Matcha wholesale suppliers compared: Japan-direct exporters, importers and marketplaces

Three kinds of supplier

We get asked every week who else a café should look at. It is a fair question, and we would rather answer it with facts than with adjectives. So we read the public pages of eight other companies that come up for matcha wholesale searches, on 30 September 2026, and wrote down what each one says about itself: where it is based, where it ships from, whether it publishes wholesale prices, the minimum order, how samples work and which certificates it lists. Nothing below is our opinion of anyone's tea. We have not tasted most of it, and neither has anyone else who writes these comparisons.

The eight fall into three groups. Japan-direct exporters sell from Japan and ship by courier or freight; you clear customs. Importers and brands hold stock in your country; you buy domestically, often in smaller packs. Marketplaces list many sellers and origins on one page. The right group depends on your volume, how much paperwork you want and whether you want to know which field the leaf came from.

The comparison table

What each company states on its own website, read on 30 September 2026. Where a cell says not stated, the page we could reach did not say. Tell us if we have something wrong and we will correct it.

Japan-direct exporters

Matcha Wholesale Japan is the most transparent of the exporters we looked at: business-only, ceremonial only, origins listed as Uji, Nishio, Ureshino and Kagoshima, prices on the page, MOQ 1 kg, FedEx from Japan. If you want a second Japan-direct quote to put next to ours, this is an easy one to get.

AKI MATCHA in Hamamatsu sells single-cultivar lots (Saemidori, Tsuyuhikari, Komakage, Okumidori) from several prefectures and lists 1 kg packs on its shop in yen, with a business sample pack. Its site also says it now fulfils orders from a North American centre, which puts it partly in the next group. It lists USDA organic.

MATCHA OTAKU, run by DripSquare in Tokyo, has the largest content library in this space, more than fifty articles, and a web catalog with Super Ceremonial, Ceremonial and Standard grades from seven regions, plus hojicha and genmaicha. The catalog states 300 tons a year, 70 countries and a list of certificates including halal, JAS organic, kosher, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000. It does not publish wholesale prices; you ask.

MatchaKyoto.com positions itself as an OEM and private-label supplier: pouches, tins, boxes and labels, with a long list of certificates on the page. No prices, quote by inquiry. Useful if packaging is the job and the tea is secondary.

Importers and brands with local stock

Matcha.com's bulk division is the largest volume offer we found: 10 kg to 10,000 kg and up, US warehousing with cold storage, organic and conventional, sencha and hojicha powder, private label, and a food-service line with no minimum. Prices are not on the site. If you need two tonnes in a US warehouse next week, this is who that page is written for.

Sugimoto Tea Company, founded in 1946 with a US office in Redmond, Washington, describes itself as one of the largest bulk suppliers of matcha and Japanese green tea to the US. Bulk comes in 15 to 30 kg nitrogen-flushed cases, with custom mesh, blending and private label. It lists USDA organic, JAS, kosher and FSSC 22000. Pricing runs through a wholesale account.

UnD in New York sells ceremonial, premium and culinary grades under its own names, bulk from 1 kg, with 20 g samples once wholesale access is approved, and says it ships more than 30 tonnes a year. Tenzo is a US brand selling blends (Sweet, Premium, Original, Takara Reserve, Hojicha) to cafés in 100 g to 500 g packs, USDA organic and JAS listed, COA on request, wholesale through a form. Pure Matcha Partners in the Netherlands supplies ceremonial, latte and culinary grades and hojicha sourced from Japan and China, MOQ 5 kg, up to 1,000 kg a month, with JAS, EU and USDA organic, HACCP, FSSC 22000 and kosher listed.

What this group has in common: you pay in your own currency, there is no customs step, and the pack sizes suit a single café. What you give up is the lot-level detail. Most of these pages describe grades and blends rather than a harvest, a cultivar and a mill, and the price you pay includes a warehouse and a margin that a Japan-direct price does not.

Marketplaces

Alibaba, Tridge and the wholesale aggregators that rank for these searches list dozens of sellers on one page, with Japanese and Chinese origin side by side and the word ceremonial attached to most of them. Some of the listings are real Japanese mills. The problem is not the marketplace, it is that the page cannot tell you which is which. If you buy this way, ask for the certificate of analysis, the mill name, the harvest and a photo of the actual bag before paying, and treat a ceremonial price below about $80 per kilo as a warning sign, for the reasons in our price guide.

How to choose

• Under 5 kg a month, one café. A Japan-direct exporter with a 1 kg MOQ and a DDP option, or a local importer if you want to avoid customs entirely. Courier from Osaka to the US is four to seven days; see the US page for duty and paperwork.
• 5 to 100 kg a month, several sites or a roaster. Japan-direct starts to win on price per kilo, and a standing order fixes the price for the harvest year. Ask every supplier for the same thing: price per kg at a stated incoterm, harvest, cultivar, mill, particle size, and a COA for the lot.
• Over 500 kg, a brand or a distributor. You want warehousing near your customers or a private-label partner. Matcha.com's bulk division, Sugimoto and the OEM houses in Japan are built for that; so are we, at up to 10,000 kg a month, but by freight from Osaka rather than from a local warehouse.
• Whatever the size: sample three, taste them the way you serve them, and read the buying guide before you sign anything.

Where we fit

We are a Japan-direct exporter. Every tea in the catalog has its price per kilogram, FOB Osaka, on the page, along with harvest, cultivar, shading, mill and particle size. Hikari, our most ordered ceremonial lot, is $240 per kg, FOB Osaka; café grades start lower and culinary powders from $100 per kg. Minimum order is 1 kg, 10 kg for the halal and kosher certified line. Samples are three teas at 20 g for $5 each, shipped within three business days, credited to your first order of 5 kg or more. We buy at the mills, and the mills' certificates and each lot's COA travel with the order.

If another supplier on this list suits you better, use them. The matcha market in 2026 is short of good tencha, not short of sellers, and the buyers who do well are the ones who compare on the same facts. Request samples and put us in the line-up.

Questions buyers ask