The rise of matcha

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.