echo The Pervasiveness of Matcha
In recent months, we’ve witnessed how matcha has crawled its way off menu pages and into areas we’d least expect, from skincare to candles to becoming a key signifier of male performativity. The transformation from coffee cup to bathroom shelf isn’t isolated; in fact, it’s happened many times before, and we’ve seen it in turmeric, coconut, activated charcoal… all ingredients once a part of booming trends that have since faded into oblivion. However, some are saying that matcha has the potential to impact the market the same way coffee has. So what will it be? Is matcha simply another trend that will die down in the coming months, or will it cement itself as part of culture?
Regardless of whether it’s here to stay or not, matcha has certainly already made waves in modern culture, especially in the western world. In this article, we’ll explore the deeper implications behind the matcha boom, and what it entails.
Yale’s performative male contest
Menu Adoption Cycle
Before diving into the history of matcha, let’s first take a look at the history of its predecessors. As mentioned, the jump from coffee cup to face cream has happened before. Remember activated charcoal?
First innovated in the culinary field in food like burgers and ice cream, it gained popularity to the point it eventually made its way into toothpaste, face masks, even sold purely in capsule form. There’s a name for this cycle: the menu adoption cycle. This cycle is characterised by four distinct stages:
- Inception—where an innovative flavour is discovered. Usually starting off in fine-dining establishments, originality is boasted. The ingredient itself is also not that easy to source, found mainly in ethnic markets or the ethnic aisle of supermarkets.
- Adoption—after inception, the ingredient makes it way into broader fields like casual independent restaurants and food trucks, and can be found at farmers’ markets and specialty grocers. It is still largely considered authentic and premium.
- Proliferation—at this stage, the flavours and ingredients are now adjusted for mainstream appeal; weaselling its way into pastas and burgers. Most consumers will be familiar with the trend by now, and it’s found its way into restaurant chains, cafes, and can be found in grocery stores.
- Ubiquity—the last stage of the cycle is when the trend has made its way into all sectors of the industry. In order to cater to the masses, it has likely been diluted from its roots and ethnic relevance, and can be found from convenience stores to dollar stores.
Not all ingredients used in a chef’s adventurous endeavours successfully make it to the ubiquity stage. Black garlic for example, despite being introduced on a global scale in 2008, still remains in the inception stage, where it’s most commonly found in find-dining establishments. Kale on the other hand, remains in the proliferation stage even though it was introduced globally before matcha was. So what’s the story behind matcha’s rapid growth and success in the market?
Matcha’s Success Story
The growth behind matcha can likely be largely attributed to social media; particularly microtrends and the algorithms behind it. Defined as fast-paced yet short-lived, microtrends are birthed on social media platforms, and are most infamously known for fuelling and being fuelled by fast fashion brands and consumer psychology. With the addictive way social media algorithms function—constantly boosting new content to keep its users engaged and perpetually scrolling, paired with the low barrier of entry, it’s no wonder that the matcha craze was able to reach such a widespread audience.
Historically, it took around 12 years for a trending ingredient to make its way through the menu adoption cycle. Thanks to social media, this cycle has been significantly compressed and is predicted to be shortened by half, into a 6 year duration.
The duck walked up to the Dubai Chocolate Labubu Matcha stand
Remember when boba tea became a huge thing in the Western world despite having been a staple around East Asia for years? Or when Labubus suddenly blew up over there after the trend had, for the most part, already died down here? We can observe similar behavior of the co-opting of Asian culture into Western society when it comes to yoga, or even Dubai chocolate. The reason why those in the West tend to take such interest in things that happen in the Asia scene, and things to do with Asian culture in particular, is because there is a certain “exotic” or “oriental” aspect to them when viewed from an outsider’s lens. This surface-level infatuation and cultural appropriation stems from a concept known as “commodity fetishism”, which will be explored in the below section.
Commodity Fetishism: From Culture to Commodity
No, commodity fetishism does not imply an inappropriate interest in objects. While “commodity” describes economic goods, the word “fetishism” refers to the attribution of inherent non-material value to an object. Commodity fetishism, then, is a Marxist concept which explains how objects are assigned independent value as the human labour put into it is obscured. It is a characteristic of a capitalist economy, and often results in various social and environmental costs.
In an ideal world, matcha is simply an enjoyable drink that provides a gentler alternative to coffee and steeped teas, but we can reason from its marketing in wellness and viral trends that identity plays a dominant role in its popularity. Humanity’s preoccupation with curating a cohesive identity is no surprise, but however overdone it may sound, capitalism inevitably plays a large part in our relationship with identity and consumption. A defining characteristic of capitalism is its reliance on the commodification and exploitation of labour, but before this, labour played the dominant role in defining identity (some surnames even used to be based on occupation! Such as Smith, Archer, and Carpenter, to name a few).
Sadly, labour in the current world is obscured by the company. That is to say, matcha and the consumption of commodities has become the prevailing symbol of identity, especially for the youth. Be it a display of class, consciousness, or personality, matcha has been severed from the delicate artistry put into its production.
As a result, matcha available to the popular market is cheap, mass produced, excessively sweetened, void of the nutritional value it initially represented, and most importantly relies on the exploitation of the workers who produce the tea. There’s also the matter of environmental destruction due to pollution. Matcha is sold in plastic cups and drunk through plastic straws, because let’s face it: paper cups aren’t Instagram-able. As the demand for matcha exceeds the market’s capability to supply, more land will also be cleared in order to create space for more plantations.
Ultimately, beneath its face value as a sweet treat that feels nice to consume, the matcha craze, and many other consumer products, have manufactured mystique and personality, which is a prerequisite enforced by capitalist production.
Doing Matcha Justice
In early civilizations, labour did not just mean survival—it was a social act. Oftentimes it took skill, practice, and artistry to produce, and labourers also retained a far more intimate, transparent relationship with the consumer. As labour is downplayed and obscured in the current production landscape, it’s only right that we pay homage to the labourers who make it possible for us to enjoy matcha in the first place, as well as learn to appreciate the tedious process behind it. By doing this, we might place much more value onto that bright green liquid that sits prettily in our glasses.
Did you know, matcha takes five to eight years to grow? Towards the end of those years, the matcha is shaded—a crucial part to differentiate it from regular tea leaves— for roughly a month before it is harvested. Shading the leaves causes them to produce more chlorophyll in order to retain more sunlight for photosynthesis, which is what gives it its beautiful green colour! It’s also how you can spot the different grades of matcha; the brighter the green, the higher the quality!
This is just a glimpse into the early stages of the matcha production process, not including the leaf-picking, sorting and grinding process. There are many resources out there detailing the full production process of matcha at your disposal, so take some time to learn about and appreciate the effort that goes behind it!
Practicing Mindfulness
Under an exploitative system of production, it can be argued that completely productive consumption is impossible, just as there’s “no ethical consumption under capitalism.” However, there certainly are ways to minimize your participation in the manipulation of advertising; as times change and different products enter the cycle, you’re bound to find something that piques your interest. It goes without saying that there is no problem in finding a product you genuinely enjoy. However, it is crucial to take a step back and decide for yourself whether your consumption is manipulated by fictitious value manufactured by companies and media through identity and marketing, or derived from a genuine interest in the products of our labour: a defining characteristic of the beauty of human creation.
Written By: Sera
Edited By: Sarah Wong
