Maisie Royal offers matcha, a traditional, local drink important to meditation practices that’s now a globalised symbol of ‘green’ living. Subject to changing climatic conditions that have altered the leaves’ quality and the viability of rural communities, matcha’s popularity also reveals a desire for the natural in our ecological crisis.
Museum of the Anthropocene: Matcha
Once a traditional, local drink, now globally ubiquitous; few commodities capture the contradictions of the Anthropocene quite like matcha. This finely ground green tea powder, once rooted in the quiet rituals of Japanese Zen monasteries, has become a global emblem of wellness, mindfulness, and ‘green’ living. Yet behind its vibrant hue lies a story of cultural transformation, environmental change, and capitalist desire. These are key forces shaping life in the Anthropocene.
Historically, matcha was introduced to Japan in the 12th century by a Zen Buddhist monk who, when returning from study in China, brought tea seeds with him and established a practice called “the way of tea”. It became a meditation practice whereby the perfect preparation of tea became an exercise of devotion that honoured the beauty found among the otherwise flawed world. The tea grown for the ceremony was powdered, in the custom of the time, and then whisked with a bamboo brush into boiling water, the tea leaves suspended in the frothy water being drunk rather than strained out as they are in steeped tea. This slow, deliberate preparation embodied a philosophy of harmony between humans and nature, proving to be a product of careful coexistence through its dependence on an intimate knowledge of local ecosystems, soil quality, and seasonal rhythms.
Fast forward to the 21st century and the meaning of matcha has dramatically shifted. Matcha is now available at coffee chains and neighbourhood cafes across the globe. Once tied to ritual and restraint, matcha is now present in everything from lattes to skincare and is marketed through the language of ‘clean energy’ and ‘sustainability.’ Its rise reflects how cultural symbols travel and transform through global capitalism. Matcha has become a lifestyle product and an aesthetic marker of health, calm, and eco-consciousness for urban consumers across the world. This boom comes amid a general rise in the popularity of Asian culture and cuisine, from mochi rice cakes to bubble tea and Korean corn dogs. For people trying to cut their caffeine intake, matcha provides a slightly gentler option than coffee. While a standard cup of coffee contains 80-100mg of caffeine, matcha provides roughly 70mg a serving, making it an increasingly popular option for many health-conscious people. Although matcha is still a long way away from knocking coffee off its pedestal, it is forecast to grow at a quicker rate than its more caffeinated cousin.
Matcha as modern-day commodity tells a very complex story about the Anthropocene’s environmental and political realities. With ever-increasing occurrences of extreme climatic events and abrupt temperature fluctuations, agricultural cultivation has been directly affected. Matcha cultivation is particularly vulnerable to these changes due to its reliance on stable seasonal conditions, such as receiving consistent rainfall, and carefully managed shading and harvesting periods. In major tea-producing regions of Japan, rising temperatures have resulted in more irregular rainfall and increasingly intense heatwaves, which have already been linked to reduced tea yields. This has had an impact on altering the flavour and reducing the quality of the green tea leaves. These impacts threaten not only the economic stability of tea farmers but also the long-term sustainability of traditional matcha cultivation practices. Eventually, as local cultivation becomes increasingly unsustainable, continuing economic losses may adversely affect the social conditions of rural agricultural communities, potentially causing them to slowly decline or disappear altogether. The loss of these communities would place additional pressure on already strained production systems and could result in the disappearance of region-specific cultivation knowledge and historic tea-growing traditions that have developed over centuries.
Politically, matcha embodies the uneven geographies of the Anthropocene. Its image as a “sustainable superfood” often masks the inequalities within the global food system. While Western brands profit from selling matcha-infused drinks at premium prices, many small-scale farmers in Japan face declining incomes and uncertain futures. The appropriation of matcha into global wellness culture also raises questions about cultural ownership as these traditional practices are becoming detached from their histories and rebranded for mass consumption.
At the same time, matcha’s popularity reveals our deep desire for connection with nature in an age of ecological crisis. Its vivid green colour, earthy taste, and artisanal preparation evoke a sense of purity and care. All of which are qualities that stand in stark contrast to the industrial world we inhabit. In this way, matcha functions as both a commodity of capitalism and a symbol of resistance to it, representing an attempt to restore balance through ritual, even as it’s sold through global markets that accelerate imbalance.
Therefore, in the Anthropocene, matcha is more than just a drink. It is a reminder that even the smallest everyday object can reflect vast planetary processes.
Notes
Matcha was contributed by Maisie Royal.
Maisie says: “One of the things I enjoyed most about this module was learning to see everyday objects through a geographical lens. It challenged me to think beyond an object’s practical use and consider its cultural, political and environmental significance in the Anthropocene. After completing my degree, I hope to apply this broader perspective in my career as a geography teacher, encouraging students to think critically about the world around them.”