The UK scene in 2026, with the sources
For once there are numbers behind the feeling. Square's UK transaction data for the first quarter of 2026, reported by the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal in August 2026, put the matcha latte among the ten most-ordered drinks in UK cafés and showed matcha items up about 30% on the previous quarter. The same report cited a OnePoll survey of 2,000 UK adults from May 2026 in which about 29% said they would pay more for a drink made with a specialist ingredient such as matcha, rising to roughly half of Gen Z.
Read those as a direction rather than a forecast. On the ground, in London, Manchester, Bristol and the rest, matcha is a menu line now, not a special, and the question has changed from whether to stock it to how to keep the supply steady and the cost per cup under control. The UK is also one of the easiest countries to import it into, with one rule of ours that narrows the choice.
Zero duty, zero-rated VAT
Green tea enters the UK under tariff heading 0902 at 0% under the UK Global Tariff, with no quota and no import licence. Tea is also zero-rated for VAT: HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14 lists tea, maté, herbal teas and similar products, and preparations and extracts of these, in the zero-rated column, so there is no import VAT to fund on the tea either. For a café, the landed cost of a kilo is the price per kilo plus the courier, and that is the whole sum.
| Item | Rate | Where it is written |
|---|---|---|
| Import duty on green tea, heading 0902 | 0% | UK Global Tariff, UK trade tariff |
| Import VAT on the tea | 0%, zero-rated | VAT Notice 701/14, section 3.7.2 |
| VAT on a hot matcha latte, or any drink consumed on the premises | 20%, standard rate | VAT Notice 701/14, section 3.7.2 |
| Organic lots | Organic import certificate | Our organic import article |
The customs steps for a first shipment, including the commodity code, the EORI number and what we file from Osaka, are in importing matcha into the UK, and the courier estimates by weight are on our UK wholesale page. This article does not repeat them.
Why we ship only certified organic lots to the UK
Our rule for the EU and the UK is organic lots only. The UK carried the EU's maximum residue levels for tea over when it left and they remain close, and conventional Japanese tea can fail them on individual compounds that are permitted in Japan. Certified organic lots come with the mill's JAS organic certificate and go through the organic import certificate process on the way in. The paperwork, and what your importer registration needs, is in our EU and UK organic import article.
The lot that ships to the UK today is Jun: first-harvest Yutakamidori from Kagoshima, certified organic under JAS and USDA at the mill, $275 / kg, FOB Osaka. The catalog filter for EU and UK shows what is eligible at any time. We are adding a certified organic line from ceremonial to culinary grade, which will show as coming soon in the catalog until the first lots are released; ask us and we will tell you when.
Halal cafés: what the certificate covers
The 2021 Census counted about 3.9 million Muslims in England and Wales, around 6.5% of the population according to the ONS, and the dessert bars and cafés serving that market in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford have matcha on almost every menu. Matcha is a single ingredient, ground tea leaf with nothing added at the mill. Many halal businesses accept it on the spec sheet and the certificate of analysis alone; others want a halal certificate from a recognised body. That is a decision for the café and its certifier, not for us, and we send the documents either way.
We do sell a halal-certified line, Wa, Mai, Mine, Kaoru, Yame and Kamui, with the certificate held by the mill and issued by the Nippon Asia Halal Association. Those lots are not certified organic, so under our UK rule they do not ship to the UK today. The organic line we are adding carries halal and kosher certificates at the mill as well, and when it is released it will be the lot for a UK halal café that wants both on paper. Until then, Jun with its spec sheet and COA is the answer, and what a halal certificate does and does not cover on matcha is in our halal article.
What to order, and the per-cup maths
Our reference ceremonial grade is Hikari, a first-harvest single-origin lot from Kakegawa in Shizuoka at $240 / kg, FOB Osaka, scored 87 for umami and 92 for colour hold on our product pages. It is not certified organic, so it ships to the United States and most of the world but not to the UK; it is here because it is the benchmark we compare everything else against. Taste it against Jun in the sample round and you will know what the organic certificate costs and what it does not change.
- Per cup. One kilo is 250 lattes at 4 g. Jun at $275 / kg is $1.10 of tea per latte; Hikari at $240 / kg would be $0.96.
- Per bag. We pack 1 kg as ten 100 g foil bags at the same price per kilo, so the bar opens one bag a week and the rest stays sealed in the fridge.
- Per month. A café pouring 60 matcha lattes a day uses about 7 kg a month. A standing order fixes the price per kilo for the harvest year; how that works is in our standing orders article.
On method, UK cafés are well served: the flat white culture means milk is steamed properly, and the one thing to add is the matcha paste itself, 4 g whisked in 40 ml of water at 80 °C before the 180 ml of milk. How we define ceremonial, café and culinary is on the grades page.
A UK café's first order, step by step
- Order samples: up to six teas, 20 g each, $5 per sample plus shipping, from the sample form. They leave Osaka within 3 business days of payment.
- Ask for a quote. We reply within 1 business day with the price per kilo, the courier cost to your postcode and the documents list on one page.
- Give us your importer details for the organic certificate before the goods ship, as described in the organic import article.
- Pay by card or bank transfer. The tea leaves Osaka by courier with the commercial invoice, packing list, spec sheet, COA and organic certificate.
- Clear customs: duty 0%, VAT 0% on the tea. Your courier handles the entry; there is no licence to apply for.
- Reorder on a standing order once the menu settles, so the price holds for the harvest year.
The UK is a market where the paperwork is light, the tax is zero on the way in and the demand is measured rather than guessed at. The constraint is ours, organic lots only, and it is there so that the first shipment clears as cleanly as the tenth.
Questions buyers ask
Is matcha zero-rated for VAT in the UK?
Yes. HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14 lists tea and preparations of tea as zero-rated, so there is no VAT on the matcha a café imports. Hot drinks and any drink consumed on the premises are standard-rated at 20%, so the latte you sell is taxed even though the tea is not.
Is there import duty on matcha from Japan into the UK?
No. Green tea under tariff heading 0902 enters at 0% under the UK Global Tariff, with no quota and no import licence. The landed cost is the price per kilo plus the courier.
Which of your matcha ships to the UK?
Certified organic lots only, because the UK's residue limits for tea follow the EU's. Today that is Jun, JAS and USDA certified organic, $275 / kg FOB Osaka. A certified organic line from ceremonial to culinary grade is being added and shows as coming soon in the catalog.
Do you have halal matcha for UK cafés?
Our halal-certified line is not certified organic, so it does not ship to the UK under our rule. The organic line being added carries halal and kosher certificates at the mill. Until it is released, Jun ships with its spec sheet and certificate of analysis, and whether a certificate is required is for the café and its certifier to decide.
Prices and lots named in this article are as published on Nov 2026; the catalog always carries the current list price per kilo.
