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The popularity of matcha is skyrocketing
. The famous finely-ground green tea
is in short supply. Most of the world's matcha is produced in Japan. Record high temperatures there have lowered
of the shade-grown tea leaves. Increased
and lower crop
have resulted in prices hitting an all-time high. Masahiro Yoshida, a sixth-
farmer from Uji, Kyoto, told the Reuters news agency about his decreased
. He said he was only able to harvest 1.5 tons of tencha tea leaves this year, instead of his
harvest of two tons. He added: "Last year's summer was so
that it damaged the
, so we couldn't pluck as many leaves."