Why a Five-Year Crop Can't Meet a Two-Year Demand Surge

Global matcha demand grew several-fold in barely two years, driven by social media and a tourism surge, and hit a ceremonial-grade tencha supply that takes five years to plant and forty grams an hour to grind. Record auction prices and allocation-only sales followed, not a failure of the harvest.

How the Tea Trade Works

The canonical map of the tea business, from garden to auction to shelf. What tea is as a commodity, the path the leaf takes to the cup, how its price is set, and where the money along the way actually ends up.