Five hours is a long time to do almost anything: to watch TV, to cook or to hang out with friends.
It is especially a long time to spend in class — even if that class is a studio art course.
Five-hour courses come with the territory of being an art student at Tufts. I spend a lot of time at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, and if my long classes have taught me anything, it’s that I need breaks. I’ve taken to running from class during my lunch or dinner break to pick up a sweet treat for a boost in morale or some extra energy. Sometimes I understand myself well enough to go before class even starts, knowing that the treat will be needed, and well deserved, by the time I am done.
My go-to escape is Matcha Cafe Maiko.
For one, along with all the sugar, the matcha brings a wave of caffeine, pushing me to keep working and stay focused. There’s also the fact that having a sweet treat in the form of matcha makes five hours of class feel slightly less painful. The drink has become less of a special outing and more of a survival strategy.
This past Tuesday, my friend and I made the quick trip to the cafe. You just cross the Fens and go one more block over, and you are greeted by the brick building and green sign of Cafe Maiko. This week, I ordered what I think is probably the most appropriate representation of my relationship with Maiko: a matcha latte float topped with matcha soft serve.
Healthy, right?
The matcha latte is creamy and earthy, with enough of that slightly bitter green tea flavor for my friend to still say it “tastes like grass.” The soft serve on top, while inconvenient for sipping, slowly melts into the drink, making the whole thing sweeter and thicker. Honestly, I don’t think I could have designed a better before/during/post-class drink myself.
My friend ordered the Strawberry Cloud Earl, an Earl Grey strawberry milk tea with boba, which was particularly interesting because they hate boba. Or, at least, they claimed to. They ended up loving the drink, which is both a win for Maiko and a loss for me because I can no longer count on stealing all of their boba.
The combination of strawberry and Earl Grey is really good. The strawberry is sweet and fruity (real fruit flavor, not artificial), while the Earl Grey adds a floral tea flavor that keeps it from tasting like straight syrup. I mean, apparently the drink was good enough to convert a self-proclaimed boba hater.
I’ve tried quite a few things at Maiko at this point but not everything has been a winner.
I have had their limited-time mango sticky rice sundae, which sounded perfect because I love mango sticky rice. Unfortunately, it isn’t the best mango sticky rice sundae I’ve had, nor is it my favorite thing I’ve gotten at Maiko. It is still enjoyable, but this is not the place to turn to when you're craving mango sticky rice.
Their boba sundae is a completely different story—that thing is delicious.
You can pick which soft serve flavor you want and top it with sweet, syrupy boba. The combination of cold, creamy ice cream and chewy boba is exactly the kind of texture combination that makes me keep taking another bite, even after I’ve decided I’m full. It is also the kind of dessert that looks slightly ridiculous when it arrives, which I think is part of the fun.
I’ve also had their hojicha, which is really good. Hojicha is roasted green tea, so it has a much deeper and toastier flavor than matcha. I like matcha when I want something more intense, but hojicha is perfect in the winter when I want something a little more mellow.
Maiko’s menu is essentially an entire world of matcha and hojicha. There are lattes, floats, soft serve, parfaits, boba drinks and various elaborate desserts. You can order something relatively simple or completely commit to the dessert experience.
I usually choose the second option.
Part of what makes Maiko so appealing to me, though, has nothing to do with the food.
It’s the convenience.
Matcha Cafe Maiko has a student discount, and it’s close to the SMFA. After long courses, I don’t always want to immediately go back to my dorm and start another assignment. Sometimes I need to get out, walk around and do something that has absolutely nothing to do with whatever project I have been working on all afternoon.
Maiko gives me an excuse to do that.
There is something comforting about having a place you can turn into part of your routine. Maiko isn’t necessarily a place I would spend hours studying or somewhere I would plan an entire evening around. It is a stop. A little detour from school. A reward for surviving another long day.
And as much as I would like to pretend that my trips there are spontaneous, they are usually pretty predictable. After a long day, when I’ve finished a big project, or when I need something to look forward to…
Matcha.
Maybe it is not the most financially responsible habit to develop in college, but I have decided that there are worse things to spend my money on than a caffeinated dessert that makes me happy.
Besides, after five hours of art school, I think I’ve earned it.
