Japanese matcha craze and way of tea revival

The surge in matcha is now a macro story, not a lifestyle footnote. Japan’s green tea exports jumped by double digits in 2024, with value up 25 percent to 36.4 billion yen and volume up 16 percent, driven largely by powdered teas such as matcha. That is happening alongside record inbound tourism and a weak yen that keeps Japan attractive for experiences, not just shopping. The momentum is real, but so are the constraints that come with climate exposure and an aging farm base. Policymakers and regional producers have a narrow window to translate a beverage trend into a durable revival of the way of tea. The work is about governance, protections, and experience design rather than hype.

Tourism first, because it is the demand engine. Visitor arrivals set new records through 2025 as the yen slid, with monthly numbers repeatedly hitting all-time highs. Spending by foreign visitors is treated as an export in national accounts and has risen into the top tier of Japan’s export categories, second only to automobiles and ahead of key electronic components in early 2025. That framing matters. It recasts tea ceremony experiences, Uji plantation tours, and Kyoto tasting rooms as export services that anchor regional incomes rather than souvenir side shows.

The export side is shifting as well. Global brands and independent cafés have loaded menus with matcha lattes and desserts, lifting the profile of Japanese powdered teas. Analysts now size the global matcha market in the low to mid single billions of dollars, with growth estimates in the high single digits to low teens through 2030. Demand is broadening beyond connoisseurs into everyday consumption, which is why large coffee chains and specialty startups have widened their matcha lines. This is market pull rather than policy push, and it is useful only if quality and origin are kept visible.

Quality control is the hard part. Matcha has long relied on shade-grown tencha with exacting cultivation and milling. Heat stress in 2024 damaged tencha crops in Kyoto and other core areas, and prices jumped as a result. New plantings take years to mature, and labor is tight. That means the supply curve is slow at precisely the moment social media is pushing consumption faster. Scarcity can reward origin stories and ceremonies. It can also invite substitution with less exacting powders. If Japan wants the way of tea to ride this wave, it has to make origin, craftsmanship, and practice legible to global buyers.

Japan has institutional tools for that job. The Geographical Indication framework run by the agriculture ministry protects place-based food names and methods and gives producers a mark that signals origin. Uji-cha is defined by processors in Kyoto using methods rooted in the Uji region, and it functions as a platform brand for matcha, sencha, and gyokuro. The government has also streamlined aspects of the GI process to catalyze more registrations of value-added products. This is not marketing. It is a governance layer that protects reputation and lets regions price for scarcity without losing the consumer’s trust.

There are lessons from where protection did not hold. The Nishio Matcha registration, granted in 2017, was withdrawn from the GI list in 2020 at the producer group’s request, citing higher costs to meet strict specifications and pressure from price-sensitive food manufacturers. The product retained a collective trademark, but the loss of GI status underscored the tradeoff between rigorous standards and commercial flexibility. In the matcha boom, that tension becomes more acute. If standards bend too far, the price premium erodes and the ritual loses meaning. If they are too rigid without coordinated marketing and experience design, producers struggle to hold market share.

Experience design is where the way of tea can move from symbolism to system. Japan’s tea schools, regional associations, and Kyoto’s Uji platform have expanded public programming, from plantation tours and hands-on whisking to curated ceremonies that tie confections, utensils, and architecture into a single narrative. These activities are not only culture. They are economic pipes that connect farm income, crafts, training, and lodging to a visitor who is willing to pay for authenticity. With inbound travel at scale, even modest conversion rates into paid tea experiences can lift local revenues. The signal to policymakers is clear. Invest in training hosts, standardize English-language booking and signage, and treat the ceremony as an exportable service with measurable outcomes.

The state has experimented with cultural export vehicles before. A decade ago, the Cool Japan Fund backed upmarket green tea cafés in the United States in an effort to seed demand. The fund has since reoriented toward broader corporate value creation, but the original bet captured a truth that still applies. Food and drink are the most portable entry points for culture, and they scale best when the local story is codified and protected. Today the private market has taken the lead, and the task for government is to reduce friction rather than direct it.

Comparative signals help. UNESCO’s recognition of traditional sake brewing as intangible cultural heritage gave brewers a fresh platform for export storytelling. Tea has its own deep institutions, notably Urasenke, that already drive international outreach and education. Aligning destination marketing with those institutions raises the odds that matcha drinkers seek out the practice, not just the powder. The way of tea can thrive when it is presented as a complete experience with a clear lineage and a tangible place.

The near term market outlook is a study in constraints. Global demand remains strong. Japan’s tea exports are rising. Tourism is likely to keep setting records as long as the currency remains soft and air capacity keeps pace. Supply will struggle to keep up, which will support pricing. The bigger risk is dilution. If overseas cafés lean into sweetened matcha without context, and if packaged goods treat all green powders as interchangeable, the premium that accrues to Uji, Shizuoka, and Kagoshima weakens. That outcome is not inevitable. GI enforcement, certification marks overseas, and partnerships with major chains can steady the quality signal. Even simple steps, such as menu language that ties a drink to Uji-cha or a tea school lineage, create an anchor for value.

There is also a macro reason to do this now. Inbound spending ranked among Japan’s largest export categories in early 2025. Services exports diversify the country’s external earnings at a time when manufacturing faces cyclical and structural headwinds. Tea culture is a small slice of that pie, but it is a replicable model for place-based services that convert time, attention, and craft into export revenue. When a visitor books a ceremony, buys a bowl and whisk, and ships a tin of Uji matcha home, the entire chain benefits. That is the revival that matters. Not more drinks on global menus, but more regions that can price their culture because the market can recognize what it is buying.

What it signals is measured ambition. The hype cycle has already lifted matcha. The next phase is about protecting origin, scaling experiences that teach practice, and aligning promotion with institutions that have carried the way of tea for centuries. This is not nostalgia. It is value capture through identity and trust. The policy posture may look cultural, but the underlying logic is export discipline. If Japan keeps that focus, the Japanese matcha craze and way of tea can reinforce each other rather than drift apart.