Your patronage means a lot to us, so we want to inform you about certain circumstances currently affecting the Japanese tea industry, and how we are responding to them.

The matcha shortage and how we are addressing it

There has been a significant increase in interest in matcha recently, particularly from outside Japan, and this has resulted in an ongoing shortage of matcha throughout the entire Japanese tea industry. We are very grateful for the increased interest in matcha, but we have noticed that some parties have been attempting to buy up matcha and resell it. Therefore, in order to help ensure that as many people as possible can purchase Ippodo matcha, we are setting certain limits on how much matcha we sell to each customer.

Shortages are causing prices to soar in the Japanese tea industry

Japanese tea is a product that must be grown and harvested, and takes at least five years from the time each crop is planted until it can be savoured as delicious Japanese tea. Tea growers are capable of producing a wide variety of Japanese teas, including matcha, gyokuro, sencha, and bancha, depending on how they grow and process the tea. So, an increasing number of tea growers have switched over to producing matcha, which is in particularly great demand. With supply failing to keep up despite this, the average going rate for matcha in the Japanese tea market in Kyoto Prefecture in May of this year soared to about 2.7 times what it was last year. Furthermore, the supply of other types of Japanese tea has also fallen due to tea growers switching over to matcha production, resulting in the average price of all types of Japanese tea soaring, with the average market price overall rising to about 2.5 times what it was last year.

Revisions to pricing

In light of this situation, we regretfully have no other choice but to raise prices on all our products across the board.

It is our mission to maintain the highest quality in our teas. Under the current circumstances, we are doing our utmost to minimise the burden placed on those who have been loyal customers for so many years, and from here on we will continue to share with everyone the value of Japanese tea.

Details about the new pricing will be announced separately.

We ask for your understanding in this matter, and look forward to serving you in the future.

Masakazu Watanabe, President
Ippodo Tea Co., Ltd.