Antara News·Indonesia·Friday, October 30, 2026 at 10:21 AM UTC

Local matcha drives tea garden economy in Ciwidey

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Ilham, Kenzu

Bandung, West Java (ANTARA) - From the tea gardens of Ciwidey in Bandung District, West Java, the shoots picked by farmers begin their journey to the processing factory.

However, some tea leaves from the area now take a different route before turning into value-added matcha powder.

The change is part of the business journey of Rizal Firdaus Rayfasha through IndoMatcha. Drawing on the potential of tea plantations in his area, he developed a product known as a Japanese specialty drink, though its raw material can be processed from local tea.

Rayfasha has known his family’s tea business for a long time. The business began running around 2011-2012, and he became involved in 2014. In 2017, he began developing matcha with a production capacity of about 5-10 kilograms per month.

“Why not develop my local matcha bigger?” Rayfasha said.

The opportunity opened up further when raw material supply from Japan faced challenges. In 2022-2023, demand for matcha rose while supply became harder to obtain and prices kept climbing.

“The raw material from Japan is hard to get, and the price keeps rising,” he said.

That situation opened room for local products. Rayfasha then developed processing using tea leaf supply from farmers and suppliers around Ciwidey. From there, tea shoots originally sold as industrial raw material were directed into a product with a different character and economic value.

Special shoots

IndoMatcha does not own a plantation. Raw material comes from community gardens and suppliers around Ciwidey. Therefore, product quality is determined not only by processing, but also by plant condition, picking, and leaf handling from the garden.

One of the processes is shading the plants for about 12 days before picking. The tea used comes from assamica and sinensis varieties, which have different characters depending on the needs of the final product.

Relations with farmers are an important part of the business’s supply chain. According to Rayfasha, large factories generally buy tea shoots at Rp2,500-Rp3,000 per kilogram. IndoMatcha buys them at Rp4,000-Rp10,000 per kilogram. For special tea, the price can reach Rp12,000 per kilogram.

That price gap shows an opportunity to raise the value of raw material upstream. Although it does not yet reflect higher income for all supplying farmers, the purchasing pattern shows that shoot quality can open market options with different prices.

From shoots to powder

Tea leaves do not turn into matcha powder directly. The shoots are first steamed to stop enzyme activity, then dried and sorted.

In one production run, IndoMatcha uses about 500 kilograms to one ton of tea shoots to produce about 300 kilograms of matcha powder.

The next stage produces tencha, dried tea material separated from stems and unneeded parts, which is then ground with a stone grinding machine into fine powder. The whole process can take about two days, depending on the stage and condition of the raw material.

This downstreaming does not merely change the commodity’s form. Knowledge of varieties, shading time, shoot quality, and processing techniques determines the character of the final product. Besides matcha, IndoMatcha develops hojicha, a roasted tea with a distinctive coffee-like aroma.

IndoMatcha’s raw material needs now reach about 3-4 tons of tea per month. About three tons are used for matcha production, while the rest is processed into special tea products.

Wet leaf processing capacity reaches about 500 kilograms per day and can rise to 600 kilograms. Production runs about four days a week, supported by six workers besides Rayfasha.

Matcha sales are around 200-300 kilograms per month, with a retail price of about Rp300 thousand per kilogram.

At retail prices, the equivalent value reaches Rp60 million-Rp90 million per month. However, that figure is not actual turnover because most sales are made through business-to-business (B2B) schemes at prices set by volume and agreement.

IndoMatcha mostly serves the B2B market and provides products under a white label scheme. Products can be marketed under partners’ own brands, while IndoMatcha focuses on processing and supplying raw material.

“It is the offline market, mostly B2B. I sell white label, and I do not have my own retail brand yet,” Rayfasha said.

The marketing network reaches several regions, especially West Java, as well as Surabaya, Kalimantan, Makassar, East Nusa Tenggara, and Medan. This business chain connects farmers as shoot suppliers, processors, production workers, and partners who take the product to a wider market.

As a result, economic value does not stop at the sale of plantation produce, but continues through processing, distribution, and marketing.

Opening economic paths

According to 2024 data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), tea plantation area in West Java reached 76,101 hectares with total production of 85,901 tons. Of that, smallholder plantations contributed about 42,224 tons.

The potential is also seen in Bandung District. Regional government data in the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD) recorded tea harvest area in 2024 at 1,674 hectares, with production of 3,170 tons and productivity of about 1,898 kg per hectare.

Meanwhile, BPS data show smallholder tea plantation area in Bandung District in 2025 reached about 1,700 hectares. At the provincial level, tea production from smallholder plantations in 2025 was recorded at about 41,500 tons.

The figures show smallholder plantations remain an important part of maintaining tea raw material supply in West Java.

However, that production potential still faces trade challenges. Data from the Indonesian Tea Farmers Association cited in February 2026 recorded black and green tea exports from January to November 2025 at about 28,000 tons, down 13 percent from the same period in 2024.

At the same time, Indonesia imported about 13,043 tons of tea throughout 2024.

Amid these challenges, developing downstream products such as matcha can be one alternative to raise the added value of the tea commodity.

Processing tea shoots into matcha powder offers a different market opportunity compared with selling tea leaves as raw material.

Efforts to build a tea ecosystem from upstream to downstream were also made through Java Tea Experience (JTE), introduced in 2022 at the West Java Investment Summit series by Bank Indonesia.

The program returned in 2024 through West Java Creative Works and West Java Crafts Week, with various tea promotion activities, from introducing artisan tea to product development and export opportunities.

The IndoMatcha developed by Rayfasha is an independent business initiative. His journey shows that processing innovation can sprout from entrepreneurs who recognize the potential in local raw materials.

From tea shoots picked by Ciwidey farmers to matcha powder, economic value does not stop at the harvest. Processing, raw material absorption, labor, and market expansion build a chain that opens opportunities for local tea to have greater added value.

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