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Associated Press

Clad in an elegant kimono of pale green, tea ceremony instructor Keiko Kaneko uses a tiny wooden spoon to place a speck of matcha into a porcelain bowl.
She froths up the special powdered Japanese green tea with a bamboo whisk after pouring hot water with a ladle from a pot simmering over hot coals.
Her solemn, dance-like movements celebrate a Zen-like transient moment, solitude broken up by the ritualistic sharing of a drink.
No wonder Kaneko and others serious about sado, or “the way of tea”, are a bit taken aback by how matcha is suddenly popping up in all sorts of things, from lattes and ice cream to cakes and chocolate.

No one knows for sure who started the global matcha boom, which has been going on for several years. But it is clear that harvests, especially of fine-grade matcha, cannot keep up with demand.
Matcha is a type of tea that is grown in shade, steamed and then ground into a very fine powder.
It is processed differently from regular green tea, with the best matcha ground using stone mills. Switching from one to the other takes time. No farmer wants to switch and then find that matcha fever has died.
The Japanese agricultural ministry has been working to boost tea growth, offering help for farmers with new machines, special soil, financial aid and counselling to try to coax tea growers to switch to matcha from regular green “sencha” tea.
“We don’t want this to end up just a fad, but instead make matcha a standard as a flavour and Japanese global brand,” says Tomoyuki Kawai, who works at the tea section of the agricultural ministry.
Production of tencha, the kind of tea used for matcha, nearly tripled from 1,452 tons in 2008 to 4,176 tons in 2023, according to government data.
Japan’s tea exports have more than doubled over the last decade, with the United States now accounting for about a third.
Much of that growth is of matcha, according to Japanese government data. The concern is that with labour shortages as ageing farmers leave their fields, the matcha crunch may worsen in the coming years.
Other countries, including China and some Southeast Asian countries, are also producing matcha, so Japan is racing to establish its branding as the origin of the tea.
Tea-ceremony practitioners are not angered by the craze, just perplexed. They hope it will lead to people taking an interest in sado, whose followers have been steadily declining. But they are not counting on it.

The tea ceremony is “reminding us to cherish every encounter as unique and unrepeatable”, says Kaneko, who is a licensed instructor.
She points to the special small entrance to her tea house. Noble samurai had to stoop to enter, leaving their swords behind them. The message: when partaking of tea, everyone is equal.
The purity and stillness of the ceremony are a world apart from the craze for matcha that is brewing outside the tea house.
Matcha drinks have become popular at cafes from Melbourne to Los Angeles. The Matcha Crème Frappuccino is standard fare at Starbucks coffee outlets everywhere. Various cookbooks offer matcha recipes, and foreign tourists to Japan are taking home tins and bags of matcha as souvenirs.
While matcha is not meant to be drunk in great quantities at once like regular tea or juices, it is suddenly being consumed like other fruit and flavours.

It was a 16th-century Buddhist monk in Kyoto called Sen no Rikyu who helped shape the traditions of the tea ceremony and of wabi-sabi, the rustic, imperfect, but pure and nature-oriented aesthetic often seen as synonymous with high-class Japanese culture.
Minoru Handa, the third-generation chief of the suburban tea store Tokyo Handa-en, which sells green and brown tea as well as matcha, says the appeal of matcha is in its versatility. Unlike tea leaves, the powder can be easily mixed into just about anything.
“The health boom and the interest in Japanese culture have added to the momentum,” he says, stirring a machine that is roasting brown tea, sending a pungent aroma through the streets. “It’s safe and healthy, so there’s practically no reason it won’t sell.”
His business, which dates back to 1815, has a long-standing relationship with growers in Kagoshima, in southwestern Japan, and has a steady supply of matcha. To guard against hoarders, he limits purchases at his store to one can per customer.
Handa, who has exhibited his prize-winning tea in the US and Europe, expects that growers will increase the supply and shrugs off the hullabaloo over the matcha shortage.
But Anna Poian, co-director and founder of the Global Japanese Tea Association, thinks lower-grade matcha should be used for things like lattes, since a lot of matcha has to be put in to be able to taste it.
“It’s a bit of a shame. It’s a bit of a waste,” she says, adding that the best matcha should be reserved for the real thing.
“It is a very delicate, complex tea that is produced with the idea to be drunk only with water.”


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Food and Drinks

Will craze for Japanese matcha fuel a revival of Japan’s ‘way of tea’? Experts hope so

A Japanese tea ceremony practitioner whisks matcha with a chasen. Some hope that the global matcha craze will fuel interest in Japan’s “the way of tea” traditions. Photo: Shutterstock

Tea ceremony instructor Keiko Kaneko performs a tea ceremony at her tea house in Tokyo. Photo: AP

A matcha kakigori shaved ice dessert served at a cafe in Tokyo. Photo: AP

A Starbucks Matcha Crème Frappuccino. Photo: Shutterstock

Japanese matcha has social media in a froth. Can we all just calm down a bit?

A hand-whisked Uji matcha latte is seen at Hong Kong matcha specialist Via Tokyo, which has seen the cost of the Japanese green tea rise as a result of an influencer-fuelled craze. Photo: Instagram/viatokyocafe



Part of QissaGoi’s post about matcha going viral. Photo: Instagram/qissagoi.ae

Kosei Kamatani is the founder of Via Tokyo, a matcha dessert and drink shop in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam

A May 2025 post from Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times’ food-focused Instagram account suggests a hojicha craze could replace the matcha one. Photo: Instagram/delhifoodies.htcity

No more matcha? How demand for powdered Japanese tea is leading to global shortages

Matcha is added to drinks at Kettl Tea in Los Angeles, California. The rising popularity of the powdered Japanese tea is creating challenges for producers, who are struggling to keep up with demand. Photo: AFP

Kettl Tea customers with their matcha drinks in Los Angeles. Photo: AFP

Masahiro Okutomi at his farm in Sayama, Japan. Photo: AFP

Matcha for drinks at Kettl Tea in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP

Okutomi at his tea field in Sayama. Photo: AFP

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Matcha’s use in Starbucks drinks and more has tea ceremony performers perplexed. But it could boost appreciation of Japan’s tea traditions


Matcha’s use in Starbucks drinks and more has tea ceremony performers perplexed. But it could boost appreciation of Japan’s tea traditions.


Japan

Will craze for Japanese matcha fuel a revival of Japan’s ‘way of tea’? Experts hope so

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Matcha’s use in Starbucks drinks and more has tea ceremony performers perplexed. But it could boost appreciation of Japan’s tea traditions

Matcha’s use in Starbucks drinks and more has tea ceremony performers perplexed. But it could boost appreciation of Japan’s tea traditions