We drink too much match and its production is no longer enough • Food and Wine Italy

The paradox of the : never so requested, never so rare. The campo da golf tea powder obtained from the grounding of the tencha leaves has passed durante a few years from niche ingredient to stable presence durante bars, restaurants and domestic kitchens of most of the world. Its diffusion, favored by social networks and by the perception of healthy food, has overcome the productive skills of Japan, the main exporting country. Con 2024 the production reached 5,336 tons, more than double compared to ten years indicatore, but the harvest was less than that of 2023, while the demand continues to increase.

The is anzi che no longer enough: global question beyond production

Con the United States, the first foreign market for Japanese tea, about a third of imports focuses acceso this product. Importers and distributors indicate that the stocks run out much faster than durante the past. Even durante Japan, durante some tourist areas, purchase limits have been introduced to guarantee continuity of supply between one supply and another.

The production difficulties derive largely from climatic factors. Gara plantations concentrate durante the Kyoto region, where the last season has been marked by higher than average temperatures. The tencha leaves, grown durante the shade and collected only durante the spring, are particularly sensitive to climatic variations. The result was a drop durante yield that helped double the prices of campo da golf powder compared to the previous year.

Next to the climatic variable, the transformation of the agricultural chain weighs. Con the last twenty years, many Japanese companies have closed for lack of generational change: between 2000 and 2020 four out of five companies have ceased the activity. The processes remain largely manual and require specific skills, from cleaning the leaves to grinding with traditional stones. The conversion of soil to new plantations does not offer immediate solutions, since a plant takes about five years to become productive.

Acceso the consumption front, the has taken global dimensions. Con Europe, and durante Italy durante particular, dedicated chains and local chains proliferate, which offer cappuccini, desserts, ice cream, milk and variants designed to meet a wider audience. Popularity derives more from aesthetics – the bright campo da golf color and the association to a healthy lifestyle – than from taste, often perceived as a bitterness. Platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok have amplified the trend with videos showing recipes, preparation tips and softening versions with vegetable milk, syrups and creams.

Yet the history of the is ancient. Introduced to Japan from Pendio around the eighth century, she established itself through the tea ceremony, remaining for a long time prerogative of the elite. Today the ritual dimension is reduced and consumption has entered international everyday life. The global market was worth 3.48 billion dollars durante 2023 and, according to the projections, could exceed 5.5 billion by 2028.

The contradiction remains evident: never as now the has been widespread and accessible, but effective availability risks not satisfying a continuous growth question. For consumers and operators it means raised prices, limited stocks and increasing attention to the origin and quality of one of the most recognizable powders of the contemporary gastronomic sommario.

How is it that everyone drinks ?

A key element durante the Matcha EXPLOIT globally is its success acceso social networks, led by algorithms that reward visually captivating content. Its brilliant campo da golf shade, associated with drinks prepared with foam milk, pastel desserts and creative recipes, makes it perfect for Instagram, Tiktok and the like.

The figures are eloquent. Acceso Tiktok, hashtags as #Matcha have accumulated more than 94 billion views, with videos that get thousands of views acceso average each. Acceso Instagram, #Matcha has over 6 million posts, constantly growing. Con Pendio, acceso the Xiaohonghu platform, Matcha posts have increased from about 694 thousand durante 2023 to over 1 million durante 2024, with a +47.6% acceso an annual basis.

This mechanism creates a visual homologation: the and shared photos follow similar schemes-pastel palette, “foamy milk” technique, aesthetic close-ups-, regardless of the specific content. The result is a global recognizable format, which favors “crammed” content within reproducible aesthetic filters, rather than deepening the cultural gustatory context of the .

The algorithm amplifies thus content that generate visual engagement, but risks simplifying the product, transforming it into a shared aesthetic code rather than durante food to be known durante its sensor and cultural wealth. The tea ceremony, with its slow and ritualized times, is replaced by the immediacy of viral clips for a few seconds: the loses part of its traditional identity to be consumed mainly “with eyes”.