A year is a long time: enough to call a place home, enough to strip away the bright facade of newness. I’ve spent my year abroad at this university,...
In January 2025, Cherwell provided some guidance on this issue by offering the student body a definitive ranking of Oxford matcha. Since then, however, there have been some new developments.
The University of Oxford, with its ancient colleges and lofty spires, has a reputation of intellectual prestige on the one hand and eccentricity on the other. Across the river Cherwell, its newer neighbour is a modern, dynamic, and sprightly alternative full of industrious opportunities. Yet, it is inevitably still a place where “I go to Oxford,” if left unspecified, tends to be followed by ‘no, not that one’.
Matcha, rich in antioxidants and caffeinated, is my go-to when I don’t want anything espresso. Yet not every store in Oxford sells it – I have been a victim of many bad matcha lattes over the years. Here’s a ranking of the matcha lattes I’ve had in Oxford.
So the Oxford workload, rather than triggering a stress response, has instead desensitised me to the fear of academic failure. Exposure therapy, I suppose. It’s very freeing.