The Tea Pigs Matcha Challenge

At the start of the year I was contacted by the guys at Teapigs to see if I would be interested in taking part in the Teapigs Matcha Challenge and I jumped at the chance!

For the sake of any new readers, I'll quickly give you a bit of an update on my lifestyle. I'm active, working out 6 times a week, mostly vegan and would consider myself pretty healthy. Over Christmas I had ate quite well but had certainly indulged in a lot of richer foods and lots and lots of caffeine! For January I decided to try and eat a mostly unprocessed vegan diet and avoid coffee. I am also a big green tea fan in general. I have used matcha before and had been really impressed with its nutritional stats which are described here, so I was looking forward to re introducing it again.

How did I enjoy it?

Over the last three weeks I've had a 1/4 teaspoon serving a day in various guises:

Matcha Shot (well kind of shot, just matcha whisked up with hot water in a small glass)

Matcha smoothie - this included frozen mango and coconut water, it was delicious!

As a hot tea (I sometimes added some manuka honey for sweetness and when I was feeling like I might be coming down with a cold)

Matcha lattes: I adore these! This was made with kara coconut milk

I even made some raw matcha cookies!

To make these I combined some soaked almonds, coconut, ground flax and agave syrup in a food processor then formed cookies and dehydrated until dried. You could easily make matcha cookies or even cakes by adding some matcha to an existing recipe - I would love to try adding some matcha to a vanilla cupcake recipe!

I actually like the taste and flavour of green tea so really enjoyed the hot teas and lattes - it also goes well in porridge which I tried the last time I had some matcha but never got round to trying it this time. I also regularly added matcha to my usual green smoothies. There are more ways that you can enjoy matcha listed in these lovely recipes.

When did I take it and what effect did it have?

I tended to have my matcha when I felt like I needed a boost, especially while I was off the coffee. I had it with breakfast or mid afternoon which is when I usually find myself needing a pick me up. I'm not sure if its a bit psychological but I tended to sense more of an increase in energy when I drank it as a shot or hot tea rather than in a latte or smoothie - perhaps it gets into your blood stream quicker that way? It was especially good pre workout for giving me a little kick! I also found that I had very minimal coffee or caffeine cravings. I wasn't a massive coffee drinker anyway, but I think the matcha just helped take the edge off my tiredness sometimes as well as giving me a 'ritual' to replace the coffee making on a morning.

I can't say if matcha has helped me with regards to weight loss as that has not been my goal. What it has helped me with is making me generally feel healthier and lighter. Again, this could be psychological, but drinking something that beautiful green just makes you feel like your putting something good into your body!

Overall verdict?

I just love matcha! For me that's to do with the taste and how it makes me feel - healthy and energised. It was voted as slimming product of the year by Your Healthy Living readers, I'm not sure if taking this on its own would make a lot of difference but I think that just including it in your diet makes you more likely to make wider diet and lifestyle changes which would result in weight loss if that was your goal.

Like I said, I am such a big fan of matcha and green tea and have really enjoyed that extra daily dose of green goodness! If you'd like to try the benefits for yourself Teapigs are offering 20% off using code MATCHABLOG12 (offer valid until 12th Feb 2012), don't miss out!

Have you tried matcha? What did you think? What is your favourite way to enjoy Matcha?