The matcha drinks at Kin Bakeshop are so well-liked that some clients wait hours for his or her repair.
The little Santa Barbara cafe was going by means of greater than 4 kilos of the Japanese tea on its busiest days when it began getting powerful to get a dependable provide.
This summer time, the matcha supplier known as to say that after a decade of importing from Japan, she had been compelled to start out rationing provide. There was now not sufficient of the potent powder for everybody.
Kin Bakeshop discovered new provides and hiked its costs, however the clients stored coming, stated Tommy Chang, proprietor of the cafe.
“It’s just like the more durable that it’s to get your palms on it, the extra individuals need it,” he stated. “They simply want their matcha. They’ll come right here it doesn’t matter what.”
A rising thirst for matcha is roiling a fragile provide chain from Japanese tea farms to California’s cafes. The tea leaves are grown within the shade, specifically processed after which stone-ground into the brilliant inexperienced, earthy powder utilized in drinks and desserts.
Tea farm proprietor Masahiro Okutomi in Sayama, Japan, in June 2025.
(Philip Fong / AFP/Getty Pictures)
As matcha’s daring aesthetic and well being advantages have taken social media and customers by storm, Japanese manufacturing is below pressure from an getting older inhabitants and warmer local weather. That’s despatched costs surging, and companies scrambling to safe provide.
Exacerbating the issue is the truth that espresso outlets are doubling and tripling down on their demand by heaping extra matcha in drinks, stated Lauren Purvis, who provides Kin Bakeshop and different native cafes with tea and matcha. Historically, she has educated outlets to make use of three grams of matcha in a single serving, however just lately she stated some are utilizing as many as 9 grams, a proven fact that shocked her producers.
“Numerous my producers are like, ‘Now we have by no means seen a second like this within the historical past of Japanese tea,’” she stated.
Earlier than the latest matcha growth, Japanese tea farmers have been struggling to maintain the trade alive. Youthful Japanese have deserted tea fields to work in cities and customarily desire espresso over tea. However indicators of a scarcity started to emerge in the summertime final yr as demand skyrocketed abroad.
Barista Julia Peng sifts matcha powder for lattes at Kin Bakeshop on Oct. 21, 2025 in Santa Barbara. The shop now not makes use of matcha in desserts, reserving it for drinks resulting from a scarcity.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Occasions)
Purvis, who based Mizuba Tea Co. in 2013, first felt the results in December. An order was months late as a result of certainly one of her often dependable Japanese suppliers didn’t have sufficient of the specialised tins used to bundle the matcha.
Then her producers informed her that as a lot as 30% of their spring harvest was misplaced resulting from abnormally sizzling temperatures. When the tea leaves went up for public sale in the summertime, costs tripled.
These will increase have began to hit U.S. customers, who’re dealing with an added price resulting from 15% tariffs on imports from Japan.
The Japan Tea Export Promotion Council has warned that shipments to the U.S. have been delayed by tariff processing. Some shipments have been caught at customs and are susceptible to being disposed of or despatched again.
“Tariffs are simply the icing on the cake,” Purvis stated. “Matcha is simply going to get much more restricted and much more costly.”
When Chang began Kin Bakeshop in 2020, he solely wanted a few luggage per week. Now he buys them by the dozen, with additional orders each time he can get it. After the primary time the shop ran out of matcha, he began conserving emergency shops, although these are sometimes empty too.
“I’m in shock that it’s occurring,” he stated.
Matcha has taken over his menu. It now features a strawberry matcha latte, black sesame matcha, and coconut matcha cloud.
When he discovered that the provision of his ordinary matcha was restricted, Chang determined to spend about $135 per pound, or 70% extra, on the next grade of matcha that was much less susceptible to shortages.
The shop used to serve matcha desserts too, corresponding to lemon yuzu mochi doughnuts dusted with matcha, however now saves the valuable powder for drinks.
A matcha latte with whipped cream at Kin Bakeshop. Traditionally, the U.S. has been the most important shopper of Japanese tea.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Occasions)
Traditionally, the U.S. has been the most important shopper of Japanese tea. However as matcha demand has gone international, U.S. companies are more and more competing with consumers from Europe to the Center East to Southeast Asia.
The Japan Tea Export Promotion Council estimates that the full quantity of tea exports elevated by 154% in 2024 in contrast with a decade earlier. The U.S. went from accounting for 45% of exports to 32% in the identical time-frame.
To fulfill market demand, the Japanese authorities has inspired tea farmers to extend manufacturing of tencha, the tea used to make matcha, typically on the expense of different forms of tea.
Different nations corresponding to China, Vietnam and South Korea are additionally rising extra tencha. However new crops take years to domesticate, and suppliers stated there’s deep penchant amongst consumers for Japanese matcha, which is seen as the very best high quality.
The shortage has prompted some companies to resort to excessive measures. Purvis stated one producer she works with had a stranger present up and refuse to depart with out matcha.
Jason Eng, who works in enterprise improvement and partnerships for Kametani Tea in Nara, Japan, stated consumers are asking to signal annual contracts to safe matcha for the next yr.
“Our consumers and companions abroad, they’re all operating dry, and so they’re panicking,” he stated. “Even new purchasers are asking for a ridiculous quantity of tea. It’s fully unsustainable.”
Luke Alcock, founding father of Premium Well being Japan, a matcha provider in Uji — a metropolis close to Kyoto well-known for its superb tea —stated he’s gone from merely facilitating gross sales to purchasing and holding his personal inventory to make sure he can provide manufacturers by means of subsequent yr’s harvest.
Though about 40% of his clientele is within the U.S., he’s gotten growing inquiries from the Center East and Europe, even with rising costs.
He’s additionally been cautious to guard the privateness of his suppliers, since consumers are so desirous to get extra matcha.
He’s additionally been cautious to guard the privateness of his suppliers, since consumers are so desirous to get extra matcha. One buyer requested the contact data of a producer, which Alcock assumed was for customs clearance. That buyer then used the main points to achieve out to his provider and do enterprise immediately.
“Persons are simply ruthless,” he stated. “We’re nonetheless seeing how the market reacts, but it surely’s exhibiting that individuals are going to maintain shopping for.”
