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I am a coffee addict lover.
I don’t drink a lot of it—anymore. I do still look forward to my (usually) only cup of coffee in the morning (after my lemon and honey water of course!)
Once I’ve dropped the kids at school and nursery I have a golden 20 minutes or so to myself, before I start work. That’s a luxury for a mom of tiny people, which is me. That’s when I have my coffee.
But lately It’s less about the caffeine hit, and more about my little ritual. The smell and the flavour of the coffee. Because I don’t really feel like I need the coffee anymore. I have a new secret weapon.
It wakes me up and keeps me going, but how I feel when I’ve had a cup is completely different to any double espresso kick I’ve ever had.
It’s appropriate that it’s called OMG Tea (Organic Matcha Green Tea), because I am a bit taken aback by how great this stuff is.
Matcha is actually one of the healthiest things you can drink. Green tea is renowned for its healing properties due to an abundance of antioxidants amongst other things and Matcha actually has one of the highest antioxidant ORAC ratings of any food or drink ever measured.
In fact, Katherine Swift, the founder of OMG Tea, started the company after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she wanted her to be able to benefit from this amazing green anti-oxidant bomb.
It doesn’t just work in the long term though. It has a huge impact on the short term too—my daily life.
I have long days—really long days. And this amazing little drink is doing wonders for my ability to function well, and continuously under the extreme conditions of mommying. (Cross fit has got nothing on this gig.) Like coffee though, because of its caffeine content—although much lower per cup than coffee at only 34mg of caffeine, compared to 70-180mg for a cup of coffee—it’s advisable to limit your intake per day and not to drink it late at night unless you want to be up. There are some great guidelines and FAQs on the OMG Tea website.
It helps me mentally more than anything. I was pretty surprised that after the first cup of matcha, I felt as though I had come out of a meditation. I felt calm and clear-headed—switched-on. It’s a subtler and longer lasting boost than a strong coffee too—less jittery, more slow and steady, with no crash afterwards.
It made sense then when I found out that matcha was introduced into Japanese culture over 800 years ago by the Zen Buddhist monks who used it to help their meditation and they still drink it for the same reasons to this day. Samurais also got a taste for it not long after, sipping it before battles for increased endurance and focus.
The people at OMG Tea tell me (and they seem to know what they’re talking about because they’ve got science behind them) that matcha’s role in this enhanced state of mind is the high concentration of the amino acid called L-theanine, which has been shown to reduce physiological and psychological stresses. L-theanine also improves cognition and mood in a synergistic manner with caffeine and promotes alpha wave production in the brain. This is also pretty much what meditation does. They say they like to think of matcha as “liquid meditation.”
It’s tasty too. Seriously—the champagne of green tea is another term Katherine uses and it’s spot on. It’s light and refreshing. But you have to get the preparation right. Watch Katherine’s video for some tips.
So far, I haven’t drunk it any other way than straight up, but there are some delicious recipes that I plan to try out.
It goes in everything from smoothies to chocolates, muffins or face masks. Stick that in your coffee grinder and drink it!
I still enjoy my coffee, but OMG this tea is great stuff.
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Author: Khara-Jade Warren
Images: OMGMatchaTea (@omgomgmatchatea)/ Instagram
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