Opening a cafe soon… do cafes really buy matcha supplies in bulk?
I’m opening a small cafe inside an office building in a few weeks. Coffee I understand. Matcha I’m still confused about. Everything I read says matcha goes bad pretty fast once opened and you’re supposed to buy small tins. But the place I’m renting in has a ton of foot traffic and people already keep asking if we’ll have matcha lattes. If that actually happens, small tins sound unrealistic. I’d probably run out in one day. So what do cafes actually do? Do they just accept some flavor loss and most customers don’t notice once milk and syrup are added? Or are there storage tricks I don’t know yet? I was browsing equipment online and saw big bags of matcha supplies while comparing pitchers. The size alone stressed me out. I kept thinking there’s no way that stays fresh. But then again cafes obviously exist and serve matcha every day, so clearly I’m missing something. I don’t want to open and already serve dull tasting drinks because I tried to save money buying bulk. If you run a cafe or worked in one, how did you handle matcha ordering at the beginning before you could predict demand?
Posted Mar 1, 2026, 1:47 AM UTC