teapigs matcha green tea

Ever since teapigs sent me a sample tin of their matcha green tea, I've been walking around singing “matcha, matcha tea” to the tune of Matcho Man (I know!). But this tea has seriously put a spring in my step, which is a good sign.

Matcha tea has been drunk in Japan for pretty much ever – Buddhist monks use it to keep them alert and awake for a hard day's meditating. It is made from green tea leaves, grown undercover for the last two weeks of their cultivation, which causes excess production of chlorophyll (the stuff that makes plants green). These leaves are then carefully ground down to form a fine powder.

In recent years matcha has become more popular in the UK, popping up in cafes, health food shops, smoothie bars and all sorts of weird and wonderful recipes. teapigs boast of the many health benefits of their matcha – as well as its high antioxidant levels and energy boosting caffeine, this miraculous green powder apparently contains the right stuff to help you lose weight and have healthy skin while you do it.

All of the science aside, you've got to like the taste of the stuff, right? teapigs kindly sent me an electric whisk and some handy serving suggestions along with my tea powder. I decided to try a milky matcha latte first – easy to make by heating some milk in a saucepan and then whisking in ½ a teaspoon of match green tea powder and a little bit of sugar to taste. You do have to whisk quite well to get everything to mix together so you're not left with clumps, but the milk whisk made this easier. This was a really nice warming drink, sweet – if slightly 'green' tasting. A note here: make sure it's only a ½ teaspoon of the powder you use – I accidentally put a full, heaped spoon in on my first attempt and it was so chlorophyll-y that it was like eating a bouquet of flowers.

For my second drink I decided to try a teapigs favourite – matcha tea shot. I whisked a ½ teaspoon of the powder in to a pudding shot glass (technical term for you there!) of good quality apple juice. This one I really liked. It was a quick drink, really smooth and tasty – the balance between the sharp tea and sweet apple worked really well. It was like drinking a shot of really good iced tea – but with the added smugness of knowing it was good for me. I had this instead of my usual morning coffee a few times, and while I don't know if it made me any 'brighter', I certainly didn't suffer from swapping out my usual caffine fix.

Am I a full on convert to matcha tea? Not yet, but I'm very happy to incorporate it in to my morning drink routine, for a bit of variation. And with spring and summer just around the corner I could see me replacing hot coffee with a sweet and refreshing matcha apple shot more often. Plus, I've already amassed a long list of matcha recipes to try (but as most of them are cakes/involve chocolate, I might not mention them here!)

This post was written by Maggie and you can check out here blog here.