Where the market stands

Japan's tea harvest 2026 started late and was smaller than last year. At the same time, demand from outside Japan keeps growing. At the spring auctions, prices went far above last year — for tencha, the leaf that becomes matcha, to about double. Many farms and mills now allocate their stock instead of selling it openly.

For the tea we buy:

• Kagoshima matcha: up to +100%. Our Kagoshima suppliers have roughly doubled their prices for the new crop.
• Nishio matcha: a smaller, but real increase.

There is one more angle that we think is part of the story. Japanese farmers and wholesalers can see what matcha sells for in Western shops. Many retailers take margins far beyond the normal range, selling to an audience that often cannot judge quality and pays almost any price. From the producer's side the conclusion is simple: if the market pays these prices, they want their share. That is capitalism at its finest — and it is hard to blame them. Our answer to that is this page: we would rather show you our numbers and decide together what we buy than play that game.

Where we stand right now

Our prices for the autumn

These prices are calculated on the batch that arrives in September, and they hold as long as that batch lasts. What comes after depends on what the next harvest costs, and you will hear it from us before anything changes.

Two thresholds have moved. Below €400/kg, first-harvest matcha from the best cultivars becomes hard to supply at all. Below €300/kg, we have to give something up: machine-milled instead of stone-milled, second harvest instead of first, or a blend instead of a single cultivar.

We are keeping both Kagoshima blends in the same grades you already buy, and these are the prices they come back at:

We want to hold these two price points, because your own calculation is built on them, and holding them will mean changing suppliers. As far as we can see, the increase we are carrying is not going to come back down, so the tea behind a price point can at some point come from a different farm. What stays the same is the specification you are buying now, which is first harvest, 21 days shaded and stone-milled, and you get a sample from us before any new tea goes into your order.

Our Okumidori from Nishio is not on the price list at the moment, because the quantity our producer there can give us is limited, so we quote it per order. Alongside that, we are working on a further high-end latte blend from Aichi Prefecture.

What this means for you as an existing customer

• Existing customers come first. The new batch is sized around your regular volumes, and if we have to allocate, regular customers are served before new business.
• You can reserve now. If you tell us your quantity before the batch lands, we put it aside for you and you do not depend on what is left in the middle of September.
• Buying ahead is safe. Latte-grade matcha stays very stable for about six months, so a larger order that covers your autumn is not a quality risk.
• You can taste first. If you want to check the new batch against what you served before, we send you a sample as soon as it arrives, and we help you re-cost your drinks on the new basis.

Why we are asking you

Because the answers below change what we buy after this batch. We would rather order around what you actually need than guess.