Across the world, cafes, restaurants, and coffee shops are adding matcha green tea powder into their staples. Almost all coffee shops now offer matcha beverages as an alternative to coffee. And why wouldn’t they! Matcha is a delicious, energizing, and healthy Japanese green tea that deserves attention.
So what are the main reasons everyone’s making the switch?
1. Matcha's Green Color
When compared to other green teas, matcha undeniably has the most vivid green color of them all! This is attributed to the fact that the green tea leaf powder is wholly mixed with the water. While some potent green color green teas come close, like gyokuro, most remain a pleasant light green.
Scientifically green is known to evoke the emotions of happiness, rebirth, freshness, abundance, peace, security, rest—the feelings of growth.
It is no wonder when we drink some frothy emerald green matcha mid-day, we are immediately uplifted just by looking at the energizing green color!
For this reason we recommend buying matcha only from trusted vendors. A dull swampy-green matcha powder color may signify that the matcha is either old or of very low quality. Good quality matcha green tea powder should be a vibrant green color.
2. Matcha Is Easy To Use
Matcha has a variety of uses, from traditional ceremonial drinks, daily beverages, and cocktails, to food and desserts!
Because matcha already comes in a powdered form, we can easily use it to add to a variety of matcha dessert recipes, like cakes, cookies, puddings, and ice creams.
Savory matcha recipes also deserve some recognition, like barbecue rubs, salad dressings, noodles, curries, and more!
While loose leaf tea can also be incorporated into many recipes, matcha is easy to use because it already comes in an easy to use powdered form. Furthermore, everyone will be pleased with the fantastic green color it adds to the dish.
When speaking of tea, if you are looking for some quick energy throughout the day, our go-to is a quickly whisked matcha!
If you are in a rush, another way to make a quick matcha green tea is to put the matcha powder directly in your water bottle or thermos (make sure to sift it, so there are no clumps). Then shake it up! It’s that easy to have a quick, energizing, and mood-uplifting beverage! Although we always prefer to spend the extra time carefully whisking the matcha using a chasen and chawan, the “shaken matcha” method is a good last-minute go-to!
Read more about matcha recipes.
3. Matcha Health Benefits
Matcha is known to have most other tea types beat when it comes to health benefits. Compared to green tea, it has:
- 10 times the antioxidants of a serving of green tea
- 5 times more L-theanine, which improves our focus and creativity
- 15 times more vitamins
- 80 times the protein
Matcha green tea is also known for having a powerful compound known as Epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG. EGCG is an antioxidant that has strong anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial, and anti-inflammatory properties. A common belief is that it can help reduce inflammation, aid weight loss, as well as help prevent brain and heart disease. Out of all tea types, the most significant amounts of EGCG are found in matcha, gyokuro, and certain kinds of white tea.
4. Matcha Caffeine Content
Matcha has the highest caffeine content of all teas. This is because the tea leaf is not infused, but rather the whole powder is dissolved in the water. So naturally, we are consuming all the caffeine and energy the tea leaf has to give.
The good news is that the caffeine content of a cup of matcha is generally still about half of the caffeine you’d get from a cup of coffee. Plus, no post-coffee caffeine crash!
The caffeine in matcha, in combination with the antioxidant L-theanine, keeps us alert and motivated, without over-stimulating our brain and nervous system.
Read more on tea caffeine content.