What is Matcha?

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Kate Halsall

Sometimes I think I must be behind the times! Someone said to me the other day, “ooooo I got hold of some powdered matcha so I’m going to makes some matcha pudding” and I was like, oh that’s nice. I had no idea what Matcha was or why someone would be excited about a pudding with it in! Was I missing something? And sure enough, as I flick through my April edition of my Cook Vegan magazine, there are recipes for a Matcha shake and Matcha brownies….so it must be good right!?!? But what is Matcha?

Imagine my disappointment when I find out that at it’s very simplest definition it is a ground up, powdered version of…wait for it….green tea. Ok ok ok, I’m not trying to slate this traditional Japanese tea. Neither am I knocking the health benefits of this tea (said to have even MORE antioxidents than normal green tea). I just thought it would be – well you know – exciting! I guess as I’m not a massive green tea fan (I simply don’t like the taste), maybe that’s why I’m not getting all happy clappy about it.

BUT the page in my magazine which says #14daymatchachallenge and promises a boost in metabolism and energy levels…..well that has me hooked. I do like a challenge! Plus anything that can give us healthy desserts has to be a plus – don’t knock it until you try it!

There are a lot of recipes out there for Matcha Energy Balls, so here’s one that I’ve taken the cocoa powder out from and replaced it with chocolate protein powder instead:

130g pitted dates

handful of raw almonds

2 tbs chocolate protein powder

1 tbs matcha powder

almond milk as appropriate

Whizz all ingredients in a blender. If the mix is too dry, add almond milk until mixture is moist enough to roll into balls. Refrigerate. Eat!

Here are some other recipes too:

https://purechimp.com/blogs/matcha-green-tea-recipes

http://www.eatthis.com/healthy-recipes-using-matcha-green-tea

More Information on Matcha:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/healthy-eating/matcha-is-this-cult-green-tea-really-that-good-for-you/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2713411/Would-swap-coffee-Matcha-green-tea.html