matchatrackerSign inIs there still a matcha shortage?
Partly. 34% of the 73 matcha we could fully check is sold out everywhere, concentrated in the highest grades.
Last stock check:What the numbers say
Based on our most recent successful check of every listing we track. We ignore listings we have never managed to read.
- Matcha tracked
- 73
- Every listing resolved
- 73
- Sold out at every shop stocking it
- 25
- Sold-out rate
- 34%
- Shop listings monitored
- 115
Which makers are hardest to buy
Share of each maker’s catalogue that is currently sold out everywhere we check.
| Maker | Sold out | Tracked | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horii Shichimeien | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Hoshino Seichaen | 7 | 7 | 100% |
| Marukyu Koyamaen | 11 | 11 | 100% |
| Yamamasa Koyamaen | 6 | 11 | 55% |
| Honeymoon Matcha | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Ippodo Tea | 0 | 8 | 0% |
| Kanbayashi Shunsho | 0 | 15 | 0% |
| Nakamura Tokichi | 0 | 15 | 0% |
| Nami Matcha | 0 | 3 | 0% |
Why is there a matcha shortage?
Demand has grown far faster than tencha production can respond. The leaf that becomes ceremonial-grade matcha is shaded for weeks, hand-picked in a narrow spring window, then stone-milled at roughly 40 grams an hour — a rate that has not meaningfully changed in centuries.
Japan’s tea-farming workforce is also ageing, and tencha fields cannot be brought online quickly: a new planting takes about five years to reach useful yield. So a single strong demand year does not get absorbed, it compounds into the next one.
How to actually get some
Culinary and everyday grades restock far more reliably than first-harvest ceremonial tins. If you are drinking it in a latte, the difference is much smaller than the price gap suggests.
Buying direct from the maker usually beats waiting on a reseller, and restocks often land in Japan Standard Time morning — which is late evening in North America.
Currently unavailable everywhere
25 of the 73 matcha we could fully check.
