• The article stated the difficulties faced in scaling up production, but didn't address the elephant: why couldn't macha be grown/produced outside of Japan?

    Is it yet another case of if it's not from the specific prefecture in the mountains it's just simply sparkling green tea?

    • Other countries produce a huge amount of matcha. People simply want to buy Japanese matcha. While I don't consume it regularly, I would prefer Japanese matcha as well. Perhaps this situation will cause pressure to improve foreign matcha production.
      • I'm really surprised at the appeal of matcha and matcha flavored items and question how lasting of a trend it'll be.
        • Me too! But I have been questioning it for 10 years now and every few years we ask, "is this peak matcha?"