Bet you’ve been hearing a lot of hype on matcha tea these days and your inner health food nerd has wondered what the heck makes it different from your current cup o’ green.
There are distinct differences in the way Matcha tea looks, is prepared and served, in comparison with garden-variety Green tea. Mainly, we think it’s softer tasting and far more delicious than typical tea. There’s a delicate balance of crisp sweetness and a subtle grassiness that us greenies go mad for.
The term “Green tea” commonly refers to the “loose leaf” variety, whereas Matcha is a finely milled green tea. Matcha is specifically ground from tencha leaves. The green tea leaf of Gyokuro is the only one made from Tencha, and used to produce this tea.
Ordinary leaf tea is obviously steeped in hot water, whereas Matcha is whisked with a bamboo whisk in hot water and dissolves into a frothy beverage. Once whisked, Matcha is served in a large teabowl to share, while green tea leaves are usually steeped in a teapot and poured out into individual cups. Sometimes when I don’t have time a capsule is great to get my daily matcha tea intake, my favorite matcha tea capsules are from MatchaMax, they have some fantastic supplements.
What Is The Difference Between Matcha & Green Tea?
One can note big differences in color between the teas as well. The infusion of green tea leaf is clear and ranges in color from greenish-yellow to light brown. Matcha, on the other hand, is a vibrant green that is dense and opaque in color.
In loose leaf tea, the leaves are discarded after steeping, but Matcha dissolves completely and is fully ingested.
But here’s the most important part (other than the fact that we really think it tastes so delicious!);
Matcha also has a higher amount of nutrients (vitamins, EGCG, amino acids (L-theanine) and fiber) compared to garden-variety loose leaf green teas.
Matcha Love is also available in iced/ sweetened format!
Click here to see Amazon’s offerings of Matcha’s!
The Match bowl is traditionally prepared during Japanese Tea ceremonies and it’s the only variety of tea used for this purpose.
But for us average Joanie’s, not sitting down to tea, we love throwing a teaspoon or two of Matcha into our afternoon smoothie! Energy boost for hours! Other sneaky places to add matcha: energy bars, cookies (for adults only lest your want your kids climbing walls,) or even a stir fry! The Itoen Love Matcha is pretty yummy.
Easiest is something like this Matcha shake from our friend Kathy Patalsky’s brilliant Lunchbox Bunch site/ book (click image for recipe)
