What's Behind the World's Matcha Shortage

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. So I'm here to order an iced shake and macha.

I know you only serve ten of them, do you have any laugh? We have one left, so you're very lucky today. If you've been to an independent coffee shop pretty much anywhere recently, there's a good chance you've heard about the Macha shortagch. Macha tea powder has soared in popularity in recent years. Its distinctive bright green hue has started showing up in macho latees, macha pastries, even in

We have just one Macha product right now, the ice shake and Macha, and we limit it to ten drinks a day. It is just to stretch out that supply.

Thomas chen is the tea director of two nine in Waher, Washington, d C, a Japanese cafe and restaurant that opened a few weeks ago. Our senior producer, Naomi Shaven visited last week. Okay, wow, so you've almost completely sold out by two fifteen.

That is wild.

I would love to order it.

It's the kind of place you might expect to offer Macha everything.

Macha was supposed to be kind of the centerpiece of the Leka Japanese drinks program, and then we were going to incorporate it into the pastry program as well, And now it's become kind of a okay, like what we need to scale this whole plan back. And it's not just like the supplies, like even when they do have supply, the prices have already gone up. Tariffs have definitely affected that too.

I'm Sarah Holder. Today on the show, my colleague Wanha, who hosts Big Take Asia, traces the Macha supply chain from cafe to wholesaler all the way back to the farmers on the ground in Japan. What's behind the shortfall and what would it take to meet the Macha demand.

Jasmin Smith is a designer living in Japan. She and her sister Freya make videos about their everyday life in Tokyo in their spare time.

Welcome back to dan life living in Tokyo.

Today, and there's one thing they love about living in Japan. Japanese green tea, also known.

As Macha Mancha just tastes amazing. We both used to be coffee drinkers actually, but at some point Mancha just took over as our go to caffeine source and it's been part of our morning routines ever since.

They started posting videos on TikTok in twenty twenty two, sharing their favorite Macha cafes, daily morning routines and telling their thousands of TikTok followers where they can get the best macha powder online and in Tokyo. But a couple of months ago, they were surprised when they went to get their usual Macha fix at this tiny store in their neighborhood.

It's just run by an elderly woman, and she told me that, yeah, she has nothing to sell to me unfortunately, and recently she told us that a lot of foreigners, a lot of young people are visiting her shop, so every time she restocks, she instantly sells out, which never used to happen.

Bloomberg reporter Mia Glass, who's based in Tokyo, also noticed this happening at Macha stores around her.

Mancha has just completely blown up overseas. People come to Japan and they know about macha from social media. They've studied it, and they really want that high quality type of macha when they come here, so there's a huge shortage of macha in Japan.

Welcome to the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha. Every week we take you inside some of the world's biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the show the Macha Mania, what's driving this macha boom and why can't macha makers in Japan keep up? Mia, It's great to have you, thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me so.

Because today's episode is all about macha. I've got a cup of cold macha with almond milk here with me in the studio in Hong Kong, Mia, What are you drinking?

So? I got an iced macha latte, which is my go to order, and I got it from this macha cafe that's actually near our office building. It's by this amazing family run Japanese tea company that's been around for like three hundred years.

Oh that's amazing. Now, shall we give these macha drinks a taste?

Yes?

Cheers.

Hmm, this one is not quite bitter enough for me. I think it's been it has too much almond milk unfortunately, but I can still get the flavor of the macha, you know.

I just love how unique The taste is kind of like this mix of umami but also bitter, sometimes a little sweet. So it's just a flavor you can't really get from anything else.

Mia. Tell us exactly what is macha?

Yeah, so, macha is a Japanese word. It means powdered tea and Japanese so it's a type of green tea where the entire leaf is grounded into this powder.

This way of making green tea originated from China in the twelfth century. A Japanese monk who was traveling there was so impressed with the energy boost the drink gave him that he brought it back with him to Japan. It's said that Japanese monks used to drink macha to stay awake during long meditation sessions, and today macha is at the center of Japanese tea ceremonies that are performed for cultural and religious purposes.

Depending on the tea ceremony, there will be different types of macha, like a thinner macha or a thicker one. There's specific steps that they have to go through. It's carefully whisked into this frothy drink that you drink at the end. And it's a practice that emphasizes a lot of Japanese values like mindfulness, harmony, tranquility, respect, those kinds of things.

And macha is this just for traditional ceremonies. You'll find it everywhere you go in Japan.

In Tokyo, there's a macha cafe on like every block here. Everything is macha now, bubble tea, cakes, cookies, even in coffee shops here they usually have macha now, so you can pick between the two.

Japan is one of the world's largest producers of macha. The country made about four thousand tons of the powdered tea in twenty twenty three. That's almost a threefold increase from two thousand and eight and an all time high, and in recent years it's becoming more popular overseas. Last year, Japan's export of green tea, which includes macha, reached a record high of about two hundred and forty five million US dollars. That's a roughly quarter increase from the previous year.

