Interview: Korean Matcha Dessert Chef — "Green Tea Cakes Are Not Only Beautiful, They're a Superfood"
Host: Matcha Maya Guest: Park Soo-jin, Head Pastry Chef & Co-Owner, Nokcha Dabang (녹차다방), Seoul Location: A sunlit corner table at Nokcha Dabang, a matcha dessert house set in a peaceful back street in Ikseon-dong, Seoul Date: 23/072026 Meet the Chef and Her City Matcha Maya: Soo-jin, people in Seoul know your cakes even though you don't talk about them a lot. Many wait in line before the shop opens, and your matcha crepe cake shows up on every "must-eat in Seoul" list. But you did not start with baking cakes, did you? Park Soo-jin: (laughs, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear) Not even close. I studied food science at Seoul National University. For five years, I worked in a lab. I would test the nutrition that is found in different traditional Korean foods. Matcha — or nokcha , as we call it — kept coming up in my research. I would see the high levels of catechins, the L-theanine, and how much antioxidants there are. I kept asking myself: why do we thin...