Global Matcha Demand Surges

Global demand for matcha has climbed so fast that Chinese producers are now pressing into a market Japan long treated as its own. (asahi.com) At a blind tasting in Joyo, Kyoto Prefecture, in late January, Japanese tea merchants and researchers scored about 40 matcha samples, roughly half from Japan and half from China, on a 10-point scale. All seven samples that earned 9s or 10s were Japanese, but Chinese entries began appearing repeatedly in the 8-point range. (asahi.com) One Uji tea merchant told Asahi that some of the top-ranked Chinese matcha was “honestly a shock,” after he had assumed it was inferior. The tasting was unusual because Japanese experts rarely line up Chinese and Japanese matcha on this scale. (asahi.com) Matcha is made by grinding shade-grown tea leaves into powder and whisking it directly into water, unlike sencha and bancha, which are steeped as leaf tea. Overseas demand has spread through matcha lattes, sweets and other drinks, including combinations that are still uncommon in Japan, such as matcha mixed with coffee. (asahi.com) Japan’s green tea exports, including matcha, topped 10,000 tons in 2025 for the first time since 1954, according to Finance Ministry trade statistics cited by Asahi and the Global Japanese Tea Association. From January through October 2025, exports reached 10,084 tons, up 44.1 percent from a year earlier, while export value hit 53.9 billion yen, above the 36.4 billion yen record set in 2024. (asahi.com) (gjtea.org) The United States was Japan’s largest export market in 2025 at about 3,497 tons, or 30 percent of the total, the Global Japanese Tea Association said. The same report said domestic production has been falling, tightening supply and lifting prices at home. (gjtea.org) China is expanding from a much lower reputation base but with rising output. Xinhua reported that China is poised to produce more than 5,000 tons of matcha in 2025, with Guizhou province accounting for about one quarter of national output. (english.scio.gov.cn) In Jiangkou County in Guizhou, matcha sales exceeded 1,200 tons in 2024 and generated more than 300 million yuan, according to Xinhua and China Daily. The county has more than 10,000 hectares of tea plantations, with nearly one-fifth dedicated to matcha production, and local producers say shipments now reach Japan, the United States and France. (english.scio.gov.cn) (chinadaily.com.cn) Chinese producers say they have imported Japanese techniques, sent technicians to Japan for training and built processing chains that run from tea gardens to export-ready powder. Japanese producers, meanwhile, are shifting more acreage toward matcha because it sells at higher prices than everyday green teas. (chinadaily.com.cn) (asahi.com) Japan still led the late-January tasting at the top end, especially in aroma and flavor. The surprise for Japanese judges was that China no longer looked absent from the upper tier. (asahi.com)