It’s Matcha’s Moment

Matcha cupcakes, matcha crepes, matcha Kit-Kat candy bars, #matcha: powdered green tea is having its 15 minutes. Here at Sun Basket, we’re not immune to the trend, you’ll find it in our Mango Matcha Smoothie this week.

For the uninitiated, matcha is a powdered green tea from Japan. While most teas are steeped in hot water and strained, matcha is whisked to a froth and drunk, tea leaves and all. Because you’re essentially eating the matcha, you end up with at least 10x the nutritional content of traditional green tea. That includes a host of mood-enhancing, disease-preventing phytonutrients and antioxidants. 

All tea comes from the same plant, but matcha typically comes from one of three Japanese varietals thats are cultivated according to traditions that are thousands of years old. About a month before harvest, the plants are exposed to increasing amounts of shade until they’re almost in complete darkness. This forces the leaves to increase their production of chlorophyll and amino acids, boosting the glutamates, which give matcha its intense umami flavor. Premium matcha, can cost as much as $300 for a 30 gram jar. 

Though matcha contains about a third of the caffeine found in a cup of coffee, many drinkers find that it produces a gentle buzz that allows them to remain focused for an extended period of time. (That’s one reason matcha is a favorite drink for software coders.)