Motorcycles and matcha, together? How? Saint-Urbain shows the way with its look for Motorcycle Matcha

Motorcycle Matcha is not your regular tea brand. Here, the story is as much about the tea as it is about how it was found. The brand came to life when its founder, Gaston Becherano, went on an expedition across Japan on two wheels, a journey that led to partnerships with three multi-generational farming families, “each producing matcha in small batches using time-honoured techniques.” This conversation between the artisanal quality of its tea and the brand’s adventurous soul is celebrated in many ways in its identity and packaging, designed by Saint-Urbain.

“From the beginning, we knew this project was different from other matcha brands – not just because it wanted to stand out, but because it embraced a world not traditionally associated with tea – motorcycles,” Creative Director Alex Ostroff tells us. “The pursuit of supreme quality extended beyond the tea itself to the journey of discovering it, whether through long highways or rugged off-road paths. The relentless search for the finest matcha from Japan’s diverse regions inspired us to create a graphic universe that bridges these two worlds.”

Both the worlds of motorcycle and tea brim with historic visual ephemera, so the first task for the team was to cast their eyes on the past. The team sifted through vintage T-shirts of Japanese motorcycle bands and minimalist designs of classic tea packaging. “The graphic universe of tea is vast, offering endless sources of inspiration. Expansive, clean spaces convey a sense of purity while reflecting the dedication and passion of those who cultivate tea,” Ostroff notes. “However, while these traditional elements are effective, they can sometimes feel repetitive and generic. It was essential for us to incorporate the mechanical elements and sense of freedom that motorcycles represent, creating a fresh and distinctive approach.”

The resulting identity skews heavily typographic, held together by a custom-designed wordmark, inspired by Japanese motorcycle license plates. The monogram is interesting too, with the stems of the ‘M’ turning into stripes, reminiscent of the flashing painted lines on roads “travelled by Gaston in his search for tea farms in Japan,” says Ostroff. “This versatility allows the monogram to stretch horizontally, adding dynamism and ensuring it remains an integral, relevant feature of the brand identity.”

The characterful, almost mechanical-looking wordmark – with its distinctive ‘M’ and ‘A’s – was paired with Suisse Int’l Medium for descriptive texts, and Plaak Series 4 44 Bold-B, which adds an industrial, polished touch to the design. These typefaces are seen at play on the packaging, which uses text, a single line of colour, and distinctive shapes to differentiate between the three variants of matcha, giving each batch its own personality, while creating a system that is easy to replicate in the future.