Mania match turns green powder into gold

Tokyo – When Chitose Nagao retired after nearly three decades of advertising to start a Matcha cafe, she never imagined that the lines would throw the store before it opens. The next day, the tins of the match powder on its shelves are sold, while a stable stream is mostly expected to try its latest green supplies.

Her shop, Atelier Matcha, is one of the happy. Despite the fact that Matcha deliveries work low even in Japan due to global admiration, the Nagao partnership, which is grown along with the dream of Kayamaen, a 300-year-old Kimot tea.

“When I heard that all their tea was sitting unsold during the COVID, I wanted to do something,” Nagao said. Four years later, she has two shops in Japan, one in Hoshmin in Vietnam, and a new outlet, which will soon open in the city of Sebu, the Philippines.

Japan has consumed a match from the 12th century, mainly in high -ended tea ceremonies that require only powder scoring. In recent years, demand has taken off as a reputation as an antioxidant superproduction that has spread over the cikt. Post-pandemic tourist boom also pushed the prices above.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan exported 36.4 billion ($ 247 million) last year, four times more than a decade ago. About 44% were associated with the US, mainly in powder as Matcha.

Seeking to resolve the tension in the agricultural communities of Japan, the Japanese government is considering subsidized farmers to encourage them to devote more areas Tencha, type of tea used to make a match.

Tencha yields are more profitable, but also more time -consuming, as the kidneys must be protected from the sun to detect their characteristic herbaceous aroma. The producers say the manufacturer lacks hands to collect, steam and dry the leaves before stabbing them.

Tencha prices at this spring auction in Kyoto jumped on 170% From year to 8 235 yen per kilogram, said the Global Japanese Tea Association. This destroyed the previous record of 4862 yen per kilogram set in 2016.

Many retailers also report that the price of the match has doubled last year, and find a small tin of the powder becoming more complicated, even in Tokyo.

Stores place restrictions on purchase so that their stock lasts longer, preventing accessories and reflected from unauthorized resellers. However, the match remains a popular souvenir for a record number of tourists visiting Japan.

A lot of online shops sold months ago when American buyers rushed to the expected tariffs.

Kaminari ISSA, which sells everything: from the beer Matcha to Cream Matcha Cream Puffs in its four stores in Tokyo, stated that receiving an email request for a match is not unusual.

“We are happy,” said Mika Sugovar, who runs one of the stores. “But there is only so much that we can sell.”

Its store sells Matcha, milling from the first crop of the season when the leaves of tea are delicate, which is considered the highest quality.

Like many others in trade, Sugawara is worried that the record this summer can reduce the introductory crop next year and push prices even higher.

Competition for a source and making enough matches so intense that it is forced It’s AnneThe world’s largest seller of green tea in bottles to create a specialized division in May.

The company predicts that the group abroad will grow by 11% this year and raises prices by 50% to 100% by several products from September in the face of higher raw materials and labor costs.

ITO EN HELD ACCOUNTS WITH FRESTERS THAT SUPPORT BE IS 7.000 tons of ordinary green tea each year, but only about 600 tons of Tencha.

Ito said that convincing farmers grow more Tencho became a problem because many are worried that the current boom could diminish, ITO said.

“Matcha’s popularity was incredible. Our own factories and all our contractors – jam.Packed, ”said Yasutak Yokomichi, Head of the New ITO EN match.

He said that one of his priorities is to provide enough mills to grind the leaves of the tenchi into powder and packaging that can include fresh investment to expand my own ITO en. This can take one hour before the mill of only 40 grams of the match, as the heat that occurs as a result of a faster process can aggravate its quality.

Nagao Atelier Matcha said consumer training about different Matcha marks could be the only viable option.

As a devoted garden, or the “path of tea”, the premium powder does not require a good bowl of Matcha açai, she said. As an entrepreneur, she also has sights on the next big thing.

“Hojicha,” says Nagao, referring to another type of tea with more shelter and less caffeine. “Listen, I have only one left today.”