Matcha green tea has garnered praise over recent years as a drink with a multitude of health benefits. Like most health crazes it is not a new product, but a very old one that has been rediscovered. Matcha green tea has been used by Buddhist monks in China and Japan for more than a thousand years, and likely longer. But what did these monks know about living a healthy, happy life in a strong and beautiful body? Well, quite a lot it seems.
The range of benefits that are claimed for Matcha is staggering. Matcha is said to fight cancer, prevent aging, lower bad cholesterol, support fat loss, detoxify your body, improve mental performance and provide an energy boost. If even half of these perks stack up then Matcha would truly be a superfood! But before we start investigating whether or not Matcha deserves the hype, I want you to understand what exactly Matcha is and how it is different from regular green tea.
To make things simple, it’s best to think of Matcha as a type of concentrated green tea. Matcha is prepared from the leaves of the tea bush in a very specific way. The tea bushes are kept in the shade for several weeks before harvesting. Once harvested and dried, the tea leaves have their stems and veins removed and are ground into a very fine powder. This powder is whisked into hot water (or milk) to make matcha tea. This method of depriving the tea plants of light reputedly stimulates the production of chlorophyll and amino acids, giving Matcha tea its particular nutritional potency.
Matcha green tea certainly claims a lot of powers, but do these benefits have real evidence behind them and should you start using green tea?