The world is obsessed with a certain green tea from Japan that has gone from a quiet wellness drink to a global luxury obsession – matcha. It has hit dessert menus, mithai shops, ice cream parlours and, of course, coffee shops with more variants than one can count globally. What was meant to be a tea, is now being doused in everything from water to seasonal fruits. But what makes it so special — and so expensive? True ceremonial-grade matcha is made from shade-grown tea leaves called tencha, hand-picked and stone-ground in small batches. The production is labor-intensive, and only a limited amount is produced each year, creating scarcity — a hallmark of luxury goods. Not just this, Matcha comes with an implicit cultural symbolism. It was historically part of the Japanese tea ceremony ritual for nobility.