Buying & supplier selection
How to Choose a Wholesale Matcha Supplier for Your Café
Choosing a wholesale matcha supplier comes down to three things: whether the powder works in your drinks, whether the supplier's claims hold up when you ask for evidence, and what the matcha really costs once it is in the cup. Score every candidate on the same weighted criteria, and only count a claim when you have seen evidence for it. The scorecard below turns a vague "which one feels right" into a decision you can explain to a business partner or head barista.
Why a scorecard beats a price comparison
Most supplier pages lead with a price per kilo, a grade name and an origin. Those three facts alone do not tell you much. Two powders at the same price can behave very differently in oat milk, and "ceremonial" is a marketing term rather than an official grade (Ippodo, a long-established Kyoto producer, says the term is not used in Japan).
A scorecard forces you to weigh what matters for your menu. A café selling 90% lattes should weight milk performance heavily. A tea-led bar serving matcha straight should weight flavour in water instead.
The weighted scorecard
Score each criterion from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), multiply by the weight, and add up. The weights below suit a typical café where most matcha is sold in milk drinks. Adjust them, but keep the total at 100.
| Criterion | Weight | What a 5 looks like | Evidence to request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance in your drinks | 30 | Clear matcha flavour through your house milk at your dose; smooth, no grit | A sample you test yourself in your own milk and cup size |
| Product transparency | 15 | Origin, harvest and milling stated per product, not just "Japan" | Product page or spec sheet that names region, harvest and milling |
| Documentation | 15 | Supplier answers clearly which documents exist for the current batch | Ask what documentation is available; note what you receive |
| Cost per serving | 15 | Competitive at your real dose and waste rate | Price per kg excl. VAT, then your own calculation |
| Ordering and delivery terms | 10 | Shipping cost, VAT handling and delivery zone stated openly | Written terms in the FAQ or checkout |
| Pack format | 5 | Pack size suits your usage and storage | Pack size and closure type |
| Sampling | 5 | Samples are easy to buy and match the bulk product | Sample price and whether it is the same product as the bulk pack |
| Responsiveness | 5 | Clear answers to specific questions within a reasonable time | How they handled your first questions |
What to watch in each criterion
Performance (30). This is the only criterion you can fully verify yourself. Run the same recipe for every candidate, side by side, blind if possible. Our sample testing protocol sets out the controls.
Transparency (15). "Uji" is a useful clue but needs context: the Kyoto tourism authority explains that Uji tea can include leaf grown in Kyoto, Nara, Shiga or Mie, as long as it is processed in Kyoto. A supplier who explains this openly scores higher than one who uses the name loosely.
Documentation (15). Do not score documents you have only been promised. Write down what you actually received. The guide to matcha product documentation lists what each document answers.
Cost per serving (15). Never score on price per kilo alone. Convert it: matcha cost per serving = price per kg × grams per serving ÷ 1,000. Then add the costs beyond the powder that the total cost comparison covers, such as shipping and waste.
Worked example: two suppliers, one decision
Here is how the arithmetic runs. The scores are illustrative, not real suppliers.
| Criterion | Weight | Supplier X score | X weighted | Supplier Y score | Y weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 30 | 4 | 120 | 3 | 90 |
| Transparency | 15 | 4 | 60 | 2 | 30 |
| Documentation | 15 | 3 | 45 | 3 | 45 |
| Cost per serving | 15 | 3 | 45 | 5 | 75 |
| Ordering terms | 10 | 4 | 40 | 3 | 30 |
| Pack format | 5 | 4 | 20 | 4 | 20 |
| Sampling | 5 | 5 | 25 | 2 | 10 |
| Responsiveness | 5 | 4 | 20 | 3 | 15 |
| Total (max 500) | 100 | 375 | 315 |
Supplier Y is cheaper, and still loses by 60 points, mostly on performance and transparency. That is the point of weighting: a lower price per kilo rarely makes up for a drink your regulars notice is weaker.
Set a minimum too. A useful rule is that no supplier goes through with a performance score below 3, whatever its total.
Questions that separate suppliers quickly
You do not need a long questionnaire on day one. These five questions reveal most of what you need. The full list of 25 supplier questions goes deeper.
- Which product do you recommend for milk drinks, and which for pure preparation, and why?
- Where is the matcha from, which harvest is it, and how is it milled?
- Which documentation is available for the current batch?
- Is the sample the same product I would receive in the bulk pack?
- What does shipping cost to my country, and how is VAT handled on a business order?
Score the answers, not the tone. A short, specific answer beats a long, vague one.
Red flags during selection
- A grade name presented as if it were an official standard.
- Origin given only as "Japan" with no region, or a region name with no explanation.
- Sales material promising effects on the body. In the EU such claims are tightly regulated, and a supplier who uses them loosely may be loose elsewhere.
- Documents promised "after your first order" with no detail on what they contain.
- No way to buy a small sample of the exact product.
How Yumi fits the scorecard
So you can apply the scorecard to us like any other supplier, here are the facts we publish. Both 1 kg products are matcha from Uji (Kyoto), Japan, first harvest, stone-milled. Ceremonial Barista Matcha in a 1 kg bag is made for milk drinks and costs €195.00 per kg excl. VAT. Ceremonial Matcha is made for pure preparation with water and premium serves, at €265.00 per kg excl. VAT. Prices are at the time of writing (November 2026); check the product page for the current price.
At 2 g per serving that works out to €195 × 2 ÷ 1,000 = €0.39 and €265 × 2 ÷ 1,000 = €0.53 in matcha cost per serving, excl. VAT. That is the powder only, not the cost of the drink. Shipping is €0 to countries in our delivery zone (EU countries plus Norway and Georgia). You order through a business account and enter your VAT number at checkout. Yumi is trusted by 250+ cafés across Europe, but your own test should decide.
For documentation, ask us which documents are available for the current batch via our contact page. For anything not covered here, see the B2B FAQ.
Next step
Print the scorecard, set your weights, and score at least two suppliers on the same day. To fill in the performance row for us, compare both 10 g samples (€4.95 each excl. VAT at the time of writing) in your own milk before you commit to a 1 kg bag.