Matcha Is Drying Up in Japan and Around the World—But One Country Might Save It
29 July 2025, London: Matcha, the vivid green powdered tea long celebrated in Japanese culture for its refined flavor, ritualistic significance, and health benefits, is facing an uncertain future. Once the pride of Kyoto’s rolling hills and the symbol of centuries-old tea traditions, matcha cultivation is beginning to show signs of strain—not just in Japan, but across the globe.
Japan remains the world’s top producer of matcha, with reported production reaching 4,176 metric tonnes in 2023, marking a significant increase over the past decade. Despite this growth, matcha still accounts for only about 5–6% of Japan’s total green tea output, reflecting the labor-intensive process and limited grinding capacity required to produce high-quality matcha. Much of this matcha—over half—is exported to meet soaring international demand, placing Japan’s traditional tea-producing regions under increasing pressure.
This isn’t merely about declining output. It’s a story of aging farmers, climate shifts, market pressures, and a changing world where traditional agricultural wisdom is being tested like never before. For many in Japan and beyond, it’s not just a crop that’s drying up — it’s a way of life.
Climate Change: A Quiet Assassin in Tea Gardens
Japan’s matcha cultivation depends heavily on precise weather conditions—mild climates, well-timed rainfall, high humidity, and cool temperatures in shaded tea fields. However, these ideal conditions are becoming increasingly unreliable.
In recent years, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns have altered the tea-growing calendar. Spring arrives earlier and warmer, pushing forward the critical shading period that boosts amino acid production in tea leaves. Sudden rainfalls during harvest season now threaten to damage delicate buds. In regions like Uji, even a few degrees of heat stress can diminish the umami taste that defines top-grade matcha.
Climate change doesn’t just affect yields. It alters the chemistry of the leaves. With even minor shifts in sunlight, humidity, or temperature, the chlorophyll and glutamate levels in the tea can swing unpredictably—meaning the once carefully balanced flavor profile of ceremonial matcha is at risk of being lost.
The Vanishing Tea Farmer
But perhaps the most pressing crisis isn’t the weather. It’s the people. Japan’s tea industry is aging rapidly. In regions like Nishio and Uji, the average age of tea farmers is nearing 70. Younger generations, faced with urban job opportunities and the backbreaking labor of farming, are opting out. And matcha farming, with its labor-intensive shading, hand-harvesting, and meticulous processing, is among the most demanding of all.
Family-run tea farms—many of which have been cultivating the same plots for centuries—are disappearing as successors fail to emerge. Fields once covered in carefully shaded tea bushes are being abandoned or converted to other crops. Without skilled hands and inherited knowledge, the artistry of producing true ceremonial-grade matcha is slowly being lost.
Global Boom, Local Bust
Ironically, even as matcha gains massive popularity around the world—from lattes in New York cafés to skincare products in Seoul—the regions that have traditionally grown it are struggling.
Demand for matcha has surged globally in the past decade. But much of this demand is for lower-grade culinary matcha, leading some producers to prioritize quantity over quality. Mass-produced matcha, often from machine-harvested leaves in less ideal growing areas, now floods the market, often with dull color, weak aroma, and bitter taste. The unique terroir of Uji or the gentle hand-processing of tencha leaves no longer commands the respect—or the prices—they once did.
The globalization of matcha has also shifted the center of production. Countries like China, Taiwan, and even the United States are experimenting with matcha cultivation. While some produce decent culinary matcha, the traditional Japanese method—steeped in centuries of cultural practice—is not easily replicated. And yet, cheaper prices lure consumers away from the more expensive, artisanal Japanese matcha.
What Does This Mean for the Future of Matcha?
The implications are sobering. Without intervention, Japan could lose a key part of its cultural heritage. The risk isn’t just economic—it’s deeply personal for many families whose identity is tied to the land, the soil, and the tea bushes they’ve tended for generations.
To combat this, some Japanese prefectures are offering subsidies and training programs to young farmers willing to take over tea plantations. Cooperatives and boutique producers are working to educate consumers about what real matcha is, in hopes that demand for high-quality, traditionally grown matcha will rise.
There’s also a growing movement to preserve the heirloom varietals—samidori, okumidori, yabukita—that produce the best matcha. If these cultivars fall out of use, the taste of matcha as we know it may be altered forever.
Can India Step In to Fulfill the Global Matcha Demand?
As Japan’s traditional matcha-growing regions struggle, all eyes are turning to countries like India to see if they can help meet the soaring global demand. India, with its vast tea-producing landscapes in Assam, Nilgiris, and parts of Himachal Pradesh, has begun experimenting with matcha production—especially in high-altitude regions where climatic conditions mimic those of Japan.
Some boutique Indian tea estates are now cultivating shaded tea bushes and processing tencha leaves into fine-grade matcha, aiming to strike a balance between quality and scale. While the flavors may differ slightly due to terroir and varietal differences, Indian matcha is gaining attention for its potential affordability, freshness, and year-round production. However, producing true ceremonial-grade matcha requires generational skill, specialized processing infrastructure, and cultural finesse—something that can’t be replicated overnight.
India could play a significant role in supplying culinary and premium matcha to the world, but preserving the soul of matcha as an artisanal product will require more than just expanding acreage—it will demand respect for the tradition it came from.
A Path Forward: Reviving the Soil, the Craft, and the Soul of Matcha
For matcha to survive, the world must re-learn to value not just the product, but the people and the process behind it. This means recognizing that true matcha isn’t just a trendy powder—it’s a result of generations of care, nature’s balance, and human dedication.
It may also mean growing matcha in new regions—like high-altitude areas in India, Nepal, or Africa—under the guidance of traditional techniques. But even as the geography shifts, preserving the philosophy of matcha farming will be critical: one that respects the plant, the soil, and the season.
Matcha has always been about mindfulness. It teaches patience, precision, and presence. Perhaps its survival depends on whether the world can offer those same virtues back to the farmers, traditions, and environments that give it life.
Closing Thought
As fields fall silent and tea bushes go untended in parts of Uji and Nishio, the sound isn’t just the loss of a crop—it’s the fading echo of a ritual, a craft, and a connection to the earth that took centuries to perfect. The world may love matcha now more than ever, but unless it learns to support its roots, that love may come too late.
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