Trends with Benefits | Volume 298 | 04/21/2026

MUDWTR fam, Somewhere between a Portland indie cafe and your For You page, a drink took over. Pink on the bottom. Bright green on top. The slow swirl before you mix it. You know the one. Strawberry matcha is everywhere, and at first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is just another aesthetically blessed trend waiting to get replaced by something taupe-colored and equally photogenic. But there's something actually interesting happening here. Here's what the strawberry matcha moment is really about: Gen Z is the first generation actively walking away from coffee. Not because they're anti-caffeine, but because they're anti what coffee represents. The NCA's Spring 2025 data shows Gen Z drinks significantly less coffee than every generation before them. They're opting out of a ritual that was, for decades, shorthand for I grind, therefore I am. Matcha slips into that gap not just because it looks good (though it does), but because it behaves differently with naturally occurring L-theanine, matcha doesn't spike and crash. It lifts. Then it holds. There's a reason tea ceremonies were built around the stuff, it produces what researchers describe as a state of wakeful alertness without the anxiety. The alpha brain waves associated with relaxed focus. The mental space where actual creative thought happens. Here’s where things get fun, we added mushrooms. Lion's Mane, one of the key ingredients in MUDWTR's Matcha, contains compounds called erinacines that cross the blood-brain barrier and stimulate Nerve Growth Factor synthesis in the hippocampus. The region responsible for memory, learning, and creative association. Animal studies show a 60% increase in hippocampus NGF levels after consistent supplementation, the human research is earlier-stage, but the mechanism is real. This is what conscious caffeination actually looks like in 2025. Not deprivation. Not a five-step supplement protocol. Just choosing something that works with your nervous system instead of negotiating against it. Which, incidentally, is also what we've been building for years. —Shane

/Watch MUDWTR Strawberry Matcha | We made the thing. For everyone who's been staring at strawberry matcha on their feed and wondering when we'd get there,here it is. The full announcement: calm energy, functional mushrooms, and summer in a cup. Watch it. You'll understand why we're excited. | Watch

/product highlight | MUDWTR Strawberry Matcha — Limited Edition, Summer Only This is not a permanent fixture. That's intentional. We built it around premium Japanese matcha stacked with 1,800mg of functional mushrooms. Lion's Mane for focus and creative clarity. Cordyceps for sustained energy and Reishi for immune support. All of it in the bright, smooth base you've been watching on your For You page, with a strawberry twist that actually belongs there. It's available now, for summer. When it's gone, it's gone. Get it

/ inspiration "The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him the walls of his prison are invisible." Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited (1958) Share this on Twitter

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