Huge demand for matcha drinks among Gen Z has caused the price of the Japanese tea to almost double, the boss of Black Sheep Coffee has said.

黑羊咖啡(Black Sheep Coffee)的老板表示，Z世代对抹茶拿铁的巨量需求已导致这种日本茶的价格几乎翻倍。

Gabriel Shohet, co-founder of the high street coffee chain, said the price of high-grade matcha used by the business has soared in the past two years as firms scramble to get hold of it.

这家高街咖啡连锁店的联合创始人加布里埃尔·肖赫(Gabriel Shohet)表示，过去两年，随着各家公司争相获取高品质抹茶，其公司使用的高等级抹茶的价格已飙升。

He said: "There's a big supply issue because there's massive demand out of nowhere. If you want to get the good stuff, the 'ceremonial grade' from Japan, you obviously pay a massive premium. I think it's gone up by close to 100 per cent … since two years ago."

他说：“存在一个很大的供应问题，因为需求是突然爆发的、巨大的。 如果你想买到好东西，即来自日本的‘ ceremonial grade’（指最高品质的抹茶），你显然要支付极高的溢价。 我认为自两年前以来，价格已经上涨了近100%。”

Consumed for hundreds of years in Japan, where it is used in tea ceremonies and typically served on special occasions, matcha is a powdered green tea said to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Made from tencha leaves, it has a distinct bright green colour.

抹茶在日本已流传数百年，用于茶道，通常在特殊场合饮用。它是一种粉末状的绿茶，据称具有抗氧化和抗炎的特性。 它由Tencha叶制成，具有明显的亮绿色。

In recent years, it has become a staple sight on British high streets due to surging interest, primarily among younger shoppers. Starbucks, Caffè Nero and others have all jumped on the trend, selling everything from matcha lattes to more experimental drinks infused with protein. The ingredient is also increasingly being incorporated into foods such as pastries and, in the case of Black Sheep Coffee, matcha-infused waffles. So high is the demand that Shohet said matcha products now account for almost a fifth of all sales at his company, which has 116 coffee shops across Britain and Ireland.

近年来，受年轻消费群体追捧，它已然成为英国商业街的常见景致。 星巴克(Starbucks)、尼禄咖啡(Caffè Nero)和其他公司都纷纷加入这一潮流，销售从抹茶拿铁到添加蛋白质的实验性饮品等各种产品。 这种成分也越来越多地被纳入糕点等食品中，例如在黑羊咖啡，还有抹茶华夫饼。 需求如此之高，以至于肖赫表示，抹茶产品现在占其公司总销售额的近五分之一。该公司在英国和爱尔兰拥有116家咖啡店。

He said: "Whether it's the matcha waffle, matcha ice cream drinks, anything that's got matcha in it, it makes up 18 per cent of our sales."

他说：“无论是抹茶华夫饼、抹茶冰淇淋饮料，还是任何含有抹茶的东西，它们都占我们销售额的18%。”

His comments follow reports last year of buyers having to pay as much as 75 per cent more for the tea, suggesting that prices are continuing to rise.

他发表此番言论之前，有报道称去年买家不得不为这种茶多支付高达75%的费用，这表明价格仍在继续上涨。

Matcha is also made in China, but the type produced there is considered by many to be of a lower quality, with a less vibrant shade of green.

中国也生产抹茶，但许多人认为那里生产的抹茶质量较低，绿色色泽也不那么鲜艳。

"There's Chinese matcha, or 'commercial grade', that tastes like grass … You can launch that, but it's not the same thing. And customers know the difference," said Shohet.

“中国的抹茶，或者‘商业级’抹茶，尝起来像草……你可以推出那种产品，但它不一样。 而且顾客知道其中的区别，”肖赫说。

He said the cost of matcha itself now accounted for about 80 per cent of the cost base of a matcha latte when calculating its gross margin — the amount of revenue left over after considering the direct cost of production, but before factoring the likes of labour, rent and business rates — and around 9 per cent of the price paid by consumers.

他表示，在计算抹茶拿铁的毛利率（指扣除直接生产成本后、但未计入劳动力、租金和营业房产税等因素之前剩余的营收金额）时，抹茶本身的成本现在约占其成本基础的80%，约占消费者支付价格的9%。

However, he shrugged off suggestions that matcha inflation alone could lead to price increases for consumers. "I don't think you can just pick one commodity, which is a very small fraction of the overall cost, and then say 'Oh, we have to raise prices.' "

然而，他对仅抹茶通胀就可能导致消费者价格上涨的说法不以为然。 “我不认为你可以只挑出一种商品，它只是总成本中非常小的一部分，然后就说‘哦，我们必须涨价’。”

Shohet founded Black Sheep Coffee in 2013 with his business partner Eirik Holth. They differentiated themselves from other brands by using robusta coffee beans rather than the arabica served by most businesses.

肖赫于2013年与他的商业伙伴埃里克·霍尔特(Eirik Holth)共同创立了黑羊咖啡。 他们通过使用罗布斯塔咖啡豆而不是大多数企业供应的阿拉比卡咖啡豆，将自己与其他品牌区分开来。

The company is currently expanding across Britain, with plans to open scores more stores this year. Shohet said that, despite the inflation, he wanted to keep prices down for shoppers.

该公司目前正在英国各地扩张，计划今年再开设数十家门店。 肖赫表示，尽管通胀高企，他还是希望让消费者的价格保持低位。

"For the entirety of the 2025 financial year, we had zero price increases on anything. We've increased prices on some products since then … but not in a major way."

“在整个2025财年，我们的任何产品都没有涨价。 自那以后，我们提高了部分产品的价格……但幅度不大。”