Author: Bianca Nicula
Graphics: Holly Ur
Digital fame made ceremonial matcha a massive market item, but before you rush to buy your next fix, remember that this boom isn’t built to last.
The Cultural Moment Behind the Matcha Boom
Matcha Mania™ is taking over Berkeley and no one is safe.
Beware of fellow bears rushing to class, lattes in hand, sipping furiously for that revitalizing jolt. Once you start craving the unmistakable earthy sweetness, you can never go back. A look at the new establishments in Berkeley this year will confirm a national trend: the matcha frenzy is in full swing.
The Matcha Monopoly on Cafe Culture
Gone are the days of the “Coffee Chat”; We’re living in the age of the “Matcha Meet-up.” The surge in demand for the hot (or preferably iced) commodity has created the conditions for an expanding cafe market that encourages businesses to capitalize on the obsession. The result? Enterprises who depend heavily, if not entirely, on the sale of food and drinks made from the green tea powder. The opening of specialty cafes like Yume Mori Matcha, selling matcha crepes and drinks, and Binge Coffee House in downtown Berkeley incited customer excitement at the ceremonial powder becoming readily available. The fixation led Minh Nguyen, the owner of Binge Coffee House, to open a second location next to the infamous Taco Bell on Durant Avenue. De Matcha held its soft opening on August 8th just 200 feet from the new “Binge” establishment, comically depicting the green tidal wave washing over Berkeley and defining national cafe trends.
Clicks Rise and Profits Spike
The Great Matcha Debate took the internet by storm. All of a sudden, influencers and content creators were enamored with the caffeine alternative. The social media discourse asked: Does matcha taste like grass? Is it better than drinking coffee, yerba mate, or green tea? Stone-milled and machine-milled matcha?
The craze was kickstarted in 2015. Gwyneth Paltrow posted the iconic picture of her posing with a matcha latte, effectively launching the drinks’ digital presence. Platformed by celebrities in the health industry like Hailey Bieber, Kourtney Kardashian, and Serena Williams, matcha has become the media’s newest wellness status symbol. Praised for its supposed health benefits, abundant nutrients, and jitter-free energy, carrying a matcha has become a form of cultural currency connotating a greater care for personal health. Sipping on a drink chalkful of antioxidants signals that you’re more health conscious than a peer popping open a taurine energy drink with the same amount of caffeine. This A-list promotion has commodified the ceremonial powder and fanned the flames of its popularity.
The latte had a more recent viral moment alongside the “Performative Male Epidemic” of 2025. The trend spotlights tote-bag-wearing, feminist literature-reading, and, you guessed it, matcha-drinking men accused of adopting an aesthetic designed to pander for female attention. The hyper-consumerist phenomenon further cemented itself within media consciousness with the organization of “Performative Male Contests” in cities like London, New York, Seattle, and at universities like USC, Yale, and UC Berkeley. The social media buzz that exploited matcha as a wellness shtick and “performative male” staple was the straw that broke the market’s back.
The Matcha Micro-Economy
A Crisis of Cultivation
The green powder has become a physical manifestation of digital consumerism. The skyrocketing demand is outpacing the production process and leaving producers, many of which are small family farms, in the dust. The labor of love is bogged down by an aging workforce, the tedious handpicking of tea leaves, and a maturing rate of five years for new tea plants. Times are scarce for fans of the powdered Japanese green tea.
The fanatic frenzy has had international effects. The Global Japanese Tea Association (GJTA) reports that Japanese tea exports have grown from 1% of the country’s total production in the early 2000s to roughly 10% by the end of 2023. The matcha boom has no end in sight, with experts speculating that the global market is predicted to jump from 2.3 billion dollars this year, to 2.9 billion dollars in 2028. The US has become Japan’s key tea export market and played a defining role in an 86% growth of matcha retail sales over the past three years.
An Uncertain Future for the Green Gold
Wielding their purchasing power as the weapon it is, the public has made their choice: they want the opportunity to indulge on a whim. Despite the documented shortage, matcha has never been easier to find on the streets of metropolitans like LA, New York, and Berkeley. The oversaturated market creates an illusion of choice and the conditions for an eventual collapse as buyers are stocking up, expediting the powder’s depletion. Retailers in Japan agree that matcha was “never intended to be a mass-market item.” The Japanese government has been urging tea farmers to start specializing in matcha, but most are unwilling and skeptical of how long the fad will last. So far, matcha powder has proved to be an inelastic good, meaning that demand remains unrelenting as prices rise. Without the self-regulation needed to keep the market in check, the business model becomes unsustainable, ultimately leaving customers thirsty for more.
Take-Home Points
- The national surge in demand for matcha beverages and sweets is leading to a rapid expansion of the specialty cafe market in the US.
- Fueled by social media trends and celebrity endorsements, ceremonial matcha has become a physical manifestation of digital consumerism.
- Demand is outpacing the labor-intensive production process of high-quality Japanese matcha, creating an unsustainable market dependent on a reluctant supply chain and raising doubts about the long-term availability of the delicacy.