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Matcha has become the ultimate drink of the wellness generation. The favourite remedy of the ‘clean girls’ who consume it after their pilates or barre classes as a substitute for coffee with antioxidant and energising properties that do not alter their nervous system. Or not so much.
Both on the internet and in real life, this type of Japanese green tea is mostly consumed as a drink with milk, but also as a product that brands, chefs or pastry chefs have wanted to version from their field. We can find everything from matcha cakes to candles or ‘superfood’ gumdrops coloured in bright green, such as those sold by Kourtney Kardashian’s brand lemme.
Although matcha has been around for many centuries, ever since Buddhist monks discovered it, it is only in recent years that it has gained worldwide popularity and has become part of our lifestyle. The tea comes in powdered form to be mixed with hot water and dissolved with a bamboo whisk known as a ‘cha-sen’.
Unfortunately, having experienced such a boom, matcha looks set to experience a shortage, reports the Japan Times. In fact, Kyoto tea companies such as Marukyu Koyamaen have been forced to set purchasing limits in line with their low stocks.
The problem behind all this is that the viral tea is of the first-flush variety, a type of matcha that is only harvested once a year and was once reserved exclusively for ceremonies.
The surprising thing about all this is that, while the matcha boom has been experienced all over the world, its consumption in Japan is declining. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture reports that more than half of the country’s matcha is exported, and that from 2010 to 2023, tea production has almost tripled.
The popularity of matcha is thus contributing significantly to the Japanese economy, but scaling up production is very difficult, as matcha leaves take up to five years to grow, and then have to be ground into powder.
Finally, another unsolved problem for matcha producers is the lack of farmers on tea plantations: the government reports that between 2000 and 2020, the number of workers in the fields has decreased by 77%. Otherwise, the viral matcha latte craze could soon fizzle out.
