We opened a boba tea shop. It became our playground for creativity.

I’ve made exactly one bubble tea in three years of running MatMat boba tea with my wife. I’m a terrible bobarista.

I’ve made exactly one bubble tea in three years of running MatMat boba tea with my wife. I’m a terrible bobarista, I'm a digital designer and used to be a photographer. I've spent most of my career obsessing over visuals and looks. But running MatMat taught me that how something looks is 20% of what makes it work.

During the last 3 years, we served over 70,000 bubble teas.

MatMat slowly grew into something that felt like our playground more than just business. We learned not only about running a boba tea store, but about people, trust, taste, experiments and what it really means to build something that becomes part of a Vinohrady community.

Here are the 4 things that stayed with me.

We directed the vision

From the beginning we knew what was missing in the market. Most bubble tea places leaned into kawaii aesthetics and a kids audience. We felt bubble tea could be done with more care. Better ingredients, better craft, better design. Something that could sit next to a good coffee shop or wine bar and feel at Vinohrady.

So we designed everything intentionally.

With only 30 m², every meter counted. Together with @ateliersever we created an open rounded bar that saves space and invites people in. With @annasun we built a visual language that carried across web,menu, cups, merch and much more...

Nothing felt random. Everything came from our taste. I’ve always been more hands-on. Photography, design, making things myself. I never imagined being in a managerial role or delegating stuff to others but working with others - I learned that I can take a helping hand because its still s collaborative work. I let that vision dictate every decision — space, visuals, merch, photography. That’s brand design in its purest form. But I learned I can’t do it all - Take an example in our phototoshoot Humans of MatMat by Kuba Zeman. I came up with the idea and there was no-one better to capture the essence of it into reality, even though I was a photographer before.

We grew alongside our team

Since we weren’t behind the bar ourselves, we had to trust our team from day one.

At first that felt unnatural. When you build something from scratch, you want to control every detail.

But we quickly realized our job wasn’t to do everything ourselves. It was to pass on the vision. Not just recipes or instructions, but taste for what is good. What feels “cringe.” The work was distributed, but the standards stayed consistent.

At the same time, something else happened that I didn’t expect.

Most of our team is Gen Z, 10-14 years younger than us, at a completely different stage of life. We use Discord for team comms.

Being around that perspective changed us too.

They kept us current. With music, culture, internet trends, small shifts in how people communicate and hang out. Things we probably wouldn’t learn in our own circles.

So it wasn’t just us teaching them how we see things. It went both ways.

They broadened our view just as much as we shaped the brand.

Over time, MatMat felt less like something we were managing and more like something we were building together, across different ages and life stages.

And I think that mix is exactly what gave the place its character. We weren’t designing for a specific customer type anymore. The customers became naturally diverse.

MatMat as an art project

At first it was just about getting the basics right. Recipes, workflow, service, surviving the first months. But once the place felt stable, we loved trying new ideas.

MatMat became our playground for experiments. Things that we wouldn’t be able to do anywhere else. Once you build something you care about, you naturally start experimenting.

We started trying things just because they felt interesting or useful.
We vibecoded a small spinning discount app, which was fun.
We had our branded chocolate, analog cameras, key chains, t-shirts.
We hosted DJ parties and slowly turned the shop into a tiny community space.
We opened a second branch and learned the hard way what actually scales.
We collaborated with architects, designers, photographers, and other talented friends we admired, people we probably would have never met, if we didn’t have MatMat.

We were just following curiosity and started with an idea, but ended with a whole product that matches the brand and us.

The shop gave us a space to test ideas in real life, not just talk about them. We were learning new skills, building side projects, meeting great people, and growing alongside it.

MatMat became a small platform for everything we wanted to explore.

MatMat will always be personal

Websites, apps and Figma files. Most of my work today lives on a screen. You ship something and then never see the users in person. Just numbers on dashboards. I can’t feel how it lives in the real world.

MatMat is the opposite for me.

I walk past Vinohrady and see someone holding our cup. I see people sitting under Zizkov tower with friends having MatMat. I recognize regulars and people who have it as part of their walking routine. You watch kids grow up year by year.

The results aren’t just numbers on an app dashboard. They’re everyday moments. Most designers never see their users. I ran a boba tea shop and for the first time I could actually watch how something I build lived in the real world. From the simple idea to full fetch product.

Someone bringing their parents when they visit Prague.
Someone going on a first date at MatMat.
Families who made JZP walk for milk tea their little ritual.
Our team being there for 3 years and becoming best friends.

Those things have nothing to do with revenue, but they mean more to me and my wife than any number.

That’s when I realized we weren’t just operating a business. We were shaping a small piece of the community.

In a weird way, MatMat became our playground. A place where we could test ideas, design things, and learn by doing.

But when I look back, the most valuable part still isn’t the projects.

The relationships and stories are what makes MatMat.

It stays with us in a much more personal way.