Review Matcha Green Tea Powder

Prior to being contacted by the company to accept a sample of their product for the purposes of doing a review, I was completely unaware of what Matcha was or even how to use it. Now that I've received the sample, I've been using it for several weeks and feel experienced with it now to complete my review.

Matcha is not a fad-of-the-moment product. It's been around a long long time. It's made from young tea leaves that are harvested, dried and then ground to a very fine powder. The taste of the powder is, well, like tea. That's what it is, ground tea. It is not bitter and actually is more on the sweet side of things.

Unlike loose leaf tea, Matcha is more potent. When you steep loose green tea, only a fraction of antioxidants in the tea are infused into the water. Matcha is not steeped. It is the entire leaf meaning that you get ALL the antioxidants when you consume it. Matcha is 10 times stronger than brewed tea. And while Matcha does contain caffeine, it does not have quite the same effect when consumed because it is a slower release of the caffeine compared to drinking a cup of tea. It's an energy drink with benefits.

So in additon to antioxidants (catechins & polyphenols), Matcha contains L-Theanines (amino acids), Minerals (Calcium) and trace amounts of vitamins A, B-Complex, C, E & K.

So you might think that you can just boil some water and add a teaspoon of Matcha and basically make a cup of tea. Well I suppose you could do that, but the better way to ingest Matcha is to incorporate it into smoothies, or use it in recipes. It's concentrated and therfore it is suggested that for the first few weeks you consume a scant 1/2 teaspoon of Matcha per day. As your body gets used to it, you can increase that to several times a day or maybe 1 teaspoon once a day in a smoothie. It has a cleansing action on the body, especially as you begin using it, so that's why you should not overdo it at first.

A simple way to get started with Matcha is just to add it to a smoothie. We love the following simple recipe:

- 1 ripe banana (we keep ripe peeled bananas in the freezer; ready to go for our smoothies)
- 10-12 ounces of Almond Milk (or you can substitute Soy Milk or dairy Milk)
- 1 teaspoon Matcha powder
- Blend thoroughly (we use an immersion blender)

Smoothies are so easy, you can really make them with whatever you want, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, a combination of everythig :-)

While I cannot say my health has improved drastically as a result of incorporating Matcha into my diet, yet, I can say that it sure can't hurt and antioxidants are known to be very beneficial. This is Organic and that is important.

So for me, someone who is definitely NOT into the fad-of-the-moment, Matcha seems to be a valuable and healthy addition to my diet.

I was provided a sample for review.

Review from Mr Erb.Thanks for watching.