You must have heard of matcha tea and seen people walking around with a cup of this intense-green drink. Here we talk about the benefits of matcha and how you can prepare it following the official ritual or “matcha ceremony” as they call it.
Is Matcha Real Tea?
There are, like for every tea, or wine, or coffee beans, different grades of leaves. Depending on the care that was given, or the location it was grown, you will see different qualities and therefore different prices.
To make matcha, you crush green tea leaves into a very fine powder. The leaves come from the tea tree and are known to originate from Japan where they drink it often. They have even developed the matcha ceremony, which will go into at the end of this post.
The 7 Benefits of Matcha
- Full of Antioxidants: you can often identify antioxidants by their bright colour caused by polyphenols. The brighter, the more powerful. The vibrant green of the matcha powder is a testament to its properties. Antioxidants are great to fight free radicals and ageing, and cell damage.
- Boosts skin health: the vitamin C in matcha stimulates collagen production, and vitamin B promotes cells turnover.
- Boosts calm energy: while tea has about 40mg of caffeine per cup, matcha tea has almost double that amount, with 76mg per cup. For comparison, coffee has about 90mg of caffeine per cup.
- Not as anxiety-inducing as coffee : matcha contains an amino-acid that is know to reduce stress so when you drink a cup of matcha, it will not increase your heart rate. I rarely drink coffee nowadays but when I do, I feel anxious due to my heart rate going bonkers. With matcha, I always feel calm.
- Boosts immunity: due to the high antioxidant levels found in matcha, by drinking a cup you are boosting your immune system and fighting off infections.
- Increased focus: studies have shown that when you drink matcha tea, your focus is heightened thanks to L-theanine, which is an energy-boosting polyphenol.
- Brain protection: matcha is full of vitamins, and one of them is vitamin K, which is known for improving cognitive functions like attention and memory.
The Matcha Ceremony
In Japan, they have developed a ritual around the process of making their tea. I use part of it to make my matcha latte. I like to drink my matcha in a latte, because it takes some of the bitterness of it.
The ritual consists of passing half a teaspoon of matcha powder through a small sieve, to make sure that no lumps form during the whisking.
Add a little bit of hot water, not boiled. Ideally, if your kettle indicates the temperature, you let it heat up to 82*C, but not boiled to 100*C.
With a matcha whisk, whisk the matcha powder with the water in a Z motion, or zig zag. Depending on how much water you added, it might form a paste. Add more water if so.
As you whisk, the matcha will become frothy. You can add more water if you drink it straight, to make a lovely earthy cup of matcha tea.
If you are making a latte, add frothed unsweetened milk on your matcha mixture. I always go for non-dairy milk but the dairy milk will provide a better froth, due to its fat content.
Your matcha latte is ready 🍵
Have you had matcha before, and experienced the benefits mentioned above? Let me know in the comments !
For more drinks ideas, check out this Festive Eggnog Recipe, or Grapefruit and Honey Mocktail.
