Whisking up dreams and passions
From her ‘lazy girl era’ to her ‘productive grind era’, Chazel Davine Ng turned her matcha dreams into a business reality.
The matcha craze has taken Singapore by storm, but for Chazel Davine Ng, it was never just a trend. The 19-year-old Ngee Ann Polytechnic student in the Diploma in Business Studies turned her obsession into a business and founded brewedbydavine – specialising in matcha drinks and home-baked desserts.
Starting up her business
In April 2025, while chatting with her boyfriend, the topic of starting a business casually came up in a conversation. That's when Chazel had a Eureka moment: why not start a home-based business selling matcha? Feeling motivated, she started brainstorming and ideating what her business would look like – from the logo design, to what she could sell.
brewedbydavine’s logo
From an impromptu decision, the idea of a business came to life.
“At the start the determination was there, like I wanted to start next week, but the planning actually took very long. From the recipe, to the ingredients and even the cup sizes, there were a lot of things I had to consider.”
Then came June, where Chazel took on a partnership with The Cheese Bar at Ngee Ann Polytechnic selling her home-baked desserts. While this was an exciting step forward, she still wanted more for herself. She knew she wanted to start up her matcha business – she just didn’t know where to begin.
The Cheese Bar and brewedbydavine collab poster
Chazel’s home-baked goods and desserts
But then came the golden opportunity.
In July 2025, as part of a module she was studying, Chazel and her team were tasked to come up with a business idea and create a pop-up store in school – and that’s where brewedbydavine began.
First pop-up
“I felt anxious and stressed, like the world was going to end. But I also knew that that was the push that I needed.”
From the pop-up, she learned discipline and organisation by creating checklists and planning setups, especially as she had to manage her assignments and her pop-up simultaneously.
Thanks to her team’s strong marketing efforts with viral videos and posts, the pop-up was a sell-out success – with 250 cups sold across all four days.
First pop-up poster & pictures
Home-based pop-up
Following the success of her school pop-up and the encouragement of her lecturer, she decided to go back to the original plan of starting her home-based matcha business.
She said, “Honestly, I was worried because I was scared there wouldn’t be people ordering. Bukit Batok is a more mature estate, I didn’t think a lot of people would come.”
Soft launching from 18-20 October 2025, Chazel feared that no one would appear – but she did not allow this anxiety to let her falter. She stepped up her marketing game which helped to bring traction to her business.
“The turnout was surprisingly good! We had around 20 customers for each day.”
Photos from home based pop-up
Customers discovered her from TikTok and word-of-mouth, with some even travelling down to support her.
How does she do it? Between school, this business, and multiple part-time jobs, here’s Chazel’s secret to how she manages everything.
“As long as I have time, like on the MRT, I won’t be scrolling TikTok, I’ll be editing my videos or doing voice overs.”
She believes in strict time management and making full use of the “pockets of time” throughout the day.
She admitted she used to be lazy and unproductive, and like every Gen Z, constantly doom scrolls all day. But after starting brewedbydavine, something she loves and wants to succeed, she learned to practice discipline, and how to appreciate the small breaks and moments in her day.
Challenges as a Gen Z Entrepreneur
Chazel admitted that her biggest struggles when it comes to her business is money and time.
“My business is entirely self-funded,” Chazel shared. “I don’t want to depend on other people for money so I have to work part-time jobs and also juggle school to keep it going.”
She states that Gen Z entrepreneurs don't have the financial freedom nor resources that more developed and older entrepreneurs may have. Even the smallest things, like for herself, transporting baked desserts, can be a challenge with no car or ease of transport.
Beyond the logistics of her business, Chazel notes that many young entrepreneurs struggle with time, motivation and consistency. But, she believes that while something may be intimidating, anyone can do it with genuine effort and passion.
“Entrepreneurship isn’t actually hard, it just requires a lot of discipline and initiative. And many people underestimate the difficulty of running and business and more importantly, sticking through it.”
Through her journey as a self-start up entrepreneur, she feels proud of herself for her character development of once being a “lazy” and “unmotivated" person, to being able to run a business that she loves and is passionate about successfully.
So… what’s next for Chazel and brewedbydavine?
She is happy to share that brewedbydavine drinks and desserts are now on the permanent menu at The Cheese Bar, so do drop by if you’d like a taste of her delicious matcha! Still, Chazel isn’t stopping her home-based pop ups yet, so keep your eyes peeled for future ones happening from time to time.
Follow @brewedbydavine on Instagram to keep up with her latest updates!
Photos Courtesy of Chazel Davine Ng
