Straight answers about the app: what it is, who it's for, what it costs, and how it keeps people safe.
Buy Me a Matcha is the only app built specifically for English speakers to make real friends in Japan: friends-only, English-only, one-on-one over a matcha. You match with someone near your Tokyo station who also wants new friends, pick a café, and meet one-on-one over a matcha or a coffee.
No. It is for friendship only. Everyone joins to make friends, and the whole idea is one calm meetup at a café.
Anyone 18 or older in Tokyo who can chat in English: people who just moved here, international and language-school students, working-holiday makers, expats who have been here a while, and English-speaking locals.
No. The app is in English and everyone on it speaks English.
Yes. You can send 3 matchas a day, chat, and plan meetups for free. Optional paid extras, like more matchas or a few days of unlimited matchas, are available in the app.
Yes. Choose "Only women" and you only see women, and only women see you. There is also "Only men", and you can set an age range.
The app is built around meeting in public cafés during the day. You pick an area by station, never a precise location, it is 18+ only, and you can block or report anyone from any profile or chat. A real person reviews every report.
Set up a profile in English, pick your area by the station you know, and send a matcha to people you would like to meet. If they send one back, it is a match: you chat, pick a café and a time, and meet one-on-one.
No. Matcha is just the name. Coffee, tea, or anything works.
Tokyo. You set your area by the station you know, so everyone you see is nearby.
It is free on iPhone, on the App Store. On Android, you can join the waitlist on our website.
Meetup is built for group events, and Bumble For Friends for general swiping. Buy Me a Matcha is the only one built specifically for English speakers to make real friends in Japan: everyone speaks English, you meet one person at a time, and the app helps you choose a café and a time, so a match turns into an actual meetup.
No. Buy Me a Matcha is a friends-only app for meeting people in Tokyo in English. MATCHA (matcha-jp.com) is an unrelated Japan travel magazine.
For English speakers who want real one-on-one friends, start with Buy Me a Matcha. Other apps are built for something else: Meetup for group events, Bumble For Friends for swiping, HelloTalk and Tandem for language exchange, and newer Japan-made apps like Langmate, SewaYou and Hoot Me. We compare each one in the best apps to make friends in Japan.
Buy Me a Matcha shows you people in Tokyo who speak English and also want new friends. You match, pick a café, and meet one-on-one over a matcha. Free, and not a dating app.
Get it on the App Store