After weathering many life challenges recently, Sen Hoi Kiatsak Udomnak has returned with a smile and abundant positive energy, arm in arm with his girlfriend, Nong Cake Som Sukanya Phanjumpee. They have launched a new business opening a matcha and bagel shop. He shared that his life now is filled with happiness upon waking, and opened up about why, after drinking coffee for 20 years, he changed his mind to open a matcha shop and surprisingly grew to love matcha.
How does it feel to start this new business?
"I have to say, whatever we do brings happiness. When we do something we enjoy, happiness follows. This shop began from a place of mismatch. I wasn't even a matcha drinker. I had been drinking Americano coffee for nearly 15-20 years. Whenever I drank it, I would share photos with many people in the industry—I've experienced it all in that scene.
But now, being with my girlfriend who drinks matcha, I thought, since we're a couple, why not open my mind? I tried something new I had never done before. Once I tasted it, it wasn't that coffee was bad, but matcha makes me feel refreshed all day. Its first taste was very agreeable. So we looked at each other because Som wanted to have a café. We decided to do matcha and started studying it.
That day, we tasted 50 different varieties—our tongues were quite rough from it—until we found the variety we wanted. It has a nutty flavor, like nuts, not seaweed-like. Once we had that, we began studying and practicing whisking. We took one of the shop's staff along with Som and me to learn together. At first, I tried but it didn't really work for me, but she succeeded. So we opened the shop. The important next step was deciding on the name.
How did you come up with this name?
"The name actually combines mine and my girlfriend's names: Hoi and Som—HOISOM. But I felt I wanted to be the supportive partner, so I decided to put the letter 'I' from my name at the end. Suddenly, it looked Japanese—HOSOMI. When we looked up the meaning, as my nieces who designed the logo told me, it means 'perfect harmony in difference.' That was quite a lucky coincidence, so I think the name is a gift from fate.
The shop has been open for over 10 days now. Besides matcha, it's also matcha and bagels. We tried bagels in Shanghai, and they were delicious. But if we're going to sell them here, the shop has to have a distinctive identity. Look at the logo—my girlfriend Som said it needed uniqueness. We took my tied-up hair and made it into a bagel shape. Besides being a bagel, it includes other elements that fit this style, giving it a unique character.
Now that we've been open for over 10 days, I want to sincerely thank everyone. Some came just to support us, and I deeply appreciate it. We want to do something that feels comfortable and wake up happy each day.
Did you not feel happy before?
"That's in the past now. I have had happy times before. I believe that life is like walking on two legs; ultimately, we have to keep moving forward. Whatever happens, we should be happy, do what we want to do, wake up wanting to work, and look forward to doing more."
How much did you invest in this shop?
"The amount isn't that much. The hardest part for us was that matcha was very unfamiliar territory. We had to study it ourselves thoroughly. The challenge was learning and mastering it. We might do other things later, but this one we want to do well and understand completely."
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