Zennah Chaudri, a personal trainer who lives in Covent Garden, starts every Sunday morning the same. She pulls on her lululemon gym kit, walks to pilates and picks up a matcha latte – the pastel green drink that currently has much of the UK obsessed – en route. “I just feel super boujee,” she says. “It’s my ritual. Love it.”
Head to Chelsea’s affluent King’s Road on a weekend morning and you can barely move for teens snaking out of the west London Blank Street Coffee branch. Its blueberry matcha recipe and “meet for matcha” slogan have helped popularise the beverage made from the powdered leaves of the green tea plant, Japanese Camellia sinensis, for around £4 a pop. Chaudri claims she spends £50 per month. My own bank statement reveals an embarrassing £65 per month habit. And if you earn the average salary for someone under 30 in the UK, around £30k, that’s a sizeable chunk of your wages. It’s no wonder Chaudri reached for the word “boujee” – from bourgeois, of course– to describe the lifestyle choice.
