How to import matcha from Japan

If you are working out how to import matcha from Japan for a café, bakery, or foodservice business, the process is more routine than the paperwork makes it look. Importing matcha comes down to three parties doing three jobs: the supplier packs and prices the powder for export, an express courier or freight forwarder moves it, and a customs broker clears it into your country. The matcha import itself is not the hard part — the powder ships as a low-risk dry food. What trips up a first-time buyer is not knowing which cost sits with whom, so this guide names each one.

Everything below assumes you are buying producer-direct. Producer-direct means grower-level sourcing through MATSU, without the usual chain of trading houses, importers, and distributors, so the person who graded the powder is the person who packs your export carton. The prices and lead times here are the ones we work to from Uji, Kagoshima, and Izumo — not market averages pulled from a search result.

How does importing matcha from Japan actually work?

Matcha arrives as a finished dry powder, sold through a chain that is often three or four intermediaries deep — a regional cooperative, an export trading house, an importer of record, and a foodservice distributor. Buying producer-direct collapses that chain: you order from the source, the powder is packed for export, and it moves by express courier straight to your door. For a small wholesale order there is no shipping line, no drayage, no bonded warehouse — just a courier consignment and a customs entry.

The division of labour is what the FOB Japan quote sets. The supplier covers everything up to the powder being packed and ready for export from Japan. From there, international freight, your country's import duty or tax, and customs clearance are on your side — handled in practice by a customs broker or your courier's brokerage service. That is the whole model. The sections below turn it into a checklist you can run before your first order.

What are the steps to import matcha from Japan?

Here is the full path from choosing a grade to receiving the shipment, with who owns each step and roughly how long it takes.

The practical read: the only two jobs a first-time importer personally owns are choosing the grade and lining up a customs broker or courier account. Everything else is the supplier packing correctly and the courier moving the box — the same flow behind any imported dry-food ingredient.

What does FOB Japan mean when importing matcha?

Producer-direct pricing is quoted FOB Japan, and for a buyer importing for the first time that term is worth ten minutes. For MATSU wholesale orders, FOB Japan pricing means the listed product price covers the matcha packed for export from Japan. International freight, import duty or tax, and customs clearance sit on the buyer side. Here is what each of those three means in practice — and none of them is as daunting as it sounds:

• International freight. The shipment moves by express courier from Japan to your door, typically 2–3 weeks, longer for some destinations. Freight is billed to you, either on your courier account or arranged with the supplier.
• Import duty and tax. Your country sets any duty or import tax on food goods — for many markets a green-tea powder carries a low or zero tariff, plus local sales tax such as VAT or GST. A customs broker can confirm the figure for matcha before you order.
• Customs clearance. A local customs broker — or your courier's brokerage service — files the entry using the shipping documents. Most buyers never touch the paperwork directly; the broker does.

Add the FOB price, freight, duty, and any handling together and you have your landed cost per kilogram — the real number to compare against a domestic distributor's shelf price. Producer-direct usually wins that comparison even after freight, because you are removing the two or three margins stacked between a grower and a foodservice distributor.

What documents do cafés need to import matcha?

This is the question that stalls most first orders, so here is the plain answer. To clear a matcha shipment, a customs broker needs two documents, and both travel with every MATSU consignment:

• Commercial invoice. States the buyer, seller, goods, value, and terms — the basis your customs authority uses to assess duty and tax.
• Packing list. Itemises what is physically in the carton: grades, net and gross weights, and carton count, so a broker can reconcile the entry against the shipment.

Both ship in English so an import desk can process them without translation. Beyond those two, import requirements vary by country and sit on the buyer side. The United States, for example, operates a Foreign Supplier Verification Programme (FSVP) for imported food; the UK, EU, and Australia each set their own food-import rules. These are buyer-side steps you confirm with your own customs broker or courier account before ordering — the same way any imported-food business handles its compliance. A supplier providing a clean commercial invoice and packing list is doing its part; your broker maps the rest to your destination.

The practical read: line up a customs broker or courier brokerage account before your first order and ask them one question — “what does my country require to import a dry green-tea powder for foodservice?” Their answer, plus the invoice and packing list on every shipment, is the whole document picture.

How much does it cost to import matcha from Japan?

The product price is quoted FOB Japan. MATSU grades run $390 to $1,050 per kilogram — $39 to $105 per 100 g — across eight grades, and where a café-focused buyer lands depends on the grade, since a latte-rail grade in the $390–$450/kg band covers most foodservice volume. Full pricing for all eight grades sits on the grade and pricing page. Your landed cost adds three buyer-side items on top:

• Freight — per-kilogram courier cost, which falls as order size rises. A 1 kg trial carries more freight per kilogram than a 10 kg standing order.
• Import duty or tax — set by your destination; often low or zero on green-tea powder, plus local sales tax. Your broker confirms the rate.
• Customs handling — a modest broker or courier brokerage fee per entry.

Because freight and clearance are largely fixed per shipment, cost per kilogram improves the more you order at once — which is the practical reason to consolidate into a standing order rather than trickling in single kilograms. The discount structure below rewards the same behaviour.

What is the minimum order, and how fast does it ship?

The minimum wholesale order is 1 kg per grade, producer-direct FOB Japan — small enough to trial a grade in real service before committing volume. Volume discounts begin at 5 kg per order (5% off list), rise to 10% off at 10 kg with a six-month price lock, and 15% off at 25 kg; 50 kg+ is custom-priced. A single shipment runs up to about 30 kg; larger standing needs are scheduled across shipments rather than sold as one drum.

Lead time is 2–3 weeks from order to delivery by express courier, longer for some destinations and customs profiles — most of that window is transit and clearance, not packing. Resist over-ordering to chase a discount or save on freight: sealed matcha holds for months stored cool and dry, but once opened you should work through it quickly for best colour and aroma, so a monthly standing order beats a drum that spends three months losing its green in the store. Because lead time is a few weeks, reorder before an open bag passes its best window rather than waiting until the dry store is empty.

Which countries can you import matcha from Japan to?

Producer-direct by express courier reaches most developed markets on the same FOB Japan basis and a comparable 2–3 week lead time — what changes country to country is the duty rate and the buyer-side food-import rule your broker handles. Here is how the three most common destinations for MATSU buyers work.

In every case the pattern is identical: FOB Japan product price, buyer-side freight and duty, and a commercial invoice plus packing list travelling with the shipment so a broker can file the entry. The destination questions in the FAQ below answer each market in a little more detail.

How do you test the matcha before committing to import?

You do not commit a menu drink — or a shipping arrangement — to a powder you have only read about. Before working out freight and brokers, put the actual lot in your hands. Order a tasting kit and pull the drink against your own milk and equipment, so the grade decision is settled before the import logistics start.

The MATSU Tasting Kit ships three flagship grades — Uji Signature, Kagoshima Premium, and Uji Classic — at 3 × 30 g, delivery included, and the $129 is credited in full to a first order of 1 kg or more. It arrives as a small courier parcel, so it also previews the same delivery path a full order takes. A supplier who puts the current lot in your hands is confident in it; one who sends only a photo and a price is selling you a tin. Our producer-direct sourcing is built so you taste first, then scale into a standing import order with the grade already proven on your bar. The grade diagnostic narrows the shortlist by your use, volume, and destination before you order.

Frequently asked questions