People on TikTok and Instagram and other social media platforms have really made an esthetic out of macha. It has this bright green color that is really attractive for social media, and so people will show off that bright green macho lte or desserts, and people even have Macha stations complete with traditional mugs and whisks and strainers and things like that, and they will decorate it. So it's really this aesthetic

The craze for macha comes at a time when there's been a growing interest in health and wellness products. You'll hear social media influencers talk about the health benefits macha offers. It's rich in antioxidants and caffeine, which some studies suggest can help boost energy and lower risk of disease yes, and on top of these viral social media videos contributing to the shortage, Mia says there's just a lot of people traveling to Japan and buying macha in person.

There are so many tourists in Japan right now, mainly thanks to the weekend, so basically everything is on sale once you get to Japan, and there's also just generally more interest in Japan. Last year, thirty seven million people visit the country, which is a record, and it's up forty seven percent from twenty twenty three. A lot of videos on TikTok and Instagram show a lot of people

While Japanese have been drinking less green tea over the years, out side of Japan, the appetite from macha is expanding. Cafes and tea stores as far as Sydney and Australia have seen sales skyrocket, forcing owners to limit customer purchases because they're unable to source more of the tea powder from Japan after the break, Why can't Japanese tea producers just make more macha? Growing fine quality macha has a

So the most famous region is Uji, which is on the southeast border of Kyoto, and that's where macha farmers have master techniques of growing and harvesting the best macha and they've been doing this for centuries.

Mia. Can you walk us through the life cycle of macha? How is macha made?

So it's a very long process. So basically in a farm, you have just rows and rows of tea plants. In April, the first shoots of the season are going to appear, and then the tea plants are gradually shaded over time, so that blocks the direct sunlight for the plants. That gives it that chlorophyll, that bright green color, and it also enhances the taste and also gives it antioxidants, which gives you that nutritional component.

The highest grades of macha are usually grown in almost darkness before they're harvested around late April or May. The green tea leaves are handpicked and hours after they're harvested, they have to be steamed for less than a minute. That stops the oxidation process and keeps the leaves green. Then the leaves are left to dry, they're decedemped and debate.

At this point they are called tensa. So this tensha will be blended together basically to make different flavor profiles. So that's also a part of the farmer's experience and knowledge. They know how to blend the macha to make certain flavors, and then after it's been stored in a refrigerator, it's going to get grinded to turn into the maucha powder that we know in stores.

So that does sound like a long and arduous process, but certainly not impossible, right, Why can't supply just keep up with the demand.

Yeah, so the whole process that I just described, it only happens once a year for the most premium types of macha, so farmers can't harvest more on demand. The annual supply is usually determined well in advance, and it's obviously a really slow precise process as well. So the traditional stone mills only grind about forty grams of macha per hour, and specialized macha processing machines are super limited in number, so increasing production speed would definitely come reminds

Another reason for the macha crunch is that Japanese tea producers tend to prioritize long standing customers. Marukio Koyaman, one of the leading brands of macha and Japan, says it needs to be strict sales to make sure there's enough supply for customers at temples, shrines, and other venues that use macha for religious or ceremonial purposes. Mia, is there any protective policy in place here? Why can't Japan just import, for example, fresh tea from overseas and process it at home.

There's definitely some national or cultural pride ut play here. It's not like Japan has any rule about importing from other countries or regulations, but it's really more just about what people want. I think a lot of people in Japan really just love Japanese macha and they really trust the quality that these Japanese farmers bring because they've just

Mia says. Farmers in other countries like the US, South Korea, and China are trying to make more of their own macha, but it's hard to replicate the kind of macha you get in Japan, and that's because of a combination of climate and soil so specific to the country, not to mention the centuries Japan is spent on perfecting the growing and processing techniques. Mia, is there anything that the Japanese government can do to help the macha supply catch up.

The government is basically promoting more farmers to make tensha rather than other types of teas right now, because that can be turned into macha, and they're also supporting the tea industry as a whole through various subsidies and programs to encourage tea growing and also just promoting research in general. Because the problems like the asing population and also climate

Those government measures will take some time to bear fruit, if they ever do. Meanwhile, Mia says, for macha lovers living in Japan now, the difficulty in getting this unique green tea powder is just another inconvenient side effect of Japan's tourism boom.

Yeah, it's definitely one of the ways that the tourism issue is manifesting in Japan. I know there are a lot of locals who are really angry that there are so many tourists in the streets and in shops. I also hear complaints about people don't want Airbnbs in their neighborhood because of the garbage and the noise and things

Despite some of these public complaints, the Japanese government says it wants to attract more tourists. Its goal is to welcome sixty million foreign visitors a year by twenty thirty. That's a jump of more than sixty percent from last year's record, and that Mia says might add more pressure on macha's supply.

Your macha lattes will probably become more expensive if the shortage continues. And I know a lot of new macha businesses and cafes, not just in Japan but all over the world are having a really hard time finding tea producers with enough to sell. So I've heard that wholesalers in Japan just have to turn down new clients because a lot of macha for the next harvest is already reserved, So that's going to cafes and Japan that are trying

Miah, I think we should drink our drinks, our macha drinks while we can still afford them. Of course, enjoy, cheers, cheers. This is the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wan Ha. This episode was produced by Naomi mum Young Young and Jessica Beck. It was edited by Grace Jennings ed Quist, Patty Hirsch, and Isabella Stegger. It was fact checked by Adrianna Tapia and mix and sound design by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Uguira. Our senior producer is Naomi Shaven.