Unraveling the Matcha Shortage and what It Means for You
Matcha was already trendy. Or so we thought! Now it seems to truly be everywhere, and its popularity in the West is only growing. In fact, matcha's popularity is growing so fast that demand has outpaced supply since last fall, sparking what many have dubbed a "matcha shortage." Well, we're definitely in the matcha business ourselves, so I've got some thoughts of my own to share on the matcha shortage!
Understanding the Matcha Shortage
The global matcha shortage has sparked a buzz among tea enthusiasts and health-conscious consumers alike. To put it simply, demand for this vibrant green tea has skyrocketed, leading to supply constraints. There's a lot of speculation as to why the demand has grown so rapidly. A quick browse of Reddit and you see a lot of people angrily accusing Gen Z TikTok influencers for spoiling the fun and being all trendy. And social media very well may play a role. That said, I have a more sympathetic theory of what's going on: the world's a mess, everyone's stressed, and one of the simplest things you can do to feel less anxious is replace your coffee with matcha. No caffeine withdrawals needed, no meditation, no exercise - just a quick switch and you're calmer. I think people are catching on to that fact and that has really added fuel to this bright green fire. Of course, like anything, there are probably many different factors in play. At the end of the day, one thing is certain: matcha is in short supply.
Navigating the Matcha Supply Chain
In the early days of the shortage people were saying that the real issue centered on the milling process. Matcha milling is a painstaking process, with each mill stone producing about 40 or 50 grams of matcha an hour. If you use larger stones the matcha can be degraded by the heat caused by friction. If you turn the stones faster, the matcha doesn't get fine enough, and the drink you get is unpleasantly gritty. Milling is certainly a rate-limiting step. Thankfully, we do all of our own milling here (that's kind of our thing), so our rate's been limited since we opened. So, the whole milling question didn't have us all that worried.
The new harvest rolled around last month and demand was still sky-high. This is where things got dicey. The truth is that even if there is enough tencha (the tea we mill into matcha) to meet demand, everyone's been scared that they are going to run out. As a result, the prices for tencha have shot up, and many big players (Big Matcha!) are buying up whole harvests and trying to keep the little guys out. Tencha is often sold at auctions, so this sort of highly competitive purchasing environment is the norm. So the question had to be asked: will there be tencha left for us?
Thankfully, we can answer that positively! Our contacts in Japan have set aside what is hopefully enough tencha to get us through to the next harvest. Some of them don't even sell at auctions, preferring to sell to their known clients with whom they have existing relationships. Needless to say, we're deeply grateful to be able to leverage these relationships in order to keep us in the game. We've certainly had to buy more tencha up-front than we expected, but it's worth it over running out and having nothing to mill!
What all of this means for you!
I won't sugar-coat it - matcha is getting more expensive. In many cases our tencha costs have doubled. While we are trying our best to keep prices as low as we can, some prices will rise, especially for a few cultivars that have become particularly competitive (Asahi and Samidori are very trendy, for instance). The good news is we love to find those under-appreciated cultivars as well, and the prices on those haven't increased quite as astronomically.
In the meantime, you can rest assured that we're not skimping on quality. Without a doubt, many vendors are going to be forced to settle for lower quality tencha, but we have been spared from having to do that ourselves! In fact, this year's harvest is regarded as a very good one. Low rainfall leading up to the harvest resulted in lower yields with more concentrated flavors (further underscoring the scarcity, however). As our new tencha for this year makes its way to us, we can confirm: it is delicious, and we're excited for you to taste it!
Here's hoping the supply of tencha quickly catches up and by next year we're not running into this issue! Ultimately, not a very large percentage of the tea fields in Japan are currently being used to grow tencha, but as the market dictates higher prices for tencha, that will inevitably change.
Anyways, thanks for reading!
Happy sipping,
Simon