{"id":179889,"date":"2026-09-18T10:56:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T01:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=179889&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-09-18T10:56:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T01:56:29","slug":"matcha-boom-brings-visitors-to-yame-but-squeezes-loose-leaf-tea","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/matcha-boom-brings-visitors-to-yame-but-squeezes-loose-leaf-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"Matcha boom brings visitors to Yame but squeezes loose-leaf tea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yame\u2019s matcha boom is attracting overseas visitors while creating difficulties for businesses selling traditional loose-leaf tea. Foreign visitor stays in the city rose to 2.36 times the previous year\u2019s level in 2025, the fastest growth in Kyushu. At Yame\u2019s tea trading center, the volume of tencha used for matcha increased by about 50% in 2026, while loose-leaf varieties such as gyokuro fell by about 10%. Competition for leaves from matcha producers and bottled-tea makers is pushing up procurement costs, according to local sellers. Tokyo Shoko Research recorded 20 tea-business bankruptcies, closures and dissolutions across Kyushu and Okinawa in 2025, the highest total in a decade. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnn.jp\/articles\/-\/1116166\" target=\"_blank\">TNC News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tdb.co.jp\/report\/industry\/20260306-tea25y\/\" target=\"_blank\">Teikoku Databank<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_yame-green-tea-matcha-fields_2026_WEB.jpg?resize=1230%2C920&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1230\" height=\"920\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-179890\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_yame-green-tea-matcha-fields_2026_WEB.jpg?w=1230&amp;ssl=1 1230w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_yame-green-tea-matcha-fields_2026_WEB.jpg?resize=300%2C224&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_yame-green-tea-matcha-fields_2026_WEB.jpg?resize=1024%2C766&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_yame-green-tea-matcha-fields_2026_WEB.jpg?resize=768%2C574&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: Fukuoka Now<\/p>\n<p>Get Fukuoka and Kyushu\u2019s top stories delivered to your inbox. The Now is Fukuoka Now\u2019s free biweekly newsletter featuring local news, events, culture, business, and community updates in English. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">Subscribe to The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yame\u2019s matcha boom is attracting overseas visitors while creating difficulties for businesses selling traditional loose-leaf tea. Foreign visitor stays in the city rose to 2.36 times&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":179890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-179889","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-yame","news-category-business","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/179889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}