Welcome to matcha house!
“Tea is the magic key to the vault where my brain is kept."
- Frances Hardinge
Unlock your vault with matcha house.
about us
matcha house is a place to unlock your creativity. Our goal is simple: Inspire students to express themselves through writing and find joy in the process. We publish students’ writing on our website to forge connections with readers and inspire. We also conduct peer reviews on your writing (at no cost) to help students improve, and hold monthly contests for extra motivation!
Our name, matcha house, was inspired by Java House, a coffee shop in Iowa City that our founder frequently visited while attending the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. At Java House, she and her classmates lounged on pink velvet couches, sipping iced coffees as they wrote, chatted, and shared their writing with one another. We hope that matcha house replicates that same cozy, cooperative, inspiring space for young writers.
Our founder and her classmates from the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio at Java House in Iowa City, IA, the inspiration for matcha house
meet our founder
Ellie Bleharski, class of 2025 at Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California, began her journey into creative writing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Writing proved to be a cathartic exercise to express her thoughts and emotions, and allowed her to escape the confining walls of her home during an otherwise isolating time. Ellie published her first poem about her Okinawan great-grandmother in 2021 and has since immersed herself in writing. Ellie’s writing portrays the confusion inherent in her identity as both a mixed-race student in a predominantly white community and as an AAPI person in the world.
Ellie attended the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio in 2023, and thereafter continued her writing journey by starting a creative writing club at her high school. Ellie also started and currently leads a card-writing program for dementia residents at an assisted-living facility. Ellie hopes to help these dementia residents find joy in maintaining written communication with their family members for as long as possible. Ellie started machahouse-writers to forge a larger community of high school writers to come together.
When she is not writing, Ellie plays soccer, spends time with friends, and walks her dogs, Lucky and Daisy.