29-year-old making $250k in tech went 'undercover' at a coffee chain before opening her own matcha cafe

Despite earning roughly $250,000 a year as a software engineer, Michelle Yeung felt increasingly disconnected from the work. "I wanted to transition into something where I was making someone's day better or making someone happier in some way," she tells CNBC Make It. Rather than quitting right away, she spent months exploring what might come next. In the summer of 2024, Yeung started thinking seriously about opening a matcha cafe in Manhattan after noticing a lack of high-quality options in the city, asking herself "Why is my own matcha better?" But Yeung wasn't going to leave her high-paying job without a plan. Michelle Yeung inside Matcha House. Mickey Todiwala Before leaving software engineering, she worked 5 a.m. Starbucks shifts to learn cafe operations, traveled to Japan to research matcha and accumulated savings she would later use to help launch the business. Today, she runs Matcha House on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The business is on track to be profitable in its first year and is gradually recouping its startup costs. "I'm so much happier now than I was before," she says. Working 'undercover' at Starbucks: 'I was on my own little mission' Once Yeung decided a matcha cafe might be the right next step, she set out to learn everything she could before leaving software engineering. She traveled to Japan to study how matcha, a drink made from finely ground green tea powder, was sourced, prepared and served. …