The cost sheet
A 12 oz (350 ml) hot matcha latte, oat milk, no syrup. Ingredient prices are typical US wholesale in 2026; substitute your own.
| Item | Quantity | Café grade at $165 / kg | First-harvest at $290 / kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matcha | 2 g | $0.33 | $0.58 |
| Oat milk | 260 ml | $0.55 | $0.55 |
| Cup, lid, sleeve | 1 | $0.32 | $0.32 |
| Water, energy, waste | — | $0.05 | $0.05 |
| Ingredient cost | $1.25 | $1.50 | |
| Labour at $18 / h | 2.5 min hand-whisked | $0.75 | $0.75 |
| Labour at $18 / h | 1.2 min with a frother or shaker | $0.36 | $0.36 |
Read across the matcha row. Going from a solid café grade to a first-harvest Yame adds 25 cents. Going from hand-whisking to a shaker or a milk frother saves 39 cents. If your latte is losing money, it is not the tea.
Setting the menu price
Most cafés run drinks at a 25 to 30 percent cost of goods (ingredients and packaging, not labour). At $1.25 in ingredients, that is a $4.20 to $5.00 menu price; at $1.50, $5.00 to $6.00. Add 50 cents to a dollar for a premium matcha and say so on the menu: first-harvest Yame, single cultivar, whatever is true. Customers pay for a named origin the way they pay for a named coffee, and a $6.50 to $7.50 matcha latte is now the norm in London, Sydney, New York and Dubai.
Build the price on the expensive matcha even if you pour the cheaper one most days. When the auction moves, or you upgrade, the menu does not have to.
Three mistakes that lose money
- Over-dosing. Baristas who learned on weak matcha use 3 or 4 g to get colour. A properly shaded café grade gives full colour at 2 g. Dose with a scoop, not by eye; over a month, one extra gram a cup is 30 percent of your matcha bill.
- Buying too much, too rarely. Matcha oxidises after opening. A 1 kg bag that sits open for three months makes 500 dull lattes. Buy 100 g or 1 kg bags matched to weekly use and keep opened bags cold.
- Hiding a $500 matcha under syrup. If the drink has vanilla, strawberry or mango in it, a $160–220 café grade wins on the cup and on the margin. Save the ceremonial for the drinks that are just tea and milk.
When to upgrade the matcha
Upgrade when the drink is the reason people come. A clean usucha, an iced americano, a latte with no syrup: on those, a first-harvest lot from Yame or Kakegawa is the difference the customer describes to a friend, and it costs 25 cents. On everything else, keep a good café grade and put the money into the milk and the training. Our grade guide shows which of our lots suits which drink, and three samples will settle it in an afternoon.
Questions buyers ask
How much does a matcha latte cost to make?
About $1.25 to $1.50 in ingredients and packaging for a 12 oz oat-milk latte, of which the matcha is $0.33 to $0.58 at 2 g. Labour adds $0.35 to $0.75 depending on whether it is hand-whisked.
What should I charge for a matcha latte?
At a 25–30 percent cost of goods, $4.50 to $6.00, plus $0.50 to $1.00 if you name a premium origin. $6.50 to $7.50 is common in major cities in 2026.
How many grams of matcha per latte?
2 g for a 12 oz hot latte, 2.5 g for a 16 oz iced. A properly shaded café grade gives full colour at that dose; if your baristas need 3–4 g, the matcha is the problem.
