An open pouch of PerfectTed Matcha with a full spoon of Matcha Powder being taken out

If you haven’t seen the latest trend in the beverage industry, Matcha, then read on! Matcha has arrived and looks to be here to stay. But what is it, why has it become so popular and what Matcha should I buy?

What is Matcha?

Matcha is a finely ground tea made from specially grown and processed green tea leaves. This is what gives Matcha its distinctive green colour. Typically, Matcha is whisked into hot water before being added to Milk for a Matcha Latte. This is incredibly popular both hot and cold and especially using syrups.

Why has Matcha become so popular?

Most people attribute this to Blank Street Coffee, a chain of Coffee Shops who are now more Matcha Shops than anything else. The layered syrup colour with the vivid green Matcha colour makes for an incredible visual and it tastes as good as it looks! They also have a great social media presence and the tidal wave of TikToks and Instagram posts about how to make these drinks at home have led to a massive surge in the Matcha and Syrup world.

The team at PerfectTed can also take a lot of the credit for how accessible they made Matcha. They famously went on to Dragon’s Den with an incredible pitch and ended up partnering with Stephen Bartlett to grow their business; from here they went on to sponsor his podcast, The Diary of a CEO, as well as becoming the UK’s Number One Matcha Brand. Their social media is another one to check out!

In terms of what it is about Matcha that has made it so popular, many talk about it being a cleaner caffeine hit with calming L-Theanine and antioxidants too.

Why should I care?

In my opinion, Matcha is here to stay – it may wane a little from this incredible surge it has had, but with all the distinctive flavours, social media trends and potential for recurring customers who turn to Matcha over a regular tea or coffee, I can only imagine this will stay. If you are not already selling Matcha in your café, I think you are missing a trick - Matcha’s lower caffeine content offers a compelling alternative during the afternoon slump, when coffee consumption typically dips.

What Matcha should I buy?

The leading Matcha brand is PerfectTed for a reason; their marketing and product is incredible. We sell a number of their flavoured Matcha’s, which represent an easier entry into the world of Matcha, as well as their pure Matcha powders, perfect for whisking. One café chain with over 150 sites relaunched their Matcha with PerfectTed and saw a jump from Matcha representing 2% of their sales to 30% of their total drink sales; the power of an incredible brand and product!

If you are concerned about the impact on your café’s workflow then the Alchemy Maho Matcha Elixir is a great middle ground. It is not pure Matcha, but has vanilla hints to it and as such is great for an entry into Matcha. It is also simpler to make with a simple double pump into your milk jug before frothing together. However, Matcha purists may prefer the powder for the pure flavour as well as the theatre of whisking it together.

As such, if you are buying for home use, we would recommend you buy PerfectTed's Matcha Powder – flavoured if you so wish, or pure if you are looking to mix it with syrup or have it without anything else! If you are buying for a café, we would recommend looking at how you would incorporate this into your café’s workflow – Alchemy Maho Matcha Elixir presents a much quicker and simpler solution but purists would prefer the pure Matcha powder that PerfectTed offer, albeit requiring a little more work and consideration!