For years, coffee has been the undisputed star of café culture. It is the drink behind early mornings, work meetings, study sessions, and the increasingly serious pursuit of the perfect flat white. But recently, there has been a lot more green appearing between all that brown.
Matcha is everywhere.
The vibrant green Japanese tea has taken over Instagram and TikTok feeds, appearing in morning routines, café reviews, and ‘what I eat in a day’ videos. Lifestyle influencers whisk it in aesthetically pleasing kitchens, cafés serve it iced with strawberry purée or coconut milk, and the unmistakable green has become almost as important to the experience as the drink itself.
Sri Lanka has not escaped the trend either. Matcha lattes have become increasingly common on café menus around Colombo, with establishments offering their own versions of the drink.
“There was a point where suddenly everyone was drinking matcha,” Shavindri Perera shared. “You would open Instagram and there was that green everywhere. It photographs really well, so I definitely think social media played a huge role in making people curious about it.”
The matcha aesthetic
Matcha itself, of course, is far from new.
Originating from China before becoming deeply associated with Japanese tea culture, matcha is produced from shade-grown tea leaves that are processed and ground into a fine powder. Unlike conventional tea, where the leaves are steeped and removed, matcha involves consuming the powdered leaf itself.
What is relatively new is the lifestyle that has been built around it.
Matcha has fitted almost too perfectly into the wellness-focused ‘clean girl’ aesthetic that has dominated social media in recent years. Add Pilates, skincare, neutral activewear, and a carefully prepared iced matcha and you have a recognisable corner of contemporary influencer culture.
“It has become almost an accessory,” said Shriya Kanth. “There is the Pilates class and then the matcha afterwards. It has become part of this whole image of being healthy and having your life together.”
That association has also produced the idea of the ‘matcha girl,’ with brands leaning into phrases such as ‘hot girls drink matcha’. While mostly harmless marketing, it has also created some criticism that a traditional drink with considerable cultural history is increasingly being reduced to an internet aesthetic.
There are also questions around preparation. Traditional matcha is whisked, commonly using a bamboo whisk known as a chasen. As demand has grown, cafés around the world have produced increasingly liberal interpretations using electric frothers, sweeteners, syrups, and flavoured milks.
For enthusiasts, the difference is noticeable. “I don’t mind trends introducing people to something new,” said Vindula Lakshan. “But when something becomes popular very quickly, suddenly everyone is selling it and the quality can be all over the place. Sometimes you’re paying quite a lot because it says matcha, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting particularly good matcha.”
But is it actually healthier?
Part of matcha’s popularity comes from its reputation as the healthier alternative to coffee.
There is some basis for the comparison, although the reality is less dramatic than social media sometimes suggests.
Both matcha and coffee contain caffeine, although the exact amount varies considerably according to the quantity used and how the drink is prepared. Matcha also contains L-theanine, an amino acid naturally occurring in tea. The combination of caffeine and L-theanine is one reason some drinkers describe the experience as a more gradual sense of alertness compared with the sharper kick they associate with coffee.
Matcha also contains naturally occurring plant compounds including catechins such as EGCG, while coffee has its own antioxidant compounds, including chlorogenic acids.
In other words, coffee is not suddenly the unhealthy villain simply because matcha has arrived.
“There is something funny about how coffee is sometimes presented as the chaotic choice now and matcha is the calm, healthy choice,” Shriya said. “I like both. Sometimes you want a coffee and sometimes you want a matcha. I don’t think it has to become an identity.”
And what goes into the cup matters too. A plain matcha may be relatively simple, but a large matcha latte loaded with sweetened milk, syrups, and flavoured toppings is a very different drink. The same is true of coffee.
Is matcha replacing coffee?
Despite its sudden visibility, coffee probably does not need to worry just yet.
Coffee has a deeply established culture around it, and for many people its stronger flavour and familiar caffeine boost remain difficult to replace.
“I’ll try matcha and I enjoy it, but I don’t see myself becoming someone who gives up coffee,” Shavindri said. “Coffee is still coffee. Matcha feels more like another option that has been added.”
Vindula agrees that the current enthusiasm may eventually settle. “Some people discovered matcha because it was trending and will probably stop drinking it when the next thing comes along,” he said. “But there will also be people who realised they genuinely like it, so I don’t think matcha is going anywhere.”
Perhaps that is the more interesting legacy of the trend. Matcha may currently be benefiting from influencer culture, wellness marketing, and the fact that few drinks look quite as striking in a photograph. But trends can also introduce people to tastes and traditions they might otherwise never have encountered.
The vibrant green may eventually appear a little less frequently on our feeds, and the ‘matcha girl’ aesthetic will inevitably make room for whatever wellness trend comes next. But matcha itself has been around considerably longer than Instagram, Pilates aesthetics, or the clean girl.
Coffee probably isn’t being replaced. It simply has some much greener competition.