Green Infusion: The Rise of Matcha in a Coffee Dominated Realm

Embark on a whimsical journey through the verdant valleys of matcha, where the traditional Japanese tea takes center stage over your typical cup of joe. As your guide, I’m spilling the tea on everything from its rich, ancient roots to the modern-day buzz it's stirring up in the beverage world. You’ll get an insider's look at how this "magic green swamp juice" is meticulously crafted from the Camellia sinensis plant, and I’ll even share tales of its zen-inducing powers that keep you calmly alert without the coffee jitters. And if you're tickled by tidbits of royal intrigue, you'll be delighted by how my current obsession with "The Crown" has brewed up unexpected connections to our favorite leafy concoction.

Swapping out the bitter tang of coffee for the smooth, earthy embrace of matcha might just revolutionize your morning ritual. I'll break down the why and how, comparing the subtle, grassy notes and health benefits of matcha to the robust kick of coffee. Listen closely as I grapple with the idea of sporting my own podcast merch, unsure if it's the epitome of cool or just a fashion faux pas. Your thoughts on this sartorial venture are eagerly awaited! Meanwhile, we're jazzed about the new ways you can dive into the podcast, including early video releases on YouTube. A heartfelt thanks goes out to you, the listeners, for turning the kettle on and keeping the conversation steeping – stay tuned for what’s brewing in the next episode.

Transcript

Matcha

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi, welcome back. Today we're talking about matcha. I've recently started my matcha journey and I've been feeling pretty good about it, so I wanted to share it with you guys, because I know how popular it is. And I'm just gonna talk about the history of matcha. I'm gonna talk about how it's made, why or if is beneficial. Compare it to green tea and coffee very common other sources of caffeine and why it's different. Why is it better? Why is it so love? Why is it so hyped at the moment? But also what are the negatives? Because there are some, so let's get into them. So I guess I'm gonna start off with what is matcha? It's been around for so long, as well as green tea. I don't know how long coffee's been around for, but I feel like matcha is longer. I'm just gonna put that out there. I'm gonna pretend like that is a fact.

Speaker 1 0:56

So apparently it was introduced into Japan in the 1100s 1100s, is that right? Yeah? By a Buddhist monk who realized that he had some of this magical powder, this magical green fluid, and I call it swamp juice, magical green swamp juice and he was like, hmm, I feel pretty good. He basically felt really relaxed, but also alert, and he then started a practice. Actually, I didn't know if it's a man. Can monks only be men? I think they can. Anyway, he started a practice called the way of tea and basically became like sushi making in Japan, like they became really fucking devoted to it and they were like we are gonna make the best tea in the world and they got whisks involved and they got like pestle and mortars going and it's like a whole thing, like they sit on the floor and they fucking brew the shit out of it. So it's like a you know, it's a big thing They've put here. The perfect preparation of tea became an exercise of devotion that honored the beauty found among, among, among, among, among the otherwise flawed world.

Speaker 1 2:21

Should I talk like this throughout my whole podcast? So I've been watching too much of the crown, you see, and it would suit me, suit me, to continue as such. I've been watching the crown, which is basically about the British monarchy, and I'm kind of addicted to it at the moment. It's my I don't wanna say guilty pleasure, because I'm not fucking guilty about it, it's my pleasure. I've only got one episode left, so rip me. So that is what matcha is.

Speaker 1 2:51

Well, I guess we haven't really talked about. Let's talk about how we make it. How we I'm not making it here. I am picking the fucking tea leaves. No, it basically comes from the same plant as green tea, would you believe it? They're both green and they're both tea. So, but they're actually slightly different. So they both come from chamelea mmm sinensis plant, which is basically an evergreen bush bushy tree thing, and I'm trying to think of something that you would compare it to in the UK, but I don't know any names of any bushes, so I can't quite complete that sentence or in any other country. So I know the kind of bushes I mean, but I don't know what they're called. So the point is kind of moot, moot, moo, and basically the difference is the green tea.

