Lately I’ve been starting my day with Matcha latte (instead of coffee) & I am really loving it (mainly because it makes me think i am healthier! lol ) but on a serious note, I’ve noticed it has a nice calming effect on my mood !! its very soothing and relaxing which is actually one of its known benefits 🙂
I am not going to lie, first time i’ve had it I wasn’t a fan of the taste or the smell but it has grown on me! plus I am the kind of person who always thinks of the health benefits of something to help me do more of it! In this case drinking more Matcha…
Before I go into the health benefits of Matcha let me tell you that I am a coffee lover! not cause it wakes me up or gives me energy but because I love the smell, the taste and to be honest coffee actually relaxes me believe it or not! I can have coffee before bed and still got to sleep… now I am not sure if thats a good or bad thing! probably bad, my body must be used to all that caffeine!
& more than anything I love the daily ritual of making a cup in the morning & drink it while I read or watch Youtube videos in the morning! Does anyone else like me love waking up super early & taking your time to simply just wake up?! I DO!!!!! 🙂
Anyways so why am I drinking Matcha instead of coffee? Mainly cause of the benefits matcha has but also because I realized that coffee raises cortisol levels, now cortisol is a stress hormone… and no I don’t seem stressed nor do I get any of the negative side effects of coffee (like the shakes which some people so) but I realized that my body may be undergoing its own battle internally! For example, severe fatigue, irritability, anxiety, cognitive difficulties & headaches are just some of the symptoms high levels of cortisol cause. If you want to read more about cortisol, specifically signs you might have too much cortisol check this article, here, by Lissa Rankin 🙂
Let me explain my point earlier, sometimes a lot of our “bad” habits, like consuming unhealthy food, lack of exercise or taking drugs, etc… don’t have an obvious, immediate, negative effect on our health.. for example, we all know that consuming an unhealthy diet, mainly processed food has an effect on our health, but we see many people looking “healthy”, and by healthy I mean currently not suffering from any health conditions, not on medication, and some people even look slim and have a good skin despite their bad diets! so does that make their unhealthy habits healthy??
Of course NOT! what’s actually happening is that their immune system is strong right and it’s doing its job of protecting our body, and what most people don’t realize is that our immune system undergoes a lot of stress on daily bases just to keep us healthy!
However as we age, our immune system naturally weakens and before you know it, all that stress that was built up over the years leads many people to get diabetes, heart disease , stroke or even cancer and many people wonder why or how that happened!!
Many people wait to get ill until they make a conscious decisions to look after their health – but I am a believer that prevention is better than cure!
So what is Matcha?
Matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea.
- One serving of matcha tea is the nutritional equivalent of 10 cups of regularly brewed green tea
- When you drink matcha you ingest the entire leaf and receive 100% of the nutrients of the leaf
- Matcha powdered green tea has 137 times more antioxidants than regularly brewed green tea.
Where is it from?
All true tea comes from the tea plant “Camellia Sinensis”, a shrub native to Southern China. Green tea is known as the “healthiest” form of tea due to its lack of processing, resulting in extremely high nutrient levels. Matcha green tea originated in Japan, and because the entire leaf is ingested in powder form, it is the most potent green tea in the world.
In Japanese “cha” means tea, and “ma” means powder, thus the word matcha translates literally as powdered green tea. It is believed that the very first green tea seeds were brought to Japan from China by the Zen Monk Eisai in 1191 A.D., who planted them on the temple grounds in Kyoto. Eisai, who introduced the Zen philosophy to Japan, was the first person to grind and consume green tea leaves in powdered form. Thus Zen and matcha became inextricably bound together, in the form of the exquisite tea ceremony.
The tea ceremony celebrates the profound beauty of simple things, the extraordinary in the ordinary, and is intended to bring all participants into the here and now.
The drinking of matcha tea as the focal point of the tea ceremony was a perfect choice, as matcha stimulates presence of mind, mental alertness, and a calm, meditative state simultaneously.
Does Matcha have caffeine?
Yes. Matcha is a type of green tea, and green tea contains caffeine. Because Matcha is made from crushed whole tea leaves, the caffeine content is somewhat higher than that of bagged tea. In fact, the Matcha caffeine levels can actually equal half the level of a black cup of coffee.
Is Matcha better than coffee?
A matcha hit provides 34mg of caffeine, which is the same as a cup of brewed coffee and half the amount of an espresso, however, the tea’s buzz is much more energising and longer-lasting. It’s thanks to the amino acid L-Theanine, which slows the release of caffeine and has a calming, relaxing effect
What are the benefits? Amongst its many health benefits, matcha…
- It’s packed with antioxidants including the powerful EGCg
- Boosts metabolism and burns calories
- Detoxifies effectively and naturally
- Calms the mind and relaxes the body
- Is rich in fiber, chlorophyll and vitamins
- Enhances mood and aids in concentration
- Provides vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc and magnesium
- Prevents disease
- Lowers cholesterol and blood sugar
You can read more about it in details here – http://matchasource.com/health-benefits-of-matcha-tea
So here you have it, why I am loving Matcha right now and why you should too!
& by the way I haven’t cut coffee completely I will always have my love for coffee but I decided to consume less of it and now that I found matcha It really hasn’t been that hard… I still have my slow relaxing morning ritual but now I make Matcha instead of coffee and its soothing mentally & physically! 🙂
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