Out of boredom, I was flipping through channels on television trying to find something interesting to kill time with. So, I ended up watching a travel show and funnily enough they were showing something about teas from all around the world. But the show ended within a couple of minutes and I missed most of the interesting part, still, a tea called 'matcha' got stuck in my head, the travel show host was drinking it and seemed to like it very much. Clearly, I had found a new type of tea to obsess upon - found out a lot about it which I'm going to share with you here. Let me confess beforehand that I haven't tried this tea yet, but after reading about it's crazy health benefits I couldn't stop myself from writing this article.
So here is goes, the health benefits of this really amazing tea include stronger immune defense, improved mental alertness and clarity, and detoxification, to name only a few. Like our beloved green tea, Matcha tea is packed with catechins and polyphenols which contribute to the treatment and prevention of innumerable medical conditions and promote relaxation. To list a few things that matcha tea helps our body to build a better defence against include fungal, bacterial and viral infections, type 2 diabetes and cancer! It also is beneficial in maintaining your heart's health and to top it all it's a great beverage to boost your energy.
Matcha, also written as maccha, is a type of green tea which is finely grounded powder and bright emerald in colour. Ancient Buddhist monks privileged matcha tea as the 'health elixir' for its ability to enhance metabolism and increase concentration. It has also been at the heart of the eminent Japanese tea ceremony since as long as nine hundred years! Recently matcha tea has been gaining more and more recognition in the western world thanks to its unique flavor and numerous therapeutic qualities.
Matcha tea is prepared from a high- quality shade grown leaf called tencha. This tea's bushes are covered I order to avoid the exposure of direct sunlight which slows down the pace of photosynthesis and hinders the growth of the plants. Such an environment provides the leaves with a darker shade of green and fuels the production of amino acids and chlorophyll.
The harvesting of matcha is done carefully by hand to ensure that only the youngest and smallest leaves are selected for the finest quality tea. In contrast to other green teas, the leaves that are used for matcha tea are briefly steamed in order to protect them from oxidation and keep its flavor and nutritional content intact. This is followed by a process of ultra- fine milling of tencha leaves with the help of granite stone mills which results in a beautiful green coloured powder which is the raw material for matcha tea.
Matcha is a beverage which has been honoured since antiquity, it is source of trace minerals along with many vitamins such as - vitamin A, vitamin B- complex, vitamin C, Vitamin E, and vitamin K. Matcha is profound in components with amazing antioxidant activity including catechins, polyphenols, and chlorophyll. The presence of various amino acids such as L- theanine and theophylline in the matcha tea makes it a super awesome multi nutrient-packed drink and makes ancient Japanese and Buddhist monks geniuses for calling it 'health elixir.'
Matcha tea is almost calorie free, which makes it a valuable addition to your weight loss regime. It burns your fat along with boosting your metabolism. A study done recently suggested that you can burn fat four times faster by drinking matcha tea. This is a good news for all the people who're trying to lose weight fast - with the help of this tea you can lose weight fast without putting any stress on your body. It doesn't shoot up your heart rate or blood pressure which makes it a safe substitute to questionable quick fixes.
A study mentioned in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition discovered that consuming matcha green tea can enhance your body's own rate of burning calories (thermogenesis) from a normal 8% to 10% of the daily expenditure of energy, to between 35% to 43% of daily energy expenditure.
I've already mentioned it above a little about this benefit. Let's take a closer look - Matcha tea is packed with a wealth of natural polyphenols and antioxidants. A research study evaluating the antioxidant power of matcha tea revealed that as compared to other green teas matcha contains the highest amount of EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is an extremely beneficial component with various advantages.
These antioxidants help your body by hunting down the oxygen free radicals and deactivate their harmful effects thereby, protecting you from the development of disorders or inflammations which occur due to oxidative stress.
Matcha tea can prove to be valuable in maintaining a healthy metabolism in diabetic people. This antioxidant rich tea helps in reducing the triglycerides levels, total cholesterol and the content of hepatic glucose in diabetic individuals.
An investigative research done on the effects of matcha tea on diabetic subjects has shown that matcha exercises inhibitory action against the renal and hepatic damage by controlling the accumulation of advanced glycation end products in the kidneys.
Another important action exercised by the presence of epigallocatechin gallate (or EGCG) in matcha tea is the maintenance of your heart's health. The rich presence of this component in matcha makes it an effective beverage to keep your cholesterol levels low.
A study suggested that EGCG assists in reducing the accumulation of lipids and helps autophagy in the vascular endothelial cells.
Matcha tea works incredibly well in providing a calm and relaxing effect to the body. A unique amino acid (known as L- theanine) present in this green tea contains anti-anxiolytic properties which helps in enhancing alpha waves to your brain. What these alpha waves do is that they help in relaxation and produce a feeling of mental clarity and put you in a state of alertness, the kind of mental clarity and alertness you feel after doing yoga.
Sources say that this soothing effect of matcha tea helped the Buddhist monks in maintaining a high level of concentration during their meditations - this could have been the main reason behind its popularity. A study especially conducted on this amino acid (L- theanine) suggests that theanine behaves as neurotransmitter which induces a calming effect on the brain without causing any side-effects such as drowsiness. Another study revealed the anti- stress effects of theanine in matcha assists in bringing down the psychological and physiological stress responses by preventing the neuron excitation.
Matcha tea contains some amount of caffeine (a healthy amount, just to be clear) not to be mistaken with the kind of quantity present in the regular coffee. Not just that, it contains a unique form caffeine called theophylline which sustains the energy levels without giving you any adverse effects like coffee. To put it simply, 2-3 cups of coffee can give you a caffeine rush, this won't happen if you have 2-3 cups of match tea.
The slow release of energy thanks to the presence of theophylline helps in supporting the proper performance of adrenal glands and helps in maintaining optimum hormonal levels.
Countless people just toss away valuable minerals and antioxidants every day. Now you'd be wondering how? I was too when I came to know about it, but this is exactly what happens when we brew a cup of normal green tea - what water extracts is just a fraction of the benefits of green tea, shocking right? The majority of the qualities remain unused stuck within the tea leaves. The truth is that you can only truly attain full advantage of green tea is if you consume its leafs as well, now whether you can eat green tea's leaves or not I honestly don't know. What I've got to know is that you can simply have a cup of match tea and attain 100% benefits, leaving nothing behind.
Match tea is straight stoneground leaves which supply you with qualities as good as (if not better) normal green tea. Even more minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and antioxidants than green tea in just one cup matcha tea.
To even begin to consider the effectiveness found in a single serving of matcha, one would need to consume at least ten cups of brewed green tea (which you shouldn't, drinking more than 5 cups of green tea is not a good idea). When it comes to assisting you achieve and maintain optimum health, matcha tea stands at the top of the list.
Matcha is a healthy green tea with a world of benefits. However, you must keep in mind that it contains some amount of caffeine, although the caffeine in matcha tea is not harmful but it may trigger allergic reactions in some individuals who are susceptible to caffeine allergies. Before considering taking up matcha tea for its therapeutic purposes, an expert medical opinion is advisable to better understand how it will affect you as an individual, especially during special conditions such as pregnancy and lactation.
Hi! I’m Gunjan, a self-proclaimed tea fanatic and intrigued with alternative ways to lead a healthy life. I firmly believe that we should take care of our bodies because it’s the only place we live in.
