Meredith Ho’s dorm in Founders Hall looks a little different from most students’ rooms at NYU. The Steinhardt first-year trades piles of laundry and a desk covered in textbooks for matcha tins, bags of ice and cartons of oat milk. On TikTok, her videos — always beginning with a simple hook, “Make a matcha with me” — have drawn over 100,000 views and a large community of NYU students who tune in for her cozy aesthetic and calming whisking ritual.

Over the summer, Ho made a video with the caption, “my dream is to have a matcha dorm cafe hehe.” The TikTok, which she posted “as a joke,” garnered over 18,000 views and 1800 likes. By the time she arrived for her first semester on campus, students were already asking when they could stop by.

“When I moved in, people were like, ‘Oh, I saw that TikTok over the summer. You better make me a matcha,’” Ho said. “Then I was like, ‘Maybe I should start making people matchas,’ and that’s why I started the dorm cafe.”

What began as a casual offer soon turned into a structured operation. Ho’s cafe is now complete with designated operating hours and Instagram bookings. To manage the growing demand, she limits service to 20 customers per day, ensuring everyone who wants a matcha can get one.

“A lot of people commented and wanted to come, so I wanted to give everybody an opportunity,” Ho said. “I enjoy doing it, and it’s a fun little side thing I do.”

Though Ho has built a small business from matcha latte making, her fondness for the beverage started long before its nationwide popularity.

“As a kid, I was really influenced by the Asian grocery stores near me. I was such a big matcha fan,” Ho, who grew up in North Jersey, said. “I went to Japan two years ago, and after that, I started teaching myself how to do it the traditional way, which is with the whisk and the ceremonial matcha powder, which grew my love for matcha.”

Currently, Ho keeps her menu refreshingly simple: an iced matcha latte with oat milk, a fan-favorite dairy alternative, and customers’ choice of agave or simple syrup. She charges $5 per drink — at nearby chains such as Blank Street Coffee and Think Coffee, a small matcha latte can cost up to $7.

For students hoping to recreate her matcha magic, Ho uses Aiya ceremonial grade matcha and Oatly oat milk.

“You should look for ceremonial grade when you’re making matcha lattes instead of culinary grade,” Ho said. “Those are the bad types, which I learned the hard way.”

Beyond the business itself, Ho’s TikTok account has become a platform for creativity and self-expression. She encourages other students to share their passions online, no matter how niche or unconventional they might seem. Her dorm cafe is proof that something as simple as a matcha latte can lead to a friendship, a side hustle and maybe even a little bit of internet fame.

“As a freshman in college, I was worried about how I would make a mark, make friends or socialize,” Ho said. “I think social media really helped with that, because you find friends and community.”