Move over green tea; step aside wheat grass; matcha is the new emerald “it” drink now!
We tried a few brands and loved the taste. We mixed the powder with a little cold water, then added a third cold water to two thirds boiling water. It’s best not to add boiling water to the tea and this destroys some of the good stuff! It can be made into “matcha lattes” and added to smoothies too. One of the team felt a little light headed an hour after drinking the tea on an empty stomach so be aware this is a powerful tea!
Matcha tea is becoming known as one of the worlds greatest super foods, and its no wonder….With 70x more antioxidants than orange juice, 9x the amount of beta-carotene found in spinach and 10x more antioxidants than traditional green tea, it trumps all.
Nutritionist, Brooke Alpert referred to matcha as “green tea on steroids”. Full of antiviral and antibacterial properties along with vitamins A and C, potassium, and 
iron, it’s no surprise celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Ashley Olsen have been spotted sipping this green super drink.
While there has been plenty of hype around matcha already – did you know not all matcha is made the same?
From 7x Great Taste Award winning brand, Teaforia, comes the highest quality Premium and Ceremonial matcha powders. Unlike most teas, Teaforia’s matcha uses hand picked young green tea leaves, sourced from organic artisan Japanese farms. These are then stone ground, ensuring that the whole leaf is used, AKA more nutrients! The powder can then be dissolved in water (rather than steeped), and even used in baking. This means ALL the nutrients and natural goodness is consumed! So ditch the skinny decaf caffe latte and opt for the highest grade antioxidant drink around, with Teaforia’s organic stone-ground matcha powders.
Made with matcha green tea, Vivid is a great alternative to coffee. Matcha contains natural caffeine and L-theanine, increasing alpha brain waves in the brain and improving cognitive function – in short, Vivid helps you get stuff done.
Vivid comes in three flavours: Original, Lemon and Elderflower which are all zero sugar, zero sweetener and under 5 calories. They also have matcha powder and are stocked in Waitrose, Whole Foods, Selfridges and Planet Organic.
Buddhist monks have been drinking matcha to aid mediation for thousands of years because it provides a sustained calm and focus over time.
Clearsping tells us: Growing conditions, time of harvest and processing techniques have a direct effect on the grade and final flavour of the Matcha:
Ceremonial grade Matcha uses the finest, smallest shade grown leaves from the very tip of the tea bush – giving it a very vibrant green colour and a slightly sweet, smooth flavour.
Premium grade Matcha is ideal for both drinking and home baking, can add unique flavour and incredible colour to food and drink recipes.
Basic grade Matcha is slightly bitter, less expensive and is generally only used for cooking.
This very concentrated form of green tea is drunk as a fine powder diffused in liquid so you actually ingest the whole leaf, consuming every last bit of goodness.
As well as mixing with warm water it can be mixed into warm soya milk or other dairy free milks. We have also found out that you should never use cow milk with matcha tea as it will counteract the absorption of many of the beneficial nutrients and antioxidants from the tea….. yay another reason to ditch the dairy!
We are loving this cold as a refreshing after exercise drink too…. add some lemon slices or crushed mint…. delicious!
