Samの英語チャンネル

24 years after its debut, green tea flavor gets kicked out of the Super Cup family.

With matcha being one of Japan’s favorite ice cream flavors, and confectioner Meiji’s Essel Super Cup series being one of Japan’s favorite brands of ice cream, matcha-flavored Super Cup seems like a no-brainer, right? Sadly, very soon it’s going to be a no-show in Japanese convenience stores and supermarkets, as Meiji has discontinued its green tea ice cream.

Go to the Meiji website, and you’ll see containers of vanilla, choco cookie, strawberry, cookies and cream, caramel, mint chocolate, and even blueberry rare cheesecake offered. Finding the matcha Super Cup, though, requires accessing its direct URL, and the product description now states that it’s a “discontinued product,” and that “depending on inventory levels, this product may no longer be available at [certain] retailers.” The discontinuation ends a 24-year run for the flavor, which was added to the regular Super Cup lineup in 2002.

▼ Matcha Super Cup

The exact timeline for when Meiji stopped producing matcha ice cream is a little murky. The company first stated that they’d be discontinuing the flavor back in April, but at the time gave no specific timetable for when that would be happening. The matcha Super Cup product page on the Meiji website currently says that production of the flavor ended in February of 2026, but that seems to be a typo, seeing as how that would be two months before the initial announcement of the then-in-the-future discontinuation. Some Japanese media organizations have said that Meiji ceased production of the flavor this past August, which seems like the more plausible timing.

Regardless of when Meiji stopped making matcha ice cream, though, we know that it has stopped making the flavor. Also on the “get-it-while-you-can” list is the mini-sized Super Cup combo pack containing matcha and choco cookie flavors, which Meiji also says is now limited to existing inventory, after which it’ll be gone too.

While there are a number of seasonal dessert flavors that Japan is happy to enjoy for a few weeks, then set aside until next year, matcha isn’t one of them. It’s a flavor that Japanese sweets fans joyfully consume all year long, and so the news that matcha Super Cup is now a finite resource has been met with shock and sadness by online commenters who have left lactose lamentation such as:

“I eat matcha Super Cup all the time. This is heartbreaking.”
“I’ve been eating it since I was a little kid.”
“This is a vital source of matcha for me, and now it’s gone?”
“Crushed to know I won’t be able to see you anymore, matcha Super Cup.”
“I’m honestly kind of not sure if I’m going to be OK.”
“R.I.P., matcha Super Cup.”
“Well now, with that, I’ll be dying.”

So with matcha ice cream being popular, not pigeonholed as a seasonal dessert, and no recent scandals that have turned consumers away from Meiji or ice cream in general, why is matcha being jettisoned from the Super Cup line? Meiji hasn’t made any public comment regarding the reason, but pretty much every company in Japan these days is grumbling about rising materials and ingredient costs. Matcha prices in particular are said to be rapidly increasing since it’s become the recent darling of cafes and confectioners in countries other than Japan too. Super Cup isn’t positioned as a Häagen-Dazs-like premium brand. Seen as a budget-friendly sweet snack, it generally sells for around 150 yen (US$0.95), and it may be that rising ingredient costs have made the profit margin on matcha Super Cup too thin for Meiji to think it’s worth it to continue its production.

There is still hope that Meiji will bring the matcha flavor back to the Super Cup line at some point in the future as a limited-time offering, but it’s made no announcement to that effect as of this time. It’s also possible that the company is working on a matcha flavor with which to launch a fancier, more expensive ice cream brand, although this too is just speculation.

Really, the only thing we can say for sure is that this is all further proof that when you do find yourself with the opportunity to eat matcha ice cream, you absolutely should.

Source: Meiji (1, 2, 3), Denfaminico Gamer, Gokujo no Sweets via Kinisoku, Twitter
Top image: SoraNews24
Insert images: Meiji (1, 2)
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Source: SORA NEWS24