Japan's premium powdered green tea, matcha, is experiencing a global supply shortage. As matcha drinks and desserts gain popularity on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, demand is outpacing supply, leading to a 'war to buy a container.'
According to The New York Times (NYT) on the 24th (local time), Narita Naret, 25, who lives in Oregon, USA, received an alert around midnight to buy three containers of matcha and completed the purchase online in just a few minutes. He noted, "It's like buying rare sneakers or limited-edition figures." The scenes resembling a hoarding competition have become commonplace in the current matcha consumer market.
Matcha is a high-quality tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies, made by finely grinding green tea leaves into a powder form. The production process is much more demanding than that of regular leaf tea, and the better the quality of the tea, the more effort it takes. The leaves must be grown away from direct sunlight, and after harvesting, they must be ground for a long time using a special stone mill. As a result, only about 50 grams can be produced per hour.
Industry experts have analyzed that matcha is gaining attention as a substitute for coffee, coinciding with the perception of it as a 'healthy caffeine.' With trending matcha latte, matcha ice cream, and matcha dessert content on TikTok and Instagram, there is explosive demand worldwide. In fact, Australia's matcha importer, Maison Coco, reported that its sales had more than tripled from the first to the second quarter of this year.
However, the problem is the supply. According to Japanese government statistics, the dedicated tea leaves used for matcha production, known as 'tencha,' amount to only about 4,600 tons (t) out of the total tea production in Japan in 2023. This is extremely low compared to regular leaf tea, such as sencha (over 40,000 t). Moreover, most matcha-producing farms in Japan are operated by elderly farmers in family units, and there is not a significant influx of young people.
Anna Poain, director of the Japan Tea Association, stated, "Expanding farms or building new factories takes more than five years," adding that "farmers are not confident about the matcha boom, which may just be a temporary trend." He noted that "the situation has improved somewhat since the spring harvest, but supply shortages could become severe again in the second half of the year."
Demand is skyrocketing to unprecedented levels. The premium tea brand 'Sazen Tea' in Kyoto, Japan, predicted that its monthly matcha sales, which were 2,700 in September last year, would reach 14,000 this September. Sazen Tea has implemented a limited quantity and small packaging sales strategy targeting overseas customers, including those in the United States, but it stated that "it cannot keep up with demand."
Some brands have started emergency responses, including halting sales, limiting purchase quantities, and raising prices. In fact, a popular brand's 40-gram premium matcha sells out within minutes of restocking, leading to the emergence of paid alert services to monitor stock.
Naret, who has enjoyed drinking matcha since high school, stated, "These days, if I don't complete the purchase within a few minutes of hearing about restocking news, I can't buy it." He assessed that matcha is not just a passing trend but has established itself as a 'premium food culture.'
However, some argue that such demand may not be sustainable. Experts pointed out that "just as TikTok created a trend, trends can disappear at any time due to another trend." There are concerns that if the essential elements of matcha production - 'quality, effort, and time' - cannot keep pace with the speed of trendy consumption, the Japanese matcha industry could face contraction.