Source丨DT Business Observer Matcha products are getting increasingly popular this year. Recently, HEYTEA launched "Ku Mo" (Bitter Matcha) nationwide—a matcha drink previously only available at a few HEYTEA tea house stores—and it immediately sparked heated discussions on social media. Mid-year, a photo of BLACKPINK member Lisa also caused a surge in sales of HEYTEA's "Triple Thick Matcha" launched last October, with supply unable to meet demand both domestically and internationally. Major new-style tea brands have also set their sights on matcha this year: Naixue Tea, Chabaidao, and Yeye Bu Paocha launched "Nong Mo" (Thick Matcha) series; Chayan Yuese and CoCo introduced "grapefruit + matcha" combinations; Lele Tea has "salted cheese + matcha"... Moreover, many brands highlight matcha origins, such as "Zhejiang Jingshan" and "Guizhou Tongren," and content sharing with the keyword "Tongren matcha tour" has appeared on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin. What's happening with matcha? Why does the bitter sell better? And what stage has domestic matcha reached? Bitter and thick matcha is trending this year Strictly speaking, matcha didn't just suddenly become popular in 2025. As early as 2024, it had quietly become a highlight on major brands' menus. According to the "2025 China Beverage Industry Product Report" by Kamen, in 2024, 50 leading tea beverage brands launched a total of 73 new matcha products, laying the foundation for this year's explosion. But what's truly interesting is matcha's "image reversal." We collected new matcha products launched this year by new-style tea brands with a larger number of stores and found three trends. First, the bitterness and thickness once disliked have become core selling points. People's first reaction to matcha used to be: too bitter, too thick, who can handle this? Now, brands advocate drinking something bitter, claiming bitter is fresher and more mellow. HEYTEA first launched "Thick Matcha" and "Bitter Matcha," believing "bitter matcha is closer to the tea's original taste"; CoCo stated that this year's matcha is thicker, with ingredient concentration "1.3 times higher than last year"; Naixue Tea, Chabaidao, and Yeye Bu Paocha all directly named their new matcha products "Nong Mo" (Thick Matcha). Second, more refined and premium "thousand-mesh" matcha is being widely used. What is "thousand-mesh"? Simply put, it refers to the fineness of matcha powder. "Mesh" is a unit of sieve mesh; the higher the mesh number, the finer the sieve holes, and the finer the matcha particles. In the past, the industry commonly used 500-mesh and 600-mesh matcha, which had a grainy texture. Thousand-mesh means extremely fine powder, smoother on the palate, with a more translucent color and more uniform texture when brewed, elevating matcha from a flavor to an experience. Notably, these thousand-mesh matcha powders mostly come from domestic production areas—this is the third trend in this year's matcha new products: domestic matcha has become a "quality label" for more and more matcha products. Previously, when matcha was mentioned, the first thought was Japanese-style matcha. If we go back to 2016, the matcha craze in China was almost entirely represented by brands like "Wu Xie Japanese Matcha" and "Uji Tea Shop," with a strong Japanese flavor. Now, when the above new-style tea brands introduce matcha new products, they almost all mention domestic origins. Among them, more than one-third use matcha from Jingshan, Zhejiang, and some from Tongren, Guizhou. Chabaidao's new matcha product this year introduced Jingshan and thousand-mesh matcha Why do consumers love matcha? Why do people love matcha, even bitter matcha? It's not because tastes have become strange, but because consumer mentality has matured. In recent years, the new-style tea industry has been dominated by "sweetness": thick cheese foam, plenty of syrup, like adding a sweetness enhancer to life. But when sweetness becomes overwhelming, taste buds start seeking a "return to original flavor"—people want to taste the true flavor of ingredients, craving authenticity, individuality, and even a bit of challenge. Matcha, with its distinct ingredient characteristics, fits this need perfectly. It's not as crowd-pleasing as fruit tea, nor as sweet as chocolate; it makes you frown slightly but leaves a refreshing aftertaste—this complex original flavor is more addictive than sweetness. On social platforms, you can even see consumers seriously reviewing and discussing: which matcha is thicker, smoother, closer to the raw ingredient flavor, and they often note "no sugar" or "less sugar." This pursuit of ingredients was uncommon in the milk tea era. CoCo's matcha ingredients come from Tongren, with concentration increased by 1.3 times Another driving force comes from the full awakening of "health consciousness." Matcha is not just a flavored beverage; it's also a health champion. In nutritional science, matcha is one of the "superfoods," in the same camp as blueberries and kale. It's not ordinary green tea powder but whole tea leaves ground into powder, rich in tea polyphenols and L-theanine, considered a natural antioxidant. For those seeking lighter beverages, it's a milder and safer choice than coffee. Therefore, there's an even more practical scenario: matcha is quietly becoming a "coffee substitute." Matcha also contains caffeine, but a cup of matcha typically has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Combined with L-theanine, it's relatively friendlier for those who experience heart palpitations from coffee. As a result, matcha is becoming a go-to pick-me-up for more and more office workers—if morning American coffee is too stimulating, switch to matcha; if feeling sleepy in the afternoon but wanting to avoid anxiety, also switch to matcha. This has also boosted the matcha DIY market. More and more people are buying matcha powder to take home or to the office, making their own milk-based drinks or blends, replacing their usual lattes and Americanos. According to the "Matcha Product Consumption Behavior Survey Report (2025)" released in September this year, 25.83% of consumers mainly