In this guide
Why matcha is gaining ground at the bar
According to Square data published in December 2025, matcha sales in Spanish cafés grew 50.3% in a year, at an average price of €4.5 a drink, and matcha now makes up 10% of hot drinks served, twice the 2023 share. Over the same period espresso grew 2.5% and cappuccino fell 12% (InfoHoreca; Revista HOSTELERÍA).
The pull is global. In 2025 Japan exported ¥72,094 million of green tea, 98.2% more than the year before, and powdered tea, matcha included, was 69% of the volume and 84% of the value (Japanese Ministry of Agriculture data published by Shokuhin Sangyo Shimbun).
The flip side is supply: a December 2025 report by Japan’s House of Councillors notes that Japanese matcha production does not meet overseas demand, and that 75.3% of the tea Japan exports to the EU and the UK is organic (report No. 480). For a café that means two things: customers ask for matcha, and you want a supplier who does not run dry when it gets scarce.
Ceremonial or culinary
There is room for both grades behind the bar, but not for the same jobs. The full difference is in ceremonial vs culinary; for a café it boils down to this:
- Ceremonial for anything served with water (straight matcha, usucha, matcha tonic) and for the latte if you want the matcha to come through: bright green, less bitterness, more umami.
- Culinary for baking, smoothies and drinks heavy on sugar or syrup, where the matcha flavour competes with everything else.
A practical rule: if matcha is what customers come in for, serve ceremonial. The latte is the best seller, and it is the drink customers compare.
Dosage per drink
The dose is the same in both drinks; the liquid changes. These are the ratios we use across the site:
| Drink | Matcha | Liquid | Water temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| With water (long matcha, hot or iced) | 2 g | 450-600 ml | 75 °C |
| With milk or plant milk (latte) | 2 g | 300-500 ml | 75 °C to whisk the matcha |
Weighing the 2 g on a precision scale, rather than measuring in spoonfuls, is what makes the drink come out the same on every shift. The dosage calculator adjusts the ratio to each cup size.
Cost per drink
At 2 g a drink, the matcha cost follows straight from the pack price. At today’s retail prices, before any trade price:
| Matcha | Pack price | Matcha per drink |
|---|---|---|
| Organic ceremonial, 100 g | €20.99 | €0.42 |
| Organic ceremonial, 2 × 100 g pack | €39.88 | €0.40 |
| Organic culinary, 100 g | €11.99 | €0.24 |
Add milk, cup and syrup if any. Against an average selling price of €4.5 in Spain, matcha is not the expensive part of the drink, even when it is ceremonial. The cost per cup calculator does the maths with your dose and your pack.
Matcha Zen: organic ceremonial in a bar-friendly format
Vacuum-sealed 100 g packs, recurring orders with no tie-in and samples for hospitality businesses. The trade price is requested on their page.
Editorial recommendation. This site sells nothing: the button goes to the brand’s hospitality page.
Bar equipment
- Whisk. A bamboo chasen for straight matcha; at volume, an electric frother disperses the powder faster and the same every time.
- Sieve. A fine sieve breaks up lumps before the water goes in. Unsieved, you get specks of dry powder in the glass.
- 0.1 g scale. A precision scale so that 2 g is 2 g.
- Water at temperature. A temperature kettle or a thermometer: boiling water makes matcha bitter.
- Storage. An airtight, opaque caddy for the open pack, away from the coffee machine and the light.
What to ask a supplier
- Organic certificate with a code. The pack must carry the control body’s code (GB-ORG in Great Britain, an EU code such as ES-ECO, or JP-BIO for a Japanese body recognised by the EU). Ask for the paperwork: if they cannot provide it, it is not organic. We explain it in the organic matcha ranking.
- Batch and date. Each pack with its batch number and best before date, so you can make a claim and rotate stock.
- Freshness. Matcha oxidises once opened: it loses colour and gains bitterness. Better packs you finish in a week or two than a kilo open for a month.
- Format and restocking. A format that fits your usage and a recurring order that arrives before you run out.
- Sample first. Try it at your bar, with your milk and your cups, before changing the menu.
The supplier we recommend
For cafés that want an organic ceremonial matcha, we recommend Matcha Zen. Its hospitality page offers what we ask for above: vacuum-sealed 100 g packs, no strict minimum order (the usual starting point is 5 packs), recurring fortnightly or monthly orders with volume-based pricing and no tie-in, and free samples for verified hospitality businesses. It states a current organic certification and provides the paperwork on request. Its matcha is first harvest, from Jingshan (China).
It ships to Spain in 24 to 48 hours and to Portugal, France and Italy in 3 to 5 working days; its form does not list the United Kingdom, so ask before ordering from there. The trade price is not published: you request it with the form on its page, the only way to get in touch. Details checked on its page on 27 September 2026.
Ask for a sample and a price for your venue
Matcha Zen’s form asks for the type of business and the estimated monthly volume; they build the proposal from that.
Editorial recommendation. This site sells nothing: the button goes to the brand’s hospitality page.
Sources, checked on 27 September 2026: Square via InfoHoreca (2 December 2025) and Revista HOSTELERÍA (17 December 2025); Japan’s 2025 tea exports, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, published by Shokuhin Sangyo Shimbun (18 February 2026); Research Office of Japan’s House of Councillors, report No. 480 (December 2025); teamatchazen.com hospitality page. Prices come from our single price source, checked on teamatchazen.com.