Why you’re having a hard time getting a matcha latte around L.A.

The matcha drinks at Kin Bakeshop are so popular that some customers wait for hours for their drinks.

The small Santa Barbara cafe was going through more than four pounds of Japanese tea on its busiest days, when it was becoming difficult to maintain a reliable supply.

The matcha seller called this summer to say that after a decade of importing from Japan, he had to ration supplies. There was no longer enough strong powder for everyone.

The cafe’s owner, Tommy Chang, said Kin Bakeshop found new ingredients and raised its prices, but customers kept coming.

“It’s like the harder it is to get hold of it, the more people want it,” he said. “They just need their matcha. They’ll come here no matter what.”

The growing thirst for matcha is shaking up a fragile supply chain, from Japanese tea farms to cafes in California. Tea leaves are grown in the shade, processed specially, and then stone-ground into a bright green, earthy powder used in drinks and desserts.

While matcha’s bold aesthetic and health benefits have taken social media and consumers by storm, Japanese production is under pressure due to an aging population and hot climate. This led to prices rising and businesses scrambling to secure supply.

Coffee shops are doubling and tripling their demand by piling more matcha into drinks, making the problem worse, said Lauren Purvis, who supplies tea and matcha to Kin Bakeshop and other local cafes. It traditionally trained stores to use three grams of matcha in a serving, but recently it said some were using up to nine grams of matcha, shocking its manufacturers.

“Many of my producers say, ‘We have never seen a moment like this in the history of Japanese tea,'” he said.

Before the latest matcha boom, Japanese tea farmers were struggling to keep the industry alive. Young Japanese left the tea plantations to work in the cities, often choosing coffee over tea. However, as demand abroad rapidly increased in summer last year, signs of shortage began to emerge.

Barista Julia Peng sifts matcha powder for a latte at Kin Bakeshop in Santa Barbara on Oct. 21, 2025. The store no longer uses matcha in desserts, reserving it for drinks due to shortage.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Purvis, who founded Mizuba Tea Co. in 2013, first felt the effects in December. An order was delayed for months because one of the usually reliable Japanese suppliers did not have enough of the special boxes used to package matcha.

His producers later told him that 30% of the spring harvest had been lost due to abnormally high temperatures. When tea leaves were put up for auction in the summer, prices tripled.

These increases began to impact US consumers, who faced additional costs due to 15% tariffs on imports from Japan.

The Japan Tea Export Promotion Council warned that shipments to the United States were being delayed due to tariff proceedings. Some shipments get stuck at customs and are at risk of being destroyed or sent back.

“Tariffs are just icing on the cake,” Purvis said. “Matcha will be much more limited and much more expensive.”

When Chang founded Kin Bakeshop in 2020, she only needed a few bags a week. Now he buys them by the dozens, with extra orders whenever he finds them. When the store first ran out of matcha, it started keeping emergency tanks, but these were often empty, too.

“I’m in shock at what happened,” he said.

Matcha took over the menu. It now includes strawberry matcha latte, black sesame matcha and coconut matcha cloud.

When he learned that his usual supply of matcha was in short supply, Chang decided to spend about $135 per pound, or 70% more, for higher-quality matcha that was less prone to shortages.

The store also used to serve matcha desserts, such as lemon yuzu mochi donuts sprinkled with matcha, but now saves the precious powder for drinks.

Matcha latte with whipped cream at Kin Bakeshop. Historically, the United States has been the largest consumer of Japanese tea.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Historically, the United States has been the largest consumer of Japanese tea. But as demand for matcha goes global, U.S. businesses are increasingly competing with buyers from Europe to the Middle East to Southeast Asia.

The Japan Tea Export Promotion Council estimates that total tea export volume will increase by 154% in 2024 compared to a decade ago. The US accounted for 45% of exports, rising to 32% in the same time period.

To meet market demand, the Japanese government has encouraged tea farmers to increase production of tencha, the tea used to make matcha, sometimes at the expense of other types of tea.

Other countries such as China, Vietnam and South Korea also grow more tencha. But new plants take years to grow, and suppliers say there is a deep passion among buyers for Japanese matcha, which is seen as the highest quality.

The shortage has prompted some businesses to resort to extreme measures. Purvis said a producer he was working with said a stranger showed up and refused to leave without matcha.

Jason Eng, who works in business development and partnerships for Kametani Tea in Nara, Japan, said buyers are looking to sign annual contracts to secure matcha for the following year.

“Our buyers and partners overseas are all running out and panicking,” he said. “Even new customers ask for ridiculous amounts of tea. This is simply unsustainable.”

Luke Alcock, founder of Premium Health Japan, a matcha supplier in Uji (a city near Kyoto famous for its quality teas), said he has moved from simply making sales easier to buying and holding his own stock so he can supply brands through next year’s harvest.

Although about 40% of its customers are in the United States, it is receiving increasing demand from the Middle East and Europe despite rising prices.

Since buyers are so eager to buy more matcha, it is also careful to protect the privacy of its suppliers.

Since buyers are so eager to buy more matcha, it is also careful to protect the privacy of its suppliers. A customer asked for a manufacturer’s contact information, which Alcock thought was for customs clearance purposes. This customer then used the details to contact his supplier and do business directly.

“People are so cruel,” he said. “We’re still seeing how the market reacts, but this shows people will continue to buy.”