What is matcha?
The ultimate green superfood, matcha is a powdered form of high-quality Japanese green tea. When you drink matcha, you’re drinking the whole leaf, not just steeping it in water, so you really get all the nutritional benefits. Matcha is rich in chlorophyll, antioxidants, and other nutrients that can help protect the body against degenerative disease.
Matcha benefits:
Most noticeably, matcha provides a wonderful boost of energy. Each serving of matcha contains more caffeine than a shot of espresso, so it’s a perfect coffee replacement and can really help whenever you feel sluggish throughout the day.
The major thing that sets matcha apart from coffee (and other forms of caffeine) is the natural presence of an amino acid called l-theanine. L-theanine is super good for the brain and actually helps reduce stress and promote focus – so matcha gives you all the energy you’d expect from coffee, but none of the jitters or caffeine crash!
Matcha’s high levels of chlorophyll also make it an anti-inflammatory superfood that helps guard against systemic disease.
How to choose your matcha:
Not all matcha is created equal! There are tons of different matcha products out there, covering a wide range of quality and price. If you’re looking to drink your matcha in lattes or on its own as a tea, we recommend going with a ceremonial grade matcha powder for the best matcha experience. Ceremonial grade matcha is the highest quality, most delicious matcha you can buy. It’s made from younger tea leaves, which have higher concentrations of nutrients at the time they’re harvested and are much less bitter and intense than the older leaves used in culinary grade matcha.
Our Pure Matcha is our favorite – organic, shade-grown, and straight from Uji, Japan, it’s a super affordable ceremonial grade matcha that’s perfect for matcha newbies and daily drinkers alike.
How to make matcha:
The most traditional way to drink matcha is as a simple tea made with warm water, but the most popular (and our favorite) way to add it to our routine is in a latte! Here’s our foolproof recipe:
- Combine 1 tsp matcha with ~1 oz warm water (not boiling! It’ll burn your matcha and make it taste bitter).
- Whisk with a bamboo whisk or Superwhisk until frothy! This usually takes about 30 seconds.
- Stir in 1 tsp honey, maple syrup, or other sweetener (optional!).
- Top with 8 ounces milk of your choice, hot or iced (we like oat milk!).
- Sip, energize, and enjoy!
When you’re done, make sure to seal your matcha container well and keep it away from heat and light to keep it fresh!
No need to spend $7 on cafe-made matcha lattes! Shop Pure Matcha now and kickstart your at-home matcha routine.
