Check your Instagram and Pinterest and you will discover: Matcha Green Tea is Hot! Super healthy, super tasty and super hip! But what makes it so healthy and how do you incorporate it in your diet? And is it really that tasty? Let's find out!
What's matcha green tea?
Matcha green tea has been a part of Japanese tea ceremonies and meditational rituals for over a thousand years. As opposed to regular green tea, the leaves of Matcha green tea are being grown in the shadow, which slows down the growth, increases the chlorophyll level and gives the leaves its rich green color. Furthermore, matcha tea is more concentrated than regular green tea. When drinking regular green tea you're drinking the extraction of the tea leaves, so the tea water, whereas in case of matcha green tea you're consuming the actual leaves, grinned into a powder. Matcha green tea is said to contain as much as 10 cups of regular green tea in terms of nutritional content (Source). Matcha green tea is being sold in small containers and the prices are much higher than regular green tea, caused by the more extensive way of fabrication. However, the product is very concentrated, so a small tea spoon a day would be sufficient.
Matcha green tea: why should you?
Adding matcha green tea to your diet comes with many health benefits. On the worldwide web there are many halleluja stories about matcha, but one should always be careful to blindly believe everything, just because it's said so, right? ;-). I searched untill I found some benefits which actually had some scientifical prove to back it up and these are the benefits that stood out to me:
"Green tea has been implicated in benefiting almost every organ system in the body. It is cardioprotective, neuroprotective, anti-obesity, anti-carcinogenic, anti-diabetic, anti-artherogenic, liver protective and beneficial for blood vessel health." (Source)
Wauw, that sounds amazing!
Matcha green tea is your partner in crime when you want to lose weight, as it appears to be fat reducing. Furthermore, it's stated that green tea will make you use more of your fat reserves. Caffeine and ephedrine are the fat burners, while green tea enables them to work more effectively. However, if you're adapted to caffeine and/or ephedrine, if you're a coffee lover like I am, the effect could be reduced. According to the researches done, your skin should benefit from green tea as well. I will be adding matcha tea to my diet in the weeks to come, so I will keep you posted on this one!
In the reviewed researches, it is stressed that the results were minor and unreliable, which means there is still a lot of investigation needed to really state this as actual facts. (Source)
But for now: I'm happy!
Matcha green tea: why shouldn't you?
Taste
Matcha green tea has a distinctive taste. When I opened the small can for the first time, the smell reminded me of fish-bait.. hmmm... My first matcha green tea contained a lot of lumps with this extreme taste, so it wasn't a succes. But I heard matcha green tea is like sushi: at first you're not really sure what it is you're tasting, but before you know it you don't remember life without it. The second tasting was with oat drink in my milk foamer. The lumps were gone and so was the harsh taste. However, I still would't trade this drink for my regular cappuccino. The third try was better again, as I tried again with water, but this time in the milk foamer as well. The taste remains distinctive, but I was starting to enjoy the intense flavor, like I do with my coffee. The positive side about this, is that matcha doesn't give you the 'blèh' aftertaste that coffee does. Perhaps this sushi comparison could be true. So taste for yourself, a couple of days in a row, and decide.
Price
Matcha green tea is expensive! For the small can I paid 18 euros. In Sweden the prices are higher in comparison to the rest of Europe and I know this tea is super healthy and concentrated, but 18 euros: really??!!
If you are drinking the recommended one cup of this green goodness a day, your tiny can will laste a while. I haven't tried Matcha long enough to tell if is worth the price, so I will post an update on that some day soon.
How to incorporate Matcha in your diet?
You can add matcha green tea powder literally to any food or drink.
Tea
You can drink matcha green tea as is: a tea. Traditionally, a bamboo whisk is being used to create tea foam (source). I would recommend to thoroughly stir the tea or put the tea in your milk foamer to eliminate lumps and create some foam. 1 tea spoon of the powder will be sufficient.
Matcha latte
Instead of the water, add milk, or any milk replacer you're using, put it in your milk foamer and you're good to go! Again: 1 tea spoon of the goodness :)
Matcha green yoghurt for breakfast
Add the matcha powder to your yoghurt in the morning. This super green breakfast is a great one, especially if you are a fan of honey in your tea. The matcha powder really gives this plain breakfast something extra, both for your health and for your taste buds.
Mix:
Light and green matcha smoothie
The matcha in this smoothie gives it a rich and earthy taste and is truly a great addition! The apple keeps it balanced, sweet and light!
Blend:
Baking
There are loads of recipes on the internet with added matcha in cakes, pies, macarons, etcetera. I am a big fan of some sinnery every now and then and the recipes I found were indeed of the sinnery kind. So, if you're loving the green tea taste, I would definitely try adding the matcha powder to your baking. However, I am not sure if the healthiness of the matcha can still handle the sweetness of your baking, but that doesn't mean it's wrong, right? ;-)
For this week I have a video planned on raw kokos balls, in which I will add some matcha green tea powder as well. So be sure to watch :)
I would love to hear what you think of matcha green tea. Have your tried it already? And what did you think? Or will you be trying some of my easy recipes? If so: let me know how it tasted :)
XX Mieke
Nice to meet you, my name is Mieke Geevers; Givers.
It’s my dream to make it easy for women worldwide to feel good about themselves. Fast reads and videos about sports, food, beauty and fashion. Feel free to browse through my website, comment, like or share, you're welcome!
