Founder of ‘Oro Verde Matcha Bar’ Speaks About How It All Began

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The 24-year-old founder of Oro Verde Matcha Bar, Jimena Chacon, spoke at the 1 Million Cups event at the E-Bridge Center on June 26 about the quick rise of her company.

Oro Verde began one Saturday morning in March when Chacon decided she would set up a matcha shop at Brownsville’s Farmers’ Market as a fun activity to do with her friend. Friends of Chacon began posting on their Instagram story about the matcha bar. Soon that morning, her shop had a line of about 100 people waiting for a matcha drink. Chacon said at the third pop-up shop she set up at the Farmers’ Market the demand for matcha drinks had tripled.

“I saw a huge opportunity.” Chacon said. “There is a lot of high demand and a huge opportunity for me right now, and if I do not act quickly, someone else will take it. So I quit my job, and I decided to fully take on this role of being founder, owner, social media manager, creator and everything for this. It is a one man job, and I am very passionate about this opportunity.”

Chacon majored in strategic communication with a minor in digital media at Texas Christian University and came back to Brownsville, her hometown, after her time in college. She worked at Brownsville’s Moody Clinic before the start of her matcha business, promoting fundraisers and working on donor relations. 

Jimena Chacon

The 24 year old said the skills she learned with her degree at the University have helped her create the Oro Verde brand. She said her passion for public relations grew in college because she enjoyed the “power to sell.”

“The logo, the aesthetic, people nowadays are very drawn to something that is very original and unique, rather than a chain like Starbucks,” Chacon said. It was something very hyper-niche and original that caught people’s attention to go. It was my signature foam tops, my toppings that were very original and aesthetic that drew people’s attention to go and repost and then take their friend to the next one, and then the next one and the next one following.”

Oro Verde’s drinks are served with different foam toppings including strawberries or cereal, with its most popular drink called the Strawberry Cloud Matcha Latte. 

“I love mixing lavender and vanilla in my matcha, because I think it tastes like cereal milk,” Chacon said. “I wanted to come up with a product called Froot Loops Matcha, and top it off with a lavender foam top and fruit loops on top. That was definitely a huge hit of mine.”

According to Aljazeera, the high demand in matcha is also causing a global matcha shortage, causing a possible increase in product prices. Chacon said the name of her company was inspired by the shortage. When she was first making matcha for her friends, she said it was expensive and thought of it as “gold.” When it came time to name her matcha bar she wanted to name it“green gold” in Spanish, “Oro Verde Matcha Bar” to incorporate the Spanish language in Brownsville. 

She said she is not currently being affected by the shortage, because she found a tea farm from Southern Japan selling the powder at a reasonable price. 

“I was reaching out to tea farms in Japan and getting samples from them,” Chacon said. “I would sometimes get a package of 10 different types of samples. I would drink matcha every single day, so I just kept going with it and sampling, and sampling, until I found one that I was like, ‘ this is it.’ This is the color I want. This is the flavor profile I want.”

During the 1 Million Cups Event, Chacon said she recently purchased a 16 foot trailer and painted it green. Her plan is to be able to park the trailer around different parts of Brownsville and expand her product around different coffee shops. Her audience mainly waits for there to be an Oro Verde Matcha Bar pop-up announced on the company’s instagram, as the company is still growing. She said she hoped to collaborate with more restaurants and bakeries in the future.

“I want to be a brand that represents intention, joy, creativity, something that inspires people and brings something different to everything,” Chacon said. “Every individual has the power to create positive change. Start small, dream big, and make your heart on the world.”

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