 and 18 October, priced at £65 a place.

This is the right stop for commuters who want an excellent matcha on the way to work, for tea nerds keen to compare single-origin cultivars, and for anyone shopping Coal Drops Yard who wants a green tea treat to carry around. It is the wrong choice for a long chat over cake, since there is nowhere to sit. Come mid-morning, order the unsweetened latte and a chestnut brownie, and if you love it, take home a tin of the Kyoto Saemidori.