No more matcha? Demand for powdered Japanese green tea leads to global shortages

South China Morning Post

3 days ago

At Kettl Tea, a minimalist matcha bar in Los Angeles, only four types of the Japanese green tea are in stock. The menu usually boasts 25 kinds, but social media stardom has led to a global shortage of powdered matcha.
'One of the things we struggle with is telling customers that, unfortunately, we don't have what they want,' said Zach Mangan, the shop's founder.
With matcha's deep grassy aroma, intense colour and pick-me-up effects, its popularity 'has grown just exponentially over the last decade, but much more so in the last two to three years', the 40-year-old explained.
It is now 'a cultural touchpoint in the Western world', found everywhere, from ice-cream flavour boards to Starbucks.
This has caused the market for matcha to nearly double over a year, Mangan said.
'No matter what we try, there's just not more to buy.'
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Thousands of miles away in Sayama, a city about 40km (25 miles) northwest of the Japanese capital, Tokyo, Masahiro Okutomi – the 15th generation to run his family's tea business – is overwhelmed by demand.
'I had to put on our website that we are not accepting any more matcha orders,' he said.
Producing the powder is an intensive process: the leaves, called tencha, are shaded for several weeks before harvest to concentrate the taste and nutrients.
They are then carefully deveined by hand, dried and finely ground in a machine.
It takes years of training to make matcha properly, Okutomi said.
Masahiro Okutomi at his farm in Sayama, Japan. Photo: AFP
'It's a long-term endeavour requiring equipment, labour and investment … I'm glad the world is taking an interest in our matcha … but in the short term, it's almost a threat – we just can't keep up.'
The matcha boom has been fuelled by online influencers like Andie Ella, who has more than 600,000 subscribers on YouTube and has started her own brand of matcha products.
At the pastel-pink pop-up shop she opened in Tokyo's hip Harajuku district, dozens of fans excitedly waited to take a photo with the 23-year-old Frenchwoman or buy cans of strawberry or white chocolate flavoured matcha.
'Matcha is visually very appealing,' Ella said.
To date, her matcha brand, produced in Japan's rural Mie region, has sold 133,000 cans. Launched in November 2023, it now has eight employees.
'Demand has not stopped growing,' she said.
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In 2024, matcha accounted for over half of the 8,798 tonnes of green tea exported from Japan, according to data from the agriculture ministry. That is twice as much as a decade ago.
Tokyo tea shop Jugetsudo, located in the touristy former fish market area of Tsukiji, is attempting to manage its stock levels amid escalating demand.
'We don't strictly impose purchase limits, but we sometimes refuse to sell large quantities to customers suspected of reselling,' said store manager Shigehito Nishikida.
'In the past two or three years, the craze has intensified: customers now want to make matcha themselves, like they see on social media,' he added.
Matcha is added to drinks at Kettl Tea in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP
Anita Jordan, a 49-year-old Australian tourist in Japan, said her 'kids are obsessed with matcha'.
'They sent me on a mission to find the best one,' she said with a laugh.
The global matcha market might falter if United States President Donald Trump's tariffs on Japanese products – currently 10 per cent – rise to a threatened 24 per cent.
Shortages and tariffs mean 'we do have to raise prices. We don't take it lightly,' said Mangan at Kettl Tea, though it has not dampened demand so far.
'Customers are saying: 'I want matcha before it runs out.''
Japan's government is encouraging tea producers to scale up their farming operations to reduce costs. But that risks sacrificing quality, and 'in small rural areas, it's almost impossible', grower Okutomi said.
The number of tea plantations in Japan has fallen to a quarter of what it was 20 years ago as farmers age and struggle to secure successors, he added.
'Training a new generation takes time … it can't be improvised.'