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.

Brita Boost - Confidence without alcohol - Guest post by Maggie

I wouldn't say I drink for confidence, but I know unfamiliar social situations do feel a little easier when lubricated with a glass of wine (or two). While I'm happy to stand up and present to a room full of people, I find one-to-one interaction with strangers difficult. So sitting in the upstairs bookshop of School of Life, nursing an elderflower cordial, I couldn't steal myself to approach anyone and say 'Hi' – even if we were all there for the same reason. Luckily the course leader Jean-Paul began to mingle among us, breaking the ice and making it easier to talk to my neighbours, indulging in the usual small-talk about jobs and the (really tasty!) refreshments, as well as our reasons for being on the course that evening.

The downstairs room we were lead to for the course itself was beautiful. A 2D black and white mural runs across the walls, depicting overflowing bookcases, a half finished game of scrabble and etc. Two rows of seats facing a screen showed we would be presented to, conference style, but the clipboard on each chair made me think there would be a bit of interaction expected too. There was a good mix of both – Jean-Paul talked us through what is meant by confidence and we did some improv and exercises with the person sitting next to us (more talking to strangers!).

 

There was a lot covered and I don't want to give it all away, but I'll mention the points that stuck with me most:

•      Externalise your pessimistic thoughts – if someone else was saying them to you how would you defend yourself? Really handy if you tend to get down on yourself and say things like “I can't do this”. Instead you flip things around and say “You can't do this” and you begin to feel like you want to prove that negative voice wrong

•      I very much fall in to the trap of the fixed mindset – it's a bit like the comfort zone where you know what you're good at and all your aiming for is success, even if it's same-old, same old. Instead I need to adopt a growth mindset; where I try new things, learn from failure and success is measured in growth.

•      My favourite inspirational quote from the night (and there were loads) was “Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training” - Carol Dweck.

I found the whole event very useful – if not just because I realised a lot of people struggle with the same lack of confidence, so I wasn't facing it alone. So next time I'm at a social event I'm going to shout down my inner pessimist and say hello to someone new – with or without wine, honest!

*This installment of the Brita Boost Dry January series was brought to you by the very lovely Maggie. People chose to drink from some of these five reasons - taste, socialising, confidence booster, relaxing and for the buzz. This post focused on confidence and  you can read all the other posts in this series here.