Last order for matcha: NTU’s final hall-based business

SINGAPORE — Every week, a queue of eager customers would line a dormitory corridor, waiting for their orders to be taken. In a room, every inch of floor and bed space would be occupied by someone sipping on his hand-whisked matcha or munching on a brown butter cookie. This was the atmosphere of 1.1mol — Lee Ming Jun’s hall-based café. It was a common sight for almost 11 months, before his business was shut down via a Zoom call.

The Student Affairs Office’s (SAO) directive was due to a food safety concern highlighted by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) that there were no running water sources readily available next to the drink-making stations — which in Ming Jun’s case, was his room.

“I was quite disappointed because I felt like I had built quite a cool [community] of people behind this, and I felt like I had to throw most of that away,” said 22-year-old Ming Jun, a second-year student from Nanyang Business School. 

Prior to starting his café, he had received a food safety certificate from a previous part-time food and beverage job.

The Nanyang Chronicle understands that within the past five months, at least three hall-based student-run businesses have been shut down by SAO and SFA. The other two businesses are Matcha-ryou and 12 Cups Café, both of which were also featured in the same Straits Times article as Ming Jun in March 2026.

SAO and SFA did not respond by press time. 

A nostalgic next-door café

Some of the café’s most popular items included the Iced Milo with Salted Horlicks Foam ($3.80), the Wang Wang Milk Matcha ($4.50), and the Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie ($3.50). 

“I want to always touch base with very nostalgic flavours – food and feelings that remind people of their Singaporean childhood.” 

The business received immense support from his fellow Hall 9 residents. His hall’s Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC) had invited him to run a booth at multiple hall events and several of his hall friends had also helped him distribute cookie samples at other locations. 

Callista Gani, 22, a second-year student from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was one of Ming Jun’s regulars. 

She said, “We found out that we stayed in the same hall and the same block, so it was super convenient for us. Other than that, I think it's just community, like you get to meet someone new from the hall.”

Several of Ming Jun’s customers ended up becoming his good friends. 

Gracia Teo, 20, a second-year student from the School of Social Sciences, would frequent his business every week — she wound up volunteering as a food assistant after he approached her for help.

“It’s very much like a third space to socialise,” said Gracia. “It's a good activity and a good way to waste time when we have nothing better to do together.”

She also cited convenience as a key factor for customers.

“A lot of halls are not that near the main campus, and getting drinks like matcha and nice cookies is actually harder than a lot of people think it would be,” she said.

Currently, matcha options in NTU are few and far between, and mostly clustered in North Spine and South Spine. Students typically have to travel to these specific locations to satisfy their matcha cravings, with prices ranging from $4 to $10.

Support strengthened over time and the business’s Telegram channel, which functioned as its main communication platform, rose to around 400 subscribers via word-of-mouth and flyer distributions in Hall 9.

He broke news of 1.1mol’s closure in the channel on June 10 and it was met with a barrage of crying emojis and negative reactions.

“We definitely do feel the loss a lot, because it becomes a schedule,” said Gracia. 

“Every Wednesday… we all race to get the cookies because he only bakes so many… and suddenly that thing is gone,” she added.

Looking back

“One thing that I would really carry with me is experience,” said Ming Jun. “It really opens your mind and perspective to a lot of kind people out there.”

Above all, he would miss meeting people at events. While passing them his drinks, he would always spare a minute to chat and get to know them.

“I wouldn’t even call them customers at this point, they are like friends.”