After last month’s tea-note deepdive, tea’s back on the menu in a different form. It’s time to talk about matcha perfume—specifically the strong possibility that it’s one of the perfume notes defining the 2020s so far.

From ceremonial-grade depth to sweet and creamy ice-cream, matcha has steadily infiltrated perfumery since about 2019. Everyone from Margiela to Kenzo, Le Labo to Juicy Couture have released matcha perfumes. And it’s not just perfumers who’ve developed a taste for this Japanese-inspired note—between 2023 and 2024, searches for matcha fragrances were up 127%, and the matcha fragrance market (currently valued at a cool $560m) is projected to grow 45% by 2030.

So why has matcha become a perfume staple?

Start with the unstoppable rise of gourmand fragrances. Around since the early 90s (Mugler’s Angel, IYKYK), in the last few years gourmand perfume has had a resurgence, specifically in edible, comforting notes like caramel, marshmallow, vanilla, and honey. The trend has created massive appetite for perfumes that smell good enough to eat (or drink), and matcha walked in at exactly the right moment.

Because matcha wasn’t just available—it was everywhere. The drink exploded in popularity as a coffee alternative with actual health benefits and that unmistakable bright green aesthetic. It hit coffee shops from Tokyo to San Francisco, got mixed with everything from lavender to rose, and rode the wellness wave straight into mainstream culture. The numbers are stacked—according to NIQ, sales in the US are up 86% from three years ago. 

So perfumers had a note that was culturally hot, worked beautifully in gourmand compositions, and brought something other tea notes couldn’t: that earthy-sweet duality and ceremonial sophistication. Matcha perfume slotted into the gourmand boom like it was made for it. Liis released Rose Struck in 2019, Le Labo followed with Thé Matcha 26 in 2021, and the trend has been brewing ever since—from designer fragrances like Chopard’s Aigle Imperial and Rag & Bone’s Genmaicha to niche releases from Truly, Roan, By Kilian and more.

And this theory that matcha is the note of the 2020s?

Look: this is a note that virtually didn’t exist in perfume seven years ago. Now it’s everywhere, showing up in everything from luxury niche to drugstore bodysprays, riding cultural relevance and the gourmand wave to become one of the 2020s’ defining scent stories. That’s note-of-the-decade behavior.

Enough theory—here’s what to actually wear. From Kayali’s new Musk Matcha 45 to cult-favorite d’Annan Matcha Soft Serve, consider this your matcha perfume menu, an array of options from creamy latte to gourmand sweetness and powdery elegance.

Matcha Perfumes: The Latte Order

Kayali Freedom Musk Matcha 45

Released last month as part of the Freedom Musk collection, Musk Matcha 45 is as sweet and airy as Mona Kattan in a feather-trimmed silk jacket. It opens with a burst of apple, then settles into a frothy oat-milk matcha latte before drying down to vanilla, musk, and caramelized praline.

Teo Cabanel Je Ne Sais Quoi

This Teo Cabanel scent has a mouth-watering opening, with the rice top note giving delicious, light and airy popcorn. The matcha heart is creamy and sweet—a latte, made with nutty coconut milk. It’s raining outside and you’re tucked away in a quiet café with your matcha, popcorn treats, and those meandering conversations that go everywhere and nowhere in the best possible way.

Obvious Milk & Matcha

Milk & Matcha is your morning matcha ritual—airy, bright and comforting. It opens with a gentle citrus kick—ginger, tangerine, mandarin—before settling into green matcha tea softened by orange blossom. The drydown gets cozy: fluffy vanilla and tonka bean create that warm milk feel without tipping into heavy sweetness. Subtly sweet, perfectly balanced, soft as a blanket. So actually, it’s as perfect for bedtime spritzing as it is for mornings.

Matcha Perfumes: Ceremonial Grade

Maison Margiela Replica Matcha Meditation

You can literally taste it: the sharp, complex smell of green tea (the leaves, rather than the drink). Matcha Meditation is a walk through a tea plantation, breathing in clean, high-altitude air. Matcha and maté at the heart, earthy and green, touched with jasmine, white chocolate, and the softest hint of wood in the base. This is exactly what the name says it will be-contemplative, sophisticated, authentic. Sadly discontinued—you’ll need to hunt far-flung corners of the internet to find it now. Replica, bring it back!

Le Labo Thé Matcha 26

Rather than photorealistic matcha, Thé Matcha 26 captures the experience of drinking matcha tea—calming, introspective, enriching. An incredibly smooth blend that doesn’t transform dramatically but gets richer as you wear it. There are more literal matcha scents out there, but probably none more beautiful. This is cashmere and silk, expensive candles, ornate wallpapers.

d’Annan Matcha Soft Serve

Matcha Soft Serve is blended straight from high-end matcha powder—but hold the sugar. It’s savory, clean, green, sharp, brilliant with umami, and essentially unsweetened. Photorealistic matcha in neo-gourmand form: all the texture and richness of soft serve without the sugar rush. If you’re looking for dessert, keep scrolling. This is for the matcha purists, soft serve or no.

Penhaligon’s A Kiss of Bliss 

Not formally a matcha scent (Penhaligon’s play their notes close to their chest), but Fragrantica users rank A Kiss of Bliss high for matcha. This is a deeply urbane green scent with a subtle masculine lean. Clover, matcha, moss—herbal and almost medicinal, fitting for the Potions & Remedies collection it belongs to. It’s a smooth, coherent whole rather than a set of distinct notes or dramatic progression. Overall effect? Well-dressed gent in 1960s Milan. Lead in an Antonioni film.

Matcha Perfumes: Full Dessert Mode

Sorce Match Made in Heaven 

Match Made in Heaven is a sweet, light, nostalgic treat. Creamy matcha meets sugary softness—waffle cone and ice cream accords—alongside a fruity strawberry note that reads pure candy (it’s listed as cherry blossom, but I’d say old-fashioned strawberry sweets). Then come the bakery notes: flaky pastry, creamy almond paste. A gourmand indulgence on par with a sugared matcha latte and fresh-baked almond croissant to start the day.

Theodoros Kalotinis Matcha Ice Cream

Matcha and vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone on a hot afternoon, but with key lime pie mixed in—or maybe someone’s just shaved lime zest over the top. Either way, it’s perfect. That bright, zesty contrast carries the opening, keeping things refreshing even as creamy vanilla and toasted waffle come through in the drydown.