The Global Matcha Boom is Disrupting and Destroying Japanese Tea—How People-to-People Commerce Creates a More Sustainable Evolution of an Industry

Social media has created an unprecedented global boom in matcha, the green tea powder at the center of the Japanese tea ceremony and a foundational pillar of Japanese culture. The increase in demand is seeing the kind of hockey stick like growth you might see in tech, and the disruption is causing more bankruptcies in the Japanese tea industry than ever before even as some producers take in record profits. As the gold rush gears up with western brands backed by $100M venture capital fundraising, we take a look at the People-to-People Commerce strategy, an alternative business model proving successful in returning value to the small-scale farmers, factories, and artisans at the heart of the Japanese tea industry. This closed-door Strategy Dialogue convenes operators, investors, and policymakers to interrogate what "People-to-People Commerce" might look like at scale — utilizing social media and emerging AI technology to breach language barriers — redistributing the global craft economy back toward the people who make it possible.