Landing in Tokyo and a few thoughts on Matcha's future

Greetings from the plane - somewhere over the prairies (?) of Canada en route to Haneda airport in Tokyo. What could bring us back to Japan during 90+ degree days with over 90% humidity? Well, the pursuit of Matcha (and other teas) will make you do some crazy things. While spring may be the time for harvest and production of in Japan - the fall brings the release of shaded teas like Gyokuro and Tencha in many areas of Japan most famously Uji, just south of Kyoto. These spring picked teas are left to mature in refrigeration. This maturing process, known as Jukusei, is an important and often overlooked step before Tencha heads to the milling room to become the powdered form of Matcha that we all know and love. The tea makers usually finish up the tea in September even though typically the years Tencha will be formally released during the Kuchikiri festival in November - which marks the New Year for Tea Ceremony practioners. This festival celebrates the opening of a Chatsubo tea jar that has had the springs Tencha sealed inside which is then milled before the guests before Matcha is then made. Traditionally these Chatsubo jars were stored in store houses or Kura and allowed to mature in the cool, low humidity environment below the ground during the scorching summer months. You may be familiar with the term Kuradashi (蔵だし) - it refers to tea and sake that are released during the fall after maturing in the Kura. I will get more into Jukusei’s impact on Tencha’s flavor, color, and aroma in later writings.

 All this leads me to the point of this post. I have been thinking quite a lot what it means to have a company that sells Matcha and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The theme of this trip, and a line of thinking I have been pondering more and more as of late, is that the amount of really great - not good, really good or just great - but really great Matcha is becoming more scarce and coveted as the landscape of Matcha changes. How so? Well, for starters the incredible interest in Matcha primarily outside of Japan ( mainly Asia, Europe and the USA) has driven the industry in Japan to start prioritizing volume to satiate the almost unending demand. In many ways, I understand this - it is an inevitably outcome and one of the unforeseen “complexities” of an industry flourishing - how do we scale with a focus on quality? 

It comes as no surprise to anyone that more and more Matcha focused companies are launching literally daily. This is something that I have expected to begin happening for years - and I am really really happy to see it unfolding. It speaks to not only the maturing of a new market (perhaps the most important aspect) but also represents new opportunities for farmers, manufacturers and companies to connect with an audience that is excited - maniacally in many cases - about Matcha. While the growth is complex and not every farmer, manufacturer company or consumer may have quality as their guiding principal in their decision making in regards to Matcha, simply put - the growth is exciting and signals that the future will be very bright for Matcha. Market growth to me personally means costumers now have more opportunities to experience all that is in the marketplace - the good, the bad, the great, and the really great and decide for themself what they want to drink. This excites me because the more mature a customers palate becomes, the sooner they can rely on their sense of taste as a guiding principal for discovering what is really great - not just blindly trusting the marketing jargon crafted by copywriters and “entrepreneurs” that have very little original to say about Matcha and even less of a palate to curate the best of the best. This is a simple fact. The deeper we go into the next wave of Matcha many things are going to change - in regards to product it will be about pricing and availability and for the consumer expectations will become more demanding. I have already seen it. The amount of customers who come to us that can now describe what they are looking for is 20x what it was just a few years ago. The days of “do you have Matcha?” is now behind us.

With the continued growth globally, and the steady growth with own business, I feel it as necessary as ever to reaffirm what is the mission when it comes to Matcha? To be open and transparent, we are contacted multiple times a day to provide Matcha to upstart tea companies, cafes, restaurants, wellness centers, and hotels that promise steady orders and purchase order after purchase order. I understand this is a privileged position and one all of us at Kettl are grateful for. But the bigger point is as we grow I feel it essential to remember that scaling with purpose is not just a phrase - but a hundred decisions that are made weekly balancing supply chain, supplier’s quirks and personalities, FDA compliance, flavor profiles, managing pricing, and countless other things. It is exactly at these moments that you must remember what type of business you want to have. For me its one with integrity. It boils down to how do we connect the most amount of people with really great Matcha without slipping into a mind frame of convincing yourself that its ok to slide on quality to make it all work. Running a brand built on trust and a business that can grow with purpose is the most critical guiding principal and one of the biggest challenges for any company. 

So - that’s why I am on an airplane heading into the oppressive humidity of end-of-summer Japan. 3 weeks or merciless traveling, meetings with our trusted producers, setting out to meet new folks in new environs (Hello Nishio!), moving into our Japan office and an unbelievable opportunity to attend The National Tea Fair awards ceremony and bidding event in Fukuoka. Now is the time to put in the work of sourcing - it definitely is work - and get out their to stay ahead of the curve. The heat is on. It is gonna be fun, grueling and I can promise you I will be selecting some incredible new tea that will launch over the next few months. Make sure to follow along here for my freeform punctuation, amateur photo journals and maybe a playlist or two (right now its Bob Dylan’s Blood on the tracks vs Ryan Adam’s Heartbreaker.

Thanks to anyone reading - more to come. The future of Matcha is bright - and it is being shaped by all of you.