purchase matcha for pure drinking or blending, and 23.14% mainly purchase matcha for brewing. The main scenarios for consuming matcha products, besides leisure afternoon tea (31.85%) and social gatherings (22.08%), include work refreshment (17.79%). In short, consumers love matcha not because "everyone is following the trend," but because it precisely hits three major needs of modern people: authentic taste, healthier choices, and a gentle yet lasting way to stay alert. Domestic matcha is accelerating its rise If the upgrade in consumer taste has turned matcha from "niche bitterness" to "premium bitterness," then changes on the industry side have brought domestic matcha into the mainstream. According to the "Matcha Industry Development White Paper" by the CCID Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2020, matcha production reached 3,916 tons, accounting for over 55% of global production, and consumption accounted for 56% of the global total. In other words, more than half of the world's matcha is related to China. That same year, China became the world's largest matcha producer. Meanwhile, Japan, once the leading matcha producer, is experiencing a "raw material crisis." Especially this year, Japan's most critical matcha ingredient, "tencha" (the precursor to matcha), has been affected by high temperatures, low rainfall, and a cooler tea-picking season, hindering tea bud growth. Japanese tea instructor Tomoko estimates that tencha production in 2025 will decline by 20% to 30% year-on-year. The direct result of insufficient supply is price increases. At the Kyoto tencha auction, the average price of tencha surged to 8,235 yen/kg, a 70% year-on-year increase, far exceeding historical records. Some Japanese companies have even started limiting purchases by consumers. When Japan's production capacity peaks and costs become uncontrollable, while global demand continues to rise, the industry chain begins to seek more stable supply sources. As early as 2018, global matcha demand reached 12,000 tons, but global production was only 4,000-5,000 tons, a gap of up to 7,000 tons. Today, demand is still growing, and this gap is being filled by Chinese matcha. The two most typical representatives are Jingshan in Zhejiang and Tongren in Guizhou. Jingshan is the earliest region in China to systematically develop the matcha industry. Over nearly 20 years of large-scale production, the local area has established a relatively mature system from tea garden management, shading techniques, steaming, grinding, to export standards, making it the starting point of "China's modern matcha industry." This is why new-style tea brands like HEYTEA, when emphasizing "real matcha," proactively label "Jingshan origin." Tongren, on the other hand, is the "dark horse" that has surged in recent years. Since 2018, Guizhou has included matcha in its key cultivated "public brand." The government has continuously invested in tea garden renovation, processing equipment, shading shed construction, and export systems, giving Tongren the highest matcha production capacity in the country. In 2024, Guizhou's matcha production exceeded 1,200 tons, ranking first nationwide. Early this year, Tongren matcha was first exported to Japan on a large scale, marking a symbolic milestone for domestic matcha. Tongren-based brand 廿柒°葉, which focuses on matcha drinks and desserts, was founded in 2022 and is the earliest matcha specialty store in Tongren. One of its founders, @李一, said the brand's name comes from Tongren's latitude of 27 degrees north. The local high altitude, low latitude, and frequent fog provide natural tea-growing conditions, making it a "golden coordinate" for tea production. It is precisely because of large-scale production, fine texture, and controllable costs that domestic matcha can flood into the food and beverage industry. Even fresh food retail, supermarkets, and convenience stores have joined the "battle," making the domestic matcha industry chain more grounded. In March this year, Hema built a "Matcha Hema Village" in Jiangkou County, Tongren; Meituan Xiaoxiang, Dingdong Maicai, and Walmart have also started using Tongren matcha for customized products and label "Tongren" as the origin in product descriptions. When the demand side falls in love with real ingredients, and the supply side can provide stable, expandable domestic matcha, the two trends combine, and this "matcha wave" in new-style tea naturally grows stronger. Final Thoughts Matcha originated in China—flourishing in the Tang Dynasty and reaching its peak in the Song Dynasty, where it was called "mo cha." During the Song Dynasty, rich matcha culture developed, including tea whisking, tea competitions, and tea paintings. However, it was later phased out due to the complexity of the production process, but it was preserved and improved in Japan. This time, matcha is making a comeback with a Chinese identity, but there is still a long way to go for the branding and cultural construction of domestic matcha. Although many coffee shops and dessert stores in Guiyang emphasize "Tongren matcha" on their matcha products, compared to Uji matcha, where every store can tell its own history and brand culture, with distinctive experiences and products, tourist @小章, who visited Tongren for matcha, believes the local matcha atmosphere is not yet strong. @小章 was impressed by 廿柒°葉 because it owns a tea garden and produces its own matcha @李一 also mentioned that his store is trying to incorporate "Chinese Song Dynasty tea whisking" to differentiate Chinese matcha from Japanese matcha and create a unique culture for Chinese matcha. At 廿柒°葉's Dongguan branch, customers can directly experience Song Dynasty tea whisking for free. The rapid expansion of Tongren matcha production has allowed him to "ride the wave," and how to change the market's and audience's inherent perception of "matcha" and spread "Chinese matcha" is his new challenge. At present, we have witnessed the rise of Chinese matcha production areas, the maturity of the supply chain, and the popularity of the flavor. The next step is not just about products and flavors, but how to tell the story of Chinese matcha well.