From matcha ice cream to cake and chocolate, producers of traditional Japanese green tea are capitalising on growing global interest in its flavour -- even as demand for the drink declines at home.
"The demand for matcha is rapidly growing in the world... There's demand for ice cream, desserts and coffee," Suzuki told AFP at his shop in Fujieda, 170 kilometres southwest of Tokyo. "The number of Japanese who regularly drink tea is decreasing while there are more Japanese who enjoy various kinds of food, so tea doesn't sell like before," said the 55-year-old.
Tea growers like 67-year-old Yoshio Shoji are also jumping on the bandwagon to grow matcha leaves -- as they command a higher price than"sencha", needle-shaped leaves used to make the traditional Japanese drink. "It is mainly the over-60s who drink tea. The younger people are, the more they drink coffee... Tea is no longer attractive to customers. Our priority is to boost its appeal," he said.At Tokyo Saryo, a stark-white zen-style space in a quiet neighbourhood,"barista" Yuka Ihara brews Japanese tea in special glass cups.
Mikito Tanimoto, creative director who founded Tokyo Saryo in 2017, said Japanese tea is regarded as"unfashionable."But despite these innovative efforts, there is widespread scepticism that the decline can be stemmed.
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