Based in sunny California, Christine Diaz is a graphic designer and illustrator with a strong love for food and tea, especially matcha. As a way to marry her passions, she started an Etsy shop filled with quirky food related designs on stationary products in 2018. Today Matcha Paper Co. is filled with fun items like vinyl stickers, cards, magnets, notepads, pins and much more. As the name states, the green tea powder definitely has inspired some of her most popular designs and also fuels her along the way. At the tea table Christine shares a funny story about her first tea experience, her favourite tea illustrations, a brand she would love to collaborate with one day and much more!
The kettle is on and I can hear it about to sing. What tea are you going to steep for us today?
Today I am going to make us a steeped rose water matcha latte. It’s one of my favorite ‘treat yourself’ teas to make. I think the rose water adds a lovely aroma and taste which accents the matcha really well.
What a lovely drink, especially around this time of year! Can you recall one of the first moments you had tea?
I have a funny story. My first memories was when I was five or six years old. My family and I ate at this Chinese restaurant in San Jose. The waiters brought out these pretty white teapots and set it down on the table. I reached for the teapot and burned myself!
So, I was mad at the teapot for sure but I was still curious about what was in it. My mom poured me a cup, let it cool and I tasted it. I will always remember it. Jasmine tea. My first thoughts were “Wow, I didn’t know I could drink flowers!”.
How would you describe the connection between your love for creating and your love for tea?
I think the connection is one of mutual respect. Creating for me is a process, I go through certain steps each time I create and the same goes for making tea. You won’t get the same outcome each time and that’s why I love them both.
Beautifully said. Take us on a virtual tour of your design & shop space for Matcha Paper Co.
I love this question because I moved into my own apartment back in October and I spent a lot of time organizing my office space. I like to think its mid-century modern meets California girl with an affection for French & Japanese inspired decor.
Now the first thing you see will be my large bamboo top desk. And I love showing guests the tiny up and down button that lets me easily switch between standing and sitting. This is where I spend most of my day. It’s my creative space where I draw, design and even drink tea.
Finally, in the corner I have a shelf with all of my supplies for packing and shipping out orders as well as some inventory. What I love most about my office space is all the natural lighting which I use for shooting products and taking pictures of my tea.
What a great space to work in! Can you share a few of your favourite tea related illustrations and the story behind them?
Matcha Latte Cup
This was one of my early designs and I wanted something simple to be a recurring theme within my shop. I never expected for it to take off in the way that I took it over the years with variations (plants, types of drinks, faces, mugs). Find the original design here.
Matcha Boba Pin
I had no idea how to make an enamel pin, but once I learned the process, it was such a great feeling of accomplishment to hold this pin in my hand. This design was my first matcha boba design. Find it here.
Matcha Nutella
This one started out as a joke at first, but the inspiration really came from when I traveled to Asia. I noticed in grocery stores there were lots of tea jam spreads like ‘green tea’, ‘hojicha’, and ‘earl grey’. So, I wanted to make a pun of a classic, but of course, make it matcha. Find it here.
Speed Round:
Black, Green, Yellow, White, Oolong or Puerh?
White
Hot, Iced or Cold?
Hot
Teapot, Infuser or Gaiwan?
Teapot, but I wish I had a gaiwan!
Straight, Sweetened or Latte?
Latte
Cheese or Chocolate pairing?
Chocolate mmm!
Matcha or Hojicha?
Matcha!! But still love you Hojicha haha
If you could collaborate with any brand to create quirky tea designs for who would that be and what would you create?
I would love to collaborate with Archer & Olive. I fell in love with their notebooks a couple of years ago and actually got my first one last year. They offer a lot of other goodies like stickers with various themes.
I’d love to design a sticker sheet for them featuring tea and plants or maybe even a matcha tea cup on one of their iconic notebooks. That would be so fun.
Find Matcha Paper Co.:
ABOUT THIS SERIES: Tea tells stories and when connected with humans, more are created. That’s where the idea for this blog series, At the Tea Table, originated. With this series, The Cup of Life asks tea lovers around the world to take us inside their tea lives to share their favourite steeps, spaces, routines and more. Meet some of your fellow tea drinkers here.