I was very lucky to have recently been sent Matcha green tea to try from my favourite tea company Bluebird Tea Co, if you've been reading my blog for a while you will know I have reviewed their pouches of tea leaves in the past too! I was so surprised when a full size tin of the original matcha and two sample sized tins turned up in the post, I was expecting just one small sample - aren't they the best! I would be surprised if you haven't heard of matcha before, it's been a staple in Japan for many years and is a firm favourite due to its healing and immune boosting properties.
It's made in quite a different way to your usual green tea as instead of using actual tea bags you use just half a tea spoon of matcha powder and add boiling (80 degrees celsius) water and whisk.
It's made from Japanese tea leaves that are ground into a fine powder which have been steamed and dried before hand, the difference between your normal everyday green tea and matcha is that with matcha your actually consuming the whole leaf and is stored away from any light to preserve the antioxidants and not to mention keep its BRIGHT green colour.
So now you know a bit about matcha, what are the benefits?
Antioxidants - As I mentioned previously it is super high in antioxidants. It has over 60 x more
antioxidants than spinach and 7 x the amount that you would find in dark chocolate in just half a teaspoon!
Weight Loss - Apparently it increases the rate your body burns calories if you drink it immediately before exercising, now that's handy isn't it?
Healthy Brain - Because matcha contains a high amount of the amino acid l-theanine it can help promote relaxation and stop you feeling so stressed.
Caffeine Highs - Although matcha contains caffine because of the l-thasnine it can counteract the buzzy feeling you get when you drink normal caffine in tea or coffee. Nothing worse than the nervous energy you get after having a coffee and the major dip you get an hour later when it's wearing off. Matcha just gives you a steady flow of energy through the day without you even noticing.
Energy - Whilst we are on the subject of caffine, matcha is a great pick me up as it will give you that energy boost you need when your feeling fatigued but without the crash. No headaches from highs or lows with this! You will just notice a little more energy than you had previously and who doesn't want that?
Detox - The best one of all, because of the high volume of chlorophyll it can detox the body from toxins, metals and apparently anything that can mess with your hormones! If you've had a heavy night out the day before or generally feeling run down and ergh then have a shot of matcha to pick you back up and clear out the nasties from your system.
So now I've told you the health benefits here's some recipes that I've made using my matcha powder,
you could add it to pretty much anything and I regularly add it to my morning porridge. As I said you
only need a small amount daily (half a teaspoon) to maintain your good health. I do have a chronic illness so I maybe didn't feel the benefits of in the same way a healthy person would but I definitely feel it helps.
Matcha Cucumber Lemonade
Half a cucumber
5 mint leaves
1 cup of cold water
1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup of agave nector (if you want to sweeten it)
1/2 teaspoon of matcha
Ice
Lemon to garnish
This was super easy, i literally combined all the ingredients into my Nutribullet and pored over ice then added a few bits of cucumber and mint to garish and let's be honest, look a little prettier for a photo!
Matcha Popcorn
Cup of popcorn
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon of matcha
Again a really quick and simple recipe, you just need to pop some corn (see what I did there!) in a pan or microwave following the instructions on the bag of corn and add in a tablespoon of coconut oil when it's warming up to give it some flavour. Once my popcorn was ready I emptied it into a large bowl and spooned 1/2 teaspoon of the matcha in and coated well. This is a really healthy snack and good alternative to regular sweet popcorn. It may not be to everyone's taste but I liked it.
Matcha Almond Shot
1/2 teaspoon matcha
Unsweetned almond milk
This is my favourite way to have matcha, I just added the matcha powder to a small amount of almond milk and whisked really well to ensure there was no lumps in sight. I like the taste of almond and matcha together, weirdly they seem to compliment each other and I'd happily just have it this way every morning. Great if you don't have a lot of time.
The Matcha Smoothie
1/2 teaspoon matcha
Cup of regular semi skimmed cows milk
1 banana
Handful of spinach
Isn't the colour of this smoothie gorgeous? I love it when a green smoothie is actually green and not sludgy brown haha. I've made this recipe a few times and I like that it's super sweet because of the banana but your getting all your antioxidants from the matcha and spinach without actually realising it. You just need to bung it all in a blender and pour into your favourite glass, not forgetting a cute straw!
Very instagramable, oh the shame.
Banana Matcha Pancakes
1 banana
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon matcha
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of flaxseed
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
To serve
Almond butter
Mixed frozen fruit
I know what your thinking, they don't look great but they taste much better than they look. I enjoy banana and egg pancakes normally when I fancy something sweet but don't want to use lots of sugar and flour, so to add a bit of matcha powder to them was a good idea! It does have a green tinge, but sadly not as green as I would of liked but hey the benefits of the matcha are still there. The pancakes tasted of warm banana and almond butter which was just perfect.
All you need to do is add your coconut oil to a hot frying pan, mix all the ingredients into a bowl together and whisk with a fork, then pour a decent amount of mixture into the frying pan and wait for it to cook before attempting to turn it over - then your done! They take about 3-4 minutes on each side and you just do the same for your second pancake as the mixture should make 2, although of course it depends on the size of your pancakes. They make a great afternoon snack or dessert after dinner.
Hopefully this post has inspired you to try some of these recipes and test out matcha green tea for yourself. I really recommend you give it a go if you need an energy boost like I do or even if you just want to feel healthier and know your doing your body good by drinking a nice cup of warm calming matcha. Bluebird Tea Co sell 5 different types of matcha tea including a caffeine free rooiboo version and orange which I need to try!!
A 30g tin will set you back £15 but it lasts FOREVER, I've still got just under half left and been using it for 2-3 months. You wouldn't think twice about spending that on a night out on booze so maybe think about investing that money wisely, hmm? Haha.
Let me know if you have any tips or recipes I should try, I would love to hear from you.
Until Next Time xo
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