TOKYO, Sep 08 (News On Japan) –
A worldwide increase in matcha has fueled what some are calling a “matcha bubble,” sending the worth of tea leaves sharply greater.
The surge in demand has left Japanese producers struggling to maintain up as international shoppers more and more embrace the drink’s distinctive taste and well being enchantment.
Foreign vacationers now make up the overwhelming majority at matcha workshops in Tokyo, with one faculty reporting that 9 out of ten attendees are guests from abroad. Many cite style and well being advantages as the important thing sights. An American vacationer stated, “I just love the taste. It’s healthy, too,” whereas a customer from Mexico famous, “It’s not too sweet, it has a special flavor, and it makes you feel good.”
Young individuals additionally level to matcha as a examine assist, saying it offers the correct amount of caffeine for focus with out the jitters of espresso. Specialty outlets overseas, resembling Zurich’s fashionable “Matcha Club,” now supply trendy areas the place clients sip inexperienced drinks whereas purchasing. Exports of Japanese inexperienced tea, together with matcha, have climbed steadily for 5 consecutive years, with 2025 already on observe to match final 12 months’s document.
Farmers and processors describe the scenario as each welcome and overwhelming. Tea grower Satoshi Horii stated, “It makes me smile—it’s really good news.” Prices for leaves have practically doubled from final 12 months, prompting farmers to shift extra acreage from sencha to tencha, the leaves used for matcha. Processors, nonetheless, face capability shortages. “We just can’t keep up with the orders,” stated Masayuki Maruyama of Maruyama Tea. His firm lately constructed a brand new matcha-only facility however is already struggling to fulfill demand from the U.S., Europe, and more and more, the Middle East. “It’s fair to call it a matcha bubble,” Maruyama stated.
The roots of the development stretch again many years. At Kyoto’s historic Nakamura Tokichi Honten, seventh-generation president Shogo Nakamura remembers pioneering matcha sweets within the late Nineteen Nineties. “We started with soft-serve ice cream,” he stated, noting that matcha was as soon as seen as a proper drink however was remodeled into an on a regular basis deal with. While his desserts attracted early overseas guests, Nakamura credit one other participant with sparking the increase: Häagen-Dazs. The model launched its “Green Tea” ice cream in 1996, introducing matcha taste to a wider viewers and paving the best way for the worldwide craze.
Source: TBS