Matcha in Short Supply amid Global Boom

Berlin, Jan. 4 (Jiji Press)–Matcha is in short supply as the Japanese green tea is at the center of a global boom. In addition to the popularity of matcha lattes and ice cream, there is also growing public interest in the traditional way matcha is served. While this is good news for Japanese tea farmers, the high demand has led to the circulation of low-quality, foreign-made matcha. Matchasome, a matcha specialty cafe, is located in a Berlin neighborhood popular among young people. One of its most popular drinks is the banana bread matcha, a matcha latte with a banana flavor. Customers make long lines outside the cafe in the summertime, according to its owner, Julia Winkels, 47. In 2022, Winkels opened the cafe with the hope of offering an appealing, high-quality matcha brand, an idea she developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cafe pays attention to the aesthetic preferences of younger generations when designing its interior and products. It also offers matcha infused with nutritional supplements for older customers. Recently, it introduced a stone mill to meet the demand of customers seeking an authentic matcha experience. Winkels pointed out that matcha is now a strong rival to coffee. Matchasome is planning to open new outlets, including locations in Hamburg and Munich. Japan’s matcha exports have grown sharply, reaching 6,889 tons in Jan.-Oct. 2025, three times the level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the supply of matcha is falling short of demand, which has become a social issue in the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, the production of matcha tea leaves is spreading outside of Japan. Antje Kuhnle, a 38-year-old former winemaker in France, began growing tea leaves on the outskirts of Berlin in 2023. In the face of declining wine consumption, Kuhnle believes that matcha has a brighter future than wine. With few precedents to follow, Kuhnle is working through trial and error to start shipping tea leaves in 2026. Among foreign-grown tea leaves, however, there are fake products, including those labeled as having been grown in Uji, a famous tea-producing region in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan. Reporting on this situation, The New York Times has argued that the tradition of matcha has been disgraced by “disharmony, disrespect, impurity and fraud” in just a few years. “It’s frustrating,” said Nobuko Sugai, the 68-year-old head of the Urasenke Tankokai Berlin Association, a tea culture organization in the German capital. “We need to pass on the tradition correctly.” The Berlin association now plans to offer authentic tea ceremony experiences and produce a German publication on the history of the Japanese tea ceremony. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]