Time Out: Matcha and a brat Summer

Time Out featured Harris and Hayes expertise in their news article about the rise of matcha in the UK. Demand for matcha has been increasing steadily, and bright green alternative hot drinks have officially become mainstream. We gave our opinion on how success became more than a flash in the pan trend…

“Matcha has only really been consumed at a mainstream level here in the UK for the last nine plus years,’ says food trends consultant Alex Hayes. ‘It’s [popularity in the UK] can be traced back, like with a lot of health trends, to LA and the circa-2015 Gwyneth Paltrow ‘‘Goop’’ effect,’ an era of Hollywood-fronted pseudoscience and wellness culture promoting everything from raw goat milk cleanses to vagina eggs. 

Influencers like US coffee mogul Emma Chamberlain have been hot on promoting matcha’s mellow but long-lasting energising effects. Soon, the drink trickled down from the health-obsessed Angelenos to British creators, who’d brighten up their grid with posed pics sipping on the iced-up green brews. It wasn’t long before the general public caught on and matcha cafés like Jenki opened up in the UK to ‘take matcha to the next level’, according to Hayes. 

Aesthetics is a huge boost to matcha’s appeal. Slurping on a bright green matcha latte signals health and more mindful consumption, and taps into the moderation trends we’re seeing impact reduced alcohol consumption amongst Gen Z too.

‘Vibrant green matcha attracted a lot of attention via colour alone,’ says Hayes. And alongside bright green’s suggestion of health and nature, it’s also very trendy. According to colour analyst Sandy Lancaster, green is associated with energy, optimism, nature and growth, while its boldness inspires excitement and confidence. The colour has trickled down from popular culture, too: it’s no coincidence that bright green matcha has become its own aesthetic at the same time as brat, the Charli XCX album responsible for ‘brat summer’.

Read the full feature here.