Matcha Tea

Matcha tea is thicker and stronger than most tea (photo by Savored Sips)

Matcha tea is a finely ground powder made from specially grown green tea leaves. You then mix the powder with hot water to make tea. In this way, you’re not discarding the brewed tea leaves as you would with regular green tea, you’re actually drinking the whole leaf.

There are some main differences in the leaves grown for making matcha. They are fairly pampered plants, grown only in the shade. This increases their chlorophyll content, resulting in a bright green powder.

Before the leaves are crushed, the stems and ribs are removed from the leaves, and they are slowly ground down in a process that lasts up to an hour and is done in complete darkness.

The best matcha tea is made in Japan and is used in traditional tea ceremonies. Because of the laborious process, high quality matcha that has the best benefits and flavor is quite expensive.

So what are the benefits of matcha? Well, matcha has the same benefits of green tea. But it is likely contains more catechins, particularly EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) per gram than brewed green tea. So it’s effects might be stronger, though there aren’t really any studies proving it.

If you’re looking to harness the benefits of matcha tea, be sure to go with a high-quality loose powder.