At a minimalist Los Angeles matcha bar, powdered Japanese tea is prepared with precision, despite a global shortage driven by the bright green drink's social media stardom.

Of the 25 types of matcha on the menu at Kettl Tea, which opened on Hollywood Boulevard this year, all but four were out of stock, the shop's founder Zach Mangan told AFP.

"One of the things we struggle with is telling customers that, unfortunately, we don't have" what they want, he said.

With its deep grassy aroma, intense color and pick-me-up effects, the popularity of matcha "has grown just exponentially over the last decade, but much more so in the last two to three years," the 40-year-old explained.

It is now "a cultural touchpoint in the Western world" -- found everywhere from ice-cream flavor boards to Starbucks.

This has caused matcha's market to nearly double over a year, Mangan said.

"No matter what we try, there's just not more to buy."

Thousands of miles (kilometers) away in Sayama, northwest of Tokyo, Masahiro Okutomi -- the 15th generation to run his family's tea business -- is........

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