7-Eleven Japan is building on the success of its freshly made smoothies with the release of a new Uji Matcha Smoothie and Fragrant Matcha Smoothie.
Back in 2023, 7-Eleven Japan launched an exclusive line of smoothies that quickly became a hit with consumers. Now, the brand is leaning into the matcha craze with two new matcha-based smoothies. The new Uji Matcha Smoothie is made with powdered green tea from Kitagawa Hanbei Shoten, which is a Kyoto-based tea wholesaler that's been around for more than 160 years. On the other hand, the new Fragrant Matcha Smoothie is made with matcha from Marushichi Seicha, which is a tea merchant in Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, with its own 100+ year history.
If you're looking to try the new matcha smoothies, the catch is that they'll only be available at select 7-Eleven locations in Japan on certain dates in April and May.
Image Credit: 7-Eleven Japan
What Makes This Trend Stand Out
- Artisanal Ingredient Collaborations
- Collaborations between retailers and historic ingredient artisans enable premium provenance narratives and traceability-driven product differentiation.
- Limited-time Regional Releases
- Limited geographic and temporal availability creates urgency and enables hyper-localized product testing and supply-chain optimization.
- Matcha Premiumization
- Rising consumer willingness to pay for single-origin and craft matcha formulas drives opportunities around quality certification and premium processing technologies.
Sectors Adopting This
- Convenience Retail
- Convenience stores are shifting from grab-and-go basics toward experiential, chef-curated offerings that blur retail and foodservice boundaries.
- Specialty Tea Suppliers
- Historic tea merchants gain new B2B channels and scale opportunities through collaborations with mass retailers, prompting investment in traceability and processing upgrades.
- Foodservice Product Development
- Product teams face growing demand for rapid innovation cycles and localized menu variants, favoring modular formulations and small-batch production systems.
