2026 Flavor Data Shows Matcha Surging While Legacy Flavors Decline

Flavor analytics firm Tastewise, cited in a report by FoodNavigator, found that matcha popularity is up 87% globally, with banana-matcha fusion products up 594% year-over-year, while several long-established flavors are in measurable decline.

According to the same data, the popularity of dates has fallen 18%, mayo is down 12%, and orange and turkey have each declined roughly 11%, which the report attributes to consumers seeking bolder, more novel flavor combinations over familiar traditional options.

The report also highlights a sharp reversal for cannabis-derived flavors: cannabis as a food and beverage flavor has declined 50% year-over-year, with CBD down 45% and hemp down 29%, a collapse the report describes as unusually fast even by the standards of typical ingredient-trend cycles.

A Tastewise representative quoted in the report attributed the cannabis-flavor decline to those ingredients arriving on menus “as functional health claims first and flavors second,” a pattern that historically produces shorter trend lifespans than flavors adopted primarily for taste.

The data illustrates how differently individual food trends can behave within the same broader category, with some ingredients compounding steadily for years while adjacent trends collapse within a single reporting cycle.

Related: Is Matcha a Fad or Here to Stay?