A shop dedicated to trendy matcha has debuted in Dallas: Called Matcha & Creme, it's a matcha and coffee bar serving ceremonial-grade matcha and specialty coffee drinks, located at 10455 N. Central Expy. #106, at a center on the west side of 75 above Walnut Hill Lane.

Matcha is the Japanese green tea powder that has experienced a surge in popularity, appearing in everything from drinks like the matcha latte to desserts like matcha mousse. It has been one of the biggest foodie trends to surface in the past few years, and the beverage can be found in many shops around DFW.

But this is one of the first shops to open in Dallas proper with matcha as its central theme.

Their menu of beverages includes matcha in a variety of flavors, starting out with the buzzy strawberry matcha latte. There's a cardamom matcha latte, featuring a house-made syrup starring cardamom, an underappreciated spice.

Other options include jasmine matcha cloud, pink coconut matcha cloud, sunset matcha cloud, and raspberry matcha latte. Most drinks are about $7.

There are also two drinks identified as einspänners: matcha einspanner and hojicha einspanner. According to Matcha.com, einspanner is a drink that originated in Vienna as a strong black coffee topped with whipped cream. Hojicha is a type of Japanese green tea that has been roasted to give it a nutty flavor, and is lower in caffeine than regular green tea.

In addition to matcha, Matcha & Creme serves espresso-based drinks such as cappuccinos and lattes, including flavored lattes such as their bestselling tiramisu, which comes topped with a decadent mascarpone foam. Other latte flavors include cookie butter, midnight mocha, and salted maple.

One unique trendy beverage they offer is the mont blanc, featuring sweetened cold brew combined with orange juice and topped with cold foam.

Food consists of pastries and treats including croissants and muffins such as carrot cake muffin and cinnamon cake muffin.

Matcha & Creme is from Muhammad Motiwala, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas who possesses an impressive entrepreneurial streak. While still in college, he launched his own extremely successful photography and videography business.

But he has a passion for coffee and saw a niche he could fill.

"I felt like there was a gap in the market for a matcha shop — especially a 'third-wave' cafe where the focus is on the experience," he says. "There are plenty of bigger cafes but my vision was a boutique store where we make everything in house, with a focus on matcha. Most of the cafes I've seen focus first on espresso, and while they serve matcha drinks, there are very few 'matcha-first' cafes."

The shop uses ceremonial-grade matcha, a crop that's said to be harvested from the most tender tea leaves of the green tea bush, which has become a benchmark in the U.S. for "good" matcha.

"In the U.S., it's become an indicator of the highest grade of green tea — it's what people are looking for when they drink matcha," Motiawala says. On the flavor front, "it results in a tea that's less bitter, with a nutty toasted flavor," he says.

One of his priorities was to create a shop that itself was symbolic of the matcha experience, with a spirit that matched the slightly laid-back pace that matcha itself nurtures.

"With coffee, it's a fast delivery of caffeine," he says. "With matcha, it comes on a little more slowly, more calm. Matcha & Creme reflects that. We slow things down a little bit and focus on the craft."