Each spring, the price of matcha is set at auction. In 2026, those auctions moved in ways the industry hadn't seen in recent memory.
Tencha — the shaded leaf that gets stone-milled into matcha — is harvested in May and June. When the first flush (一番茶) comes in, producers bring it to the tea market and sell it at auction. Wholesalers and merchants set the price. The highest-quality early-harvest tencha commands the highest bids; prices settle gradually as the season progresses. That's the normal pattern.
In 2026, that pattern broke.
On May 13th, the opening auction day, prices crossed ¥10,000 per kilogram — already above where the previous season had opened. By mid-May, prices had climbed to ¥22,000 per kilogram — levels the market hadn't seen before. Through June, prices gradually eased, reaching around ¥9,000 by the end of the first-flush season.
2026 Tencha Auction Prices
Period | Tencha Auction Price (est.) |
2025 (market open) | approx. ¥8,000 / kg |
May 13, 2026 (opening auction) | over ¥10,000 / kg |
Mid-May 2026 (peak) | approx. ¥22,000 / kg |
Late May 2026 | approx. ¥20,000 / kg |
June 1, 2026 | approx. ¥17,000 / kg |
June 5, 2026 | approx. ¥15,000 / kg |
Late June 2026 (end of first flush) | approx. ¥9,000 / kg |
The late-June decline looks significant on paper. But late first-flush tencha also comes with lower quality — less vivid color, less depth of umami. Adjusted for quality, the cost pressure through the season has been greater than the raw numbers suggest.
Uji Matcha Supply and Demand: Why Prices Surged
The 2026 price spike reflects a structural imbalance between supply and demand — one that has been building for years.
On the demand side, the global matcha market has grown rapidly. Matcha has become a fixture in cafés across the US; adoption in the Middle East and Southeast Asia has accelerated. Demand for ceremonial-grade Uji matcha specifically has risen worldwide.
On the supply side, there's no room to grow. Uji tencha cultivation is concentrated in a narrow area along the Uji River in Kyoto. The clay-rich soil, high humidity from river mist, and significant day-night temperature swings create the conditions that produce ceremonial-grade quality — conditions that can't be replicated elsewhere. Planting new tea fields takes decades to yield stable, comparable quality. However global demand grows, Uji supply stays structurally constrained.
That imbalance surfaced in this year's auction prices. As long as global demand continues to expand and supply remains geographically fixed, Uji matcha prices will remain susceptible to surges like the one we saw this season.
What to Expect for 2026 Wholesale Prices
Across the industry, wholesale matcha prices have been rising 40–50% or more above last year's levels, with some categories seeing larger increases. The option to offset costs with late-season tencha exists, but the quality trade-off is real — the savings are smaller than they appear once quality is factored in.
For ceremonial-grade matcha, price increases in 2026 are unavoidable. The challenge for everyone in this industry — ourselves included — is finding the balance between maintaining quality and keeping prices as accessible as possible. It's a season that requires careful sourcing decisions from every part of the supply chain.
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