This antioxidant morning drink is packed with health benefits including fibre, protein and experts say it’s well worth adding to your routine.
You may have noticed matcha lattes appearing on café menus as this Japanese beverage becomes increasingly popular across the West. While it’s a type of green tea, it differs significantly from the standard green tea bags found in virtually every supermarket.
When consuming matcha, you’re actually drinking the leaf in its entirety. The beverage is created from young leaves of shade-cultivated green tea plants that are milled into an extremely fine powder and whisked with hot water before serving. Consequently, matcha provides a distinctive array of health benefits.
Does it surpass coffee in terms of health benefits?
Professor Tim Spector recently explored this topic thoroughly on the ZOE podcast. The genetics professor and gut health expert was accompanied by Chef Andrew Kojima and ZOE co-founder Jonathan Wolf to examine everything matcha brings to the table.
Prof Spector highlighted the limited research available on matcha: “The problem is that matcha hasn’t really been used much in the West, so there aren’t the big epidemiological studies, so we have to sort of extrapolate a lot of it from just green tea studies. So we are guessing a lot of the work here; it’s all quite new.”
“It’s got all the things that we want to see in healthy food,” he said. “It’s made in this artisan way that’s really got no real processing in it, and it’s got all these nutrients of the plants in a really concentrated form.”
Coffee versus matcha for your morning routine
As a morning beverage, matcha’s caffeine content sits perfectly between black tea and coffee, reports Surrey Live.
Chef Koj, who has consumed matcha for 25 years, explained: “Apart from caffeine, it’s got altheine. Caffeine and altheine work in tandem to slightly delay the caffeine release. So you still feel stimulated, but you also have this sort of sense of calmness.
“When I drink it, I just feel more able to… When we’re being overstimulated by screens and various different ways of people contacting you, messages, emails, whatever, I feel much more able to sort of pick them off one by one.”
Health advantages of matcha
Mental benefits
Prof Spector cited a Japanese study examining matcha’s impact on the mind: “Some studies of elderly Japanese, quite a big study, did show cognitive improvements, particularly in the women who were taking not huge amounts, just I think three grams a day, so that over a 12 week period.”
Cancer-fighting properties
“It’s been touted as an anti-cancer drug. I couldn’t find any really good evidence yet that it does that, but there’s reasons to theoretically suggest it would do if people were followed up and then we did bigger studies.”
Dietary fibre
Initially, Prof Spector praised coffee as an “actually decent source of fibre”. With 1.5 grams per cup, three cups of coffee daily totals 4-5 grams of fibre, which he highlighted as a third of the typical consumption in the US.
“Matcha probably has more fiber in it than coffee. It all depends on the amounts you are using, but over 50% of the matcha powder is actually fiber. So if you’re putting a tablespoon in, you’re going to be getting over 10 grams of fiber.
“So fiber [in matcha] is as good, if not better, than coffee. There’s less caffeine, relatively, but probably still enough to get you up in the morning.”
Healthy fats
Matcha contains omega-3 fatty acids and linoleic acids – coffee does not. These “healthy fats” have been demonstrated to benefit the brain.
Protein
During the current protein food trend, Prof Spector observed that 17% of matcha consists of protein: “So, everyone’s on about protein these days, these relatively small amounts, but it’s all good quality, giving you a few grams of protein in there as well.
“If you take this all together, then actually nutritionally, there’s quite a lot of good stuff going on with this matcha, in this concentration that seems to be pretty equivalent to coffee, given what we know.
“I think there’s lots of things we don’t know. Well, there’s other chemicals that are in there. But interesting that the things that it has that coffee doesn’t, is it has this L-threonine, which is this other chemical in there that seems to, in studies, maintain sleep quality.
“So, people who are taking, I think they generally take about three grams of matcha before going to bed; it doesn’t seem to stop them from sleeping as coffee would. The studies show a bit of variability between people, but that’s a really encouraging sign.
“What I really like about matcha is that it’s got similar polyphenol levels to coffee, these defense chemicals that you get from the bean or the leaf or, you know, the plant itself.
“So, whereas it’s more diluted in green tea, you’re getting a really concentrated hit of them, and many of them, we still don’t understand exactly what they do, but you know, these are great antioxidants.”
Shedding pounds
There’s one aspect Prof Spector confirmed matcha fails to deliver assistance with dropping weight.
“Metabolic effects – it doesn’t make you lose weight,” he continued. “They’ve done some studies on that. It’s not a cure for everything, but it’s all pointing towards help.”
Does matcha trump coffee for health benefits?
In the end, matcha receives Prof Spector’s seal of approval.
Jonathan questioned him: “So, Tim, what’s your final assessment? Is coffee healthier than matcha?”
The academic responded: “Probably we have more evidence that it’s, it’s healthier at the moment, but. I think matcha is great. For anyone who doesn’t like coffee, then that’s obviously the go-to drink.
“I would urge people who do drink coffee to maybe switch to also having matcha, particularly in the afternoons etc and start to build up that habit. Because the two together look pretty unbeatable. “