India, June 23 -- Days before I finally sat down to write this piece, I felt an unusual bombardment of certain content on my Instagram. It was the pale green, frothy pour that's on everyone's lips now-matcha. But it was no feel-good recipe videos with an ASMR narration, matcha had now been christened in memes, and it felt like it was no longer the niche drink that had detractors crying "tastes like grass".

I needed to understand how, and why, it's landed so firmly on India's menus and minds. We turned to chefs, culinary experts, and matcha enthusiasts who could explain what spectators can't understand about this ingredient-why did a niche ingredient morph into a wave of its own?

A Taste That Grows On You Photo Credit: Unsplash For ma...