Why does matcha (tea powder) test positive for lead?

What did the Chinese authorities find?

In SAMR's June 2026 "37 unsatisfactory foods" notice, three were matcha powders / matcha solid drinks that exceeded the lead (Pb) limit — sold on Tmall, Alibaba and other marketplaces, made by companies in Anhui and elsewhere.¹ (Want the other 34? See our full list of China's 37 June sampling failures.)

Why does tea contain lead?

Lead isn't "added" to the powder — the tea plant takes it up from soil and air as it grows, accumulating it in the leaves:²

• Soil: tea grows in acidic soil, and acidity makes lead more available to the roots. If the growing soil is itself high in lead (legacy leaded petrol, near industry, mining or coal-burning regions), the leaves take up more.
• Airborne deposition: atmospheric lead dust settles on the leaves — especially in gardens near roads or factories.
• Water and fertiliser: contaminated irrigation water or low-grade fertiliser can add lead.
• Older leaves, shading: older, slower-growing leaves accumulate more; matcha's shade-grown leaves grow slowly, so soil purity matters even more.

Why does matcha need more caution than brewed tea?

This is matcha's crucial difference — how you consume it:

• Brewed tea: you steep leaves in hot water, drink the liquid and discard the leaves. Even if the leaf contains lead, only a fraction leaches into the cup; most stays in the leaves you throw away.
• Matcha: the whole leaf is ground into a fine powder and whisked/baked in — so you're eating the entire leaf. However much lead is in the leaf, that's how much you take in. For the same tea, made into matcha, lead intake is much higher than from a brewed cup.

That's exactly why matcha is so sensitive to how clean the source leaf is — origin, grade, and whether it was heavy-metal tested all directly affect safety.

Is all matcha high in lead?

No. Well-managed estates (e.g. parts of Japan) keep heavy metals very low; a study of a large batch of Japanese green-tea samples found none over the lead limit.² The problem is mostly the unknown-origin, rock-bottom-price, untested end — like the three in China's notice. So it isn't "don't drink matcha", it's "choose which one."

What does lead do if ingested?

Lead is cumulative — the concern is long-term, low-level intake. It builds up in the nervous system and interferes with children's brain and cognitive development; kids and pregnant women are most vulnerable, and there is no known safe blood-lead threshold.³ So the goal isn't panic — it's cutting avoidable sources, and a rock-bottom-price, unknown-origin matcha tin is exactly the avoidable kind.

How parents can choose and drink it

1. Choose heavy-metal-tested matcha: reputable brands provide (or state passing) lead/heavy-metal test results; avoid rock-bottom-price, unbranded, untested tins.
2. Mind the origin: matcha from a clearly-sourced, well-managed region (e.g. known Japanese estates) is comparatively safer.
3. Moderation for kids: treat matcha lattes/cakes as occasional, not daily and not in large amounts — the younger the child, the more restraint.
4. Want tea with less lead: brewed tea (drink the liquid, bin the leaves) generally gives lower lead intake than matcha from the same leaf.
5. Cross-border / daigou needs the most care: marketplace-shipped, uninspected cheap matcha powder is exactly what failed here.

The bottom line

Matcha tests positive for lead not because anyone added it, but because tea plants take up lead and matcha means eating the whole leaf. So choosing matcha comes down to source and testing — pick one with a test report from a reliable region, keep kids' portions modest, and you can still enjoy the matcha.

Sources