Source: Stock It’s the middle of Australian winter and yet iced matchas are everywhere. Not just in cafes, but across our feeds – there they are. Tumblers dripping with condensation, clutched in manicured hands, swirling gradients of oat milk and powdered green, some with colourful toppings. In a landscape of endlessly shifting lifestyle trends, matcha has proven remarkably sticky. The Japanese green tea powder started having a moment back in 2023 as a traditional drink, long revered for its cultural context, that also happened to be what all the ‘clean-girls’ ‘green-godesses’ were drinking to balance their guts. Like all good trends, it eventually started to wobble with complaints about the flavour and the boom of alternative health drinks and immunity shots that threatened to knock it off its symbolic perch. Except it didn’t go anywhere. It simply rebranded and made a comeback so big, Japan is now dealing with a matcha supply crisis. What’s happened more recently is curious. Matcha isn’t being sold as a health drink anymore, but rather as a Gen Z symbol for good taste and better vibes. Recent edits include matcha montages and day-in-the-life style short videos set to trending Instagram and TikTok sounds like the one that quips, ‘If matcha tastes like grass, I am simply a cow.’ Matcha has slipped from centrepiece to signature, no longer primarily the subject of tutorials or wellness posts, but a quiet fixture in the frame. It shows up in travel diaries, BookTok recommendations, even the front seat of a car, mid hot take about Labubus. The whisk shots are on their way out; in their place, a green drink that says everything without needing to be explained. If you fancy a game of ‘Where’s Wally – Matcha Edition,’ here’s where you can start looking: In the passenger seat Often appearing during a rant or thought dump that simply couldn’t wait until after the drive home, you’ll find a cup of matcha in the holder or being waved at the camera or even being sipped mid-sentence. You’re not watching for the drink, but it’s an accessory that only pretends to be in the background. #BookTok It’s the first shot in a #BookTok reset or a Sunday vlog. The swirl, the pour, the green on glass, gently placed next to a hardbound book. You may also find it cupped in the hands of your go-to booktok creators as they share their favourite reads of the season. Matcha sets the new aesthetic tone: calm, conscious, clean, with a pop of green in a content universe that until recently went hand in hand with coffee stains and latte art. Weekly carousel dump Scroll through any creator’s carousel of weekend snaps or ‘camera roll clears’ and odds are, there’s a cold matcha somewhere near the front. Lit just right, being stirred in slo-mo to capture the clouds of oat milk rising as it blends. A trend that’s inspired many to subtly drop their own love affairs with matcha on their feeds, it makes for the perfect hook in an amateur creator’s virality toolkit. As filler B-roll Even when the content is about something else entirely, matcha somehow still finds its way in. Stirring, sipping, resting on a windowsill. No one’s talking about the drink in their hands as they get on the mall escalator or stroll down the esplanade – and that’s the whole point. Matcha is now a mood, not a menu item. Matcha has become the young, hot cousin from out of town that’s featured in fun little brunches with the girls, wellness goals, coffee dates and window shopping. So while this has been a low-yield year for the tea, we reckon it isn’t going anywhere soon. The flat white ought to watch its back.
