Spring’s Latest Green Tea Trend
We know you love your coffee fix in the morning, but what if there was a better way to boost not just your energy, but your long-term health as well? Coffee definitely has its fine points, with its haunting aroma and caffeine for hours, but there’s so much more you could be doing for your body with you morning drink.
It’s time to meet your new match… or matcha. The new diet trend for spring is one for coffee drinkers and tea connoisseurs to take note of. This green tea is specially grown and processed into a powdered texture, rich to the brim with antioxidants called catechin polyphenols and a variety of health benefits, making your morning routine so much more than just a way to stay awake in those early meetings.
Unlike regular green tea, matcha is grown with two specific farming techniques that make it rise above the average leaf. The green tea plants that are used for matcha are shade-grown for approximately three weeks before they are harvested. During the harvesting process, the stems and veins of the green tea leaves are removed. The shaded growth of the matcha produces more theanine and chlorophyll, and with higher contents of these, matcha is more effective in improving mental focus. The theanine, when combined with caffeine, is said to offer energy boosts without the jittery side effects or a tendency to crash in the afternoon.
Also, because of matcha creative growth process, the tea allows the drinker to ingest all of the content of the leaves, rather than just certain parts. The powdering of the matcha works wonders by dissolving the tea in its entirety in water, thus resulting in the drinker getting all the good stuff that is often missed in an average glass of green tea.
But matcha is not just for a health boost in the morning. If you’ve had green tea-flavored foods, you’ve probably already tasted this interesting leaf. Matcha is often used to flavor green tea ice cream, and to add a pop of natural color to Japanese treats like mochi and soba noodles.
And, if matcha wasn’t already elegant enough of a tea, you’ll be pleased to know that certain blends of matcha are given poetic names called “chamei”, or “tea names”. Matcha tea blends are named by their tea makers, and when a blend is named by a master of a tea ceremony, it becomes known as a “konomi”, or “favored blend”.
Matcha is already available at tea shops and coffeehouses around the country, and we’ll probably be seeing many more matcha variations in the near future. So, the next time you reach for your morning pick-me-up, consider a modern, healthy, exotic alternative that will have your body thanking you for years to come.
