Matcha's global takeover — and the great shortage

Matcha is shade-grown Japanese green tea, stone-ground from a leaf called tencha into a fine powder you whisk rather than steep. For centuries its main customers were tea-ceremony practitioners. Then "MatchaTok," a wall of wellness influencers and a record wave of tourism to Japan turned it into the default order at cafés from Seoul to Bangalore.

Why the world went green

It hits every current button at once: it photographs beautifully, carries a "healthier than coffee" halo (L-theanine, steadier caffeine), and signals a certain quiet, ritualistic taste. Japanese green-tea exports jumped 16% by volume and 25% by value in 2024, and a record 37 million tourists helped drain domestic supply.

When demand outran the harvest

Demand has now collided with agriculture. The Global Japanese Tea Association has called it the first matcha shortage in history. Tencha production in Kyoto fell sharply — around 40% for hand-picked Uji tencha — as record heatwaves battered harvests. Prices at a recent Kyoto auction rose up to 170% year on year; retail matcha overseas has roughly doubled, and shops in Japan have imposed purchase limits. A worrying side-effect: cheaper, lower-grade powder is increasingly being relabelled "ceremonial."

How to buy it now

Matcha is genuinely good and here to stay — this isn't a fad, it's a permanent category. But you're now paying more for a market flooded with mislabelled powder, so quality vigilance matters. Buy from a roaster that names the region and harvest; ignore the "ceremonial-grade" sticker, which is unregulated marketing.