At Kettl Tea, a minimalist tea shop in Los Angeles, 21 of the 25 varieties of matcha were sold out, reflecting a global shortage fueled by explosive demand from social media.
“No matter how hard we try, there’s just nothing left to sell,” sighs Zach Mangan, founder of Kettl. He says matcha consumption has nearly doubled in the past year alone.
Across the Pacific, in Sayama, Japan – 40km from Tokyo – Masahiro Okutomi, the 15th generation heir to a tea-making family, has had to stop taking matcha orders because he can’t get enough to deliver. “I’m happy that matcha is loved by the world … but at this rate, we can’t catch up,” he said.
Making matcha is a painstaking process. Tencha tea leaves must be shaded from the sun for weeks before being harvested, then painstakingly de-veined, dried, and ground into a fine powder by machine. It takes years to train someone to make matcha properly. And right now, supply is running slower than TikTok and Instagram can make a green matcha latte go viral.
The media push has come from influencers like Andie Ella (600,000 YouTube subscribers), who recently opened a pop-up shop in Tokyo’s Harajuku selling strawberry and white chocolate matcha. Since launching in November 2023, she has sold 133,000 cans of matcha. “The matcha looks too good to pass up,” Ella says.
According to data from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture , in 2024, matcha accounted for more than half of the total 8,798 tons of green tea exported – double the amount from 10 years ago.
At Jugetsudo in Tokyo’s old Tsukiji fish market, the surge in customers has been so dramatic that staff have sometimes had to turn down bulk orders to avoid scalping. “People want to make matcha at home, like what they see online,” said manager Shigehito Nishikida.
“My kids are obsessed with matcha,” said Australian tourist Anita Jordan. “They tasked me with finding the best one to bring home.”
At Kettl, matcha can be made into a latte or drunk neat, hand-whisked with a chasen in a ceramic bowl, starting at $10 a cup. If you want to take it home, 20 grams of matcha powder can cost up to $150.
The Japanese government is encouraging expansion of tea cultivation to lower prices, but that could affect quality. “In small rural areas, expansion is almost impossible,” Okutomi warns. “Tea makers are getting older without successors. Training a new generation is not something that can be done overnight.”
According to HOAI PHUONG (ACCORDING TO SCMP, AKI MATCHA)/Cong Luan Newspaper
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