Иван on Nostr: By the way, about mate and matcha. This is a clear example of how the Japanese are ...

By the way, about mate and matcha. This is a clear example of how the Japanese are better at marketing and how crucial U.S. support is in this area. After all, what is matcha? Originally, it was just a rather average tea from Japan. And it could have stayed that way, like some tea from Georgia or Russia, which no one really cares about. But Japanese dedication and technology brought it up to the level of quality HoReCa and confectionery products, and American businesses like Starbucks spread matcha worldwide. It's no longer just Japanese tea; it’s now as common a drink as coffee.

With mate, none of this happened. As far as I understand, the product's quality remained low for a long time, and processing methods didn’t really change, leading to an unhealthy level of carcinogens in the leaves. Efforts to bring mate to the HoReCa segment started on time but ultimately went nowhere because connections with the U.S. aren’t strong enough for Starbucks to start selling mate with coconut milk. 😂

Even the attempt to expand the product just to store shelves didn’t succeed. Mate was gaining popularity in Russia in the 2000s and could have become a second tea, but it didn’t. People remembered it and forgot about it within a year. Somehow, mate managed to capture the market in Syria and Lebanon 🤭 but that’s more of an exception.

In Russia, with the current sanctions, Japanese matcha has disappeared, but mate hasn't shown up. Chinese matcha has appeared instead. 😂