Aceae launches Australian botanical matcha, blending ceremonial grade Japanese matcha with native lemon myrtle and strawberry gum

For immediate release  |  Business & founders

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — TUESDAY 14 JULY 2026

The matcha they wanted didn't exist. So two Australians built it.

Aceae launches with a founder story and a distinctly Australian idea: pairing Japanese ceremonial matcha with native botanicals, at the peak of a global matcha moment.

Aceae. Australian botanical matcha, made with ceremonial grade Japanese matcha. Shop the range at aceae.co.

Ali van Woerden and Kylie Milek went looking for a daily ritual worth keeping, made with real ingredients they could actually pronounce. They could not find the one they wanted. So they built it. The result is Aceae, an Australian botanical matcha brand launching this week, pairing ceremonial grade Japanese matcha with Australian native botanicals.

We wanted a daily ritual worth keeping, made with real ingredients we could actually pronounce. We looked everywhere and could not find the one we wanted, so we made it ourselves.

Ali van Woerden, co-founder of Aceae

Van Woerden and Milek are the two behind it, and they are unusually particular. [Founders: add one line on your background here, for example years spent in food, design, hospitality or building brands.] What they share is an exacting standard for taste and sourcing, and a conviction that the ritual you return to every day is worth getting right. The range is plant-led, its Lemon Myrtle and Strawberry Gum blends fully vegan, and the founders say botanicals will always be its heart.

The timing is deliberate. Matcha is having its biggest moment yet, and ceremonial grade supply from Japan has tightened, with auction prices for the shade grown leaf roughly doubling into 2026. Van Woerden and Milek saw an opening in that moment to build something unmistakably Australian: a matcha defined not only by the Japanese tea, but by native botanicals grown here.

The exciting part is the Australian side of the cup. Native botanicals are ours to explore, and they let us give people a reason to fall for matcha all over again. That is the opportunity we are building on.

Kylie Milek, co-founder of Aceae

Aceae is built as a subscription first, direct to consumer business, selling at aceae.co at a recommended $39 per 70g pouch, with wholesale and hospitality supply alongside. The founders are deliberate that Aceae is a botanical ritual brand rather than a single product line, with room to grow into other Australian botanical formats over time. Matcha, they say, is where they start, not where they finish.

Aceae is available now at aceae.co, and is opening wholesale accounts with specialty retail and hospitality, beginning in Sydney.

ENDS

About Aceae

Aceae (pronounced Ay-see-eye) is an Australian botanical matcha brand, founded by Ali van Woerden and Kylie Milek. Aceae blends ceremonial grade Japanese matcha with Australian native botanicals across three blends: Lemon Myrtle, Strawberry Gum, and Vanilla and Australian Honey. The brand is built around one idea: the daily ritual as something considered, unhurried and distinctly Australian. Shop the range at aceae.co.

Notes to editors

●      Aceae (pronounced Ay-see-eye) is an Australian botanical matcha brand, founded by Ali van Woerden and Kylie Milek. Shop at aceae.co.

●      Range: three blends. Lemon Myrtle and Strawberry Gum are built on Australian native botanicals and are vegan. Vanilla and Australian Honey contains Australian honey and is not suitable for vegans.

●      Each pouch is 70g, approximately 20 serves. Recommended retail price $39.

●      The matcha is ceremonial grade, first harvest, shade grown and stone milled, sourced from Japan. The botanicals are Australian native.

●      Lemon myrtle and strawberry gum are native Australian botanicals with a long history of use in Aboriginal food culture.

●      Prepared hot or cold. Available direct at aceae.co, with wholesale and hospitality supply available to trade on enquiry.

●      Market context on the ceremonial grade matcha market is drawn from industry reporting through 2025 and 2026, including the Global Japanese Tea Association. The founders are available for interview.

Media enquiries

Ali van Woerden, co-founder, Aceae

Email: ali@aceae.co

Web: aceae.co   |   Instagram: @aceae.co

High-resolution product imagery, samples and interviews available to media on request.