The Ultimate Guide: Matcha Cafes in Helsinki

TeeMaa is a tea specialist a six-minute walk from Kamppi metro, near Vanha kirkkopuisto (the Old Church Park). The room is split in two, half cafe and half shop, where you can buy tea leaves that are mostly Chinese and tea ware made locally in Finland.

The teahouse was founded by Peng, who grew up in a dark-tea region, and Xinyuan, who fell for tea while studying traditional Chinese culture at the University of Oulu. Both had studied abroad in Finland and trained in tea at a tea-arts school, and the fragrant cafe these two purists built in Helsinki turns thirteen this year.

By now you may be thinking this is a Chinese tea cafe, but TeeMaa also carries a range of Japanese teas, from sencha to wakoucha (Japanese black tea). At the cafe you can order not only a matcha latte but matcha on its own, and there is a full lineup of matcha sweets.

The interior is by Yatofu Creatives and was longlisted in the Restaurant and bar interior category at the 2022 Dezeen Awards. It is a space that feels good simply to sit in, and if you order by the pot you can keep topping up the hot water, so it is built for lingering.

Matcha Crew opened in 2023 as the first matcha specialty cafe in Helsinki. Marked by its pop of green and a marketing push heavy on influencers, it won over a young crowd and has since grown into an international chain, with three locations in Helsinki and outposts in the Czech Republic and Spain. It is, in every sense, the engine of Helsinki's matcha scene. The menu is built around a wide range of matcha drinks and matcha sweets; there is a hojicha option too, but no coffee.

The matcha is Japanese, whisked to order in front of you. Alongside the cafe menu they sell whisks, bowls, and matcha powder for home use.

In summer they add matcha soft serve, the only place in Helsinki I know of that does. And it sits right by Kamppi metro, so it is easy to reach.

Matcha Life is the closest thing Helsinki has to a proper tea shop. It opened at the end of 2025, next to Hotel Torni. Inside there is one table for six and a single seat at the counter, plus a bench outside.

What sets it apart is the care in the making: they scoop the powder with a chashaku (bamboo scoop) and ladle hot water from an iron kettle with a hishaku (bamboo ladle). There is also a matcha gelato you will not find anywhere else in Helsinki, and you can choose the strength, mild or strong.

The room is small, so this is not the place to settle in for a long group catch-up. But for a quiet breather in the middle of a shopping trip, it is exactly right.

Cafe Tampopo is a small Japanese cafe next to the Orion cinema, a sister shop to the Sake Bar & Izakaya run by the same owner.

The signature is Japanese-style sandwiches. From the staples of tamago sando, katsu sando, and fruit sando to limited-edition sandwiches made in collaboration with chefs from other Helsinki restaurants, every one is put together with real care. Here you do not need to brace yourself when ordering a matcha latte, wondering whether it will arrive thin and taste like nothing more than hot milk. Sometimes they finish it with a little latte art, and in the warmer months a strawberry matcha iced latte joins the menu.

Sitting at the tatami seat by the window with a matcha latte and a sando, you forget for a moment that you are in Finland. In summer a terrace opens up and adds seats, but the rest of the year this is a popular spot that can fill up, with no table to spare.

Andante is a specialty coffee cafe in the heart of Punavuori, named the second-best cafe in Finland at Helsinki Coffee Week 2025.

Coffee is the lead here: the cafe rotates European and Finnish micro-roasters and pulls careful hand-drip pour-overs and flat whites. But the matcha latte holds its own. Served in a handle-less Marimekko mug and finished with fine latte art, it pleases the eye before you take a sip. One of Andante's own merchandise designs is a matcha latte, which tells you something about its following.

The food deserves attention too, from Basque cheesecake to scones. Seasonal one-offs turn up as well, Mont Blanc in autumn and kakigori in summer, and since they post often on their Instagram, it is worth a look before you go.

Andante has no Wi-Fi. This is not a place for a laptop or a phone; it is a cafe for spending time with what is in your cup. Plenty of people sit and read with a mug in hand.