Speaker 1 3:48

They just pluck them off, pluck, pluck, pluck. Pluck them off the good ones, like the good leaves, the baby ones, and then they leave them to dry and then they steam them and then they dry a bit more, I believe, and then they roll them up and then they use, they put the tea leaves in the water, brew them, throw away the tea leaves, match it. It's slightly different. So they, once they've picked them off, they put them in. Oh, okay, before they picked them off, they put them in these the bushes, in these cloths which shade them from sunlight for like four weeks, and then they. That increases the chlorophyll levels.

Speaker 1 4:31

I don't know how. Do you know what? I never understand how people come up with this shit. Like I don't understand how we got to the point of having beer. I understand the point of alcohol Like I can understand. Like okay, we had some like apple juice. It went funny and people thought it was poison, right, so they drank it to try and kill themselves. Then they felt a bit funny, fell asleep and they were like, oh, that was weird, I didn't die. So then that is how alcohol was discovered.

Speaker 1 4:58

I don't understand how beer was discovered. Like you don't just fall upon beer, like it's. I've been to a brewery to learn about it, the Heineken factory, in fact. I know it's a lager in Amsterdam and honestly it was like a fucking million stage process. I was like no one is ever going to come up with this, or like just off the cuff, like oops, we accidentally discovered beer. So it's like, how did people discover all of this stuff? I kind of get it with this a bit more, though, like you know, you could see how the process evolved with beer. I do not understand it. It was like, yeah, we pick the hops and then we ferment them, but then we do something else and it was like this whole process. That was completely backwards to me. But anyway, that was a little anecdote.

Speaker 1 5:44

So apparently it increases the chlorophyll levels. Chlorophyll is that green shit in plants that makes it green and it's like the mitochondria kind of thing of no wait, is it? It's the chlorophyll? No, that's, that's the. What are those cells in that produce chlorophyll? Chlorophyll cells? They're called chloroplasts. There we go. Chloroprop Chloroplasts are cells which contain chlorophylls. And that is where photosynthesis oh, fucking hell, I've not done what's it called in a while. Biology that's where photosynthesis takes place.

Speaker 1 6:23

What a difficult word, photosynthesis. You wouldn't be able to say that if you had a speech problem, would you? That should be the thing we use. What we use it when we determine how someone's speech is, when they've had a stroke is. We use British constitution and baby hippopotamus and we should use photosynthesis as well, like that should be in there. So I don't know, someone's missed a trick there, but apparently baby hippopotamus, I feel like British constitution is.

Speaker 1 6:51

Whilst it's difficult, is a little bit colonial. I don't know. I don't actually know what it means. British constitution, I don't know. I just got the fact that it was like colonial vibes. But maybe I'm completely wrong.

Speaker 1 7:06

You know, I don't spit facts on this podcast. I just I do spit facts but then I also spit complete falsities as well. I don't know, it's something about law, but I do look it up. You know, I don't just spit facts and pretend that it's the truth. I do admit to my inadequacies. So that's great.

Speaker 1 7:25

So they shade them, increases chlorophyll apparently increases the production of amino acids, particularly the very important molecule in matcha, very important L-theanine, the arnein Look, I don't. I didn't say that I could say all of them. I'm trying, okay. And apparently this in particular contributes to how matcha tastes, which I'll get to in a bit because it's an interesting flavell. Then they harvest it, so they handpick them and they take only the youngest and tenderive leaves, the little baby ones, and they're called Tentia. Apparently I'm learning so much as well as you Like I've. I'm not a matcha connoisseur like I. I learn about this shit for my podcast, to teach you guys, but I find it interesting and you know, one day I will be the encyclopedia that I've always wanted to be.

Speaker 1 8:23

Anyway, they're then steamed to prevent oxidation and it maintains their bright green color, which matcha is very famous for, and it also stops enzymes degrading the flavor to make it like to stop it from tasting bitter, because nobody wants a bitter drink, although you could argue that coffee is a bit bitter, but only if it's done wrong, I suppose. Then they dry them, then they take the veins out. I don't know who is doing that, but they've got some skills, because I'm sure that the leaves can't be more than two inches long. Like do they just like peel out? Because I don't know, and that sounds like an absolutely painstaking job that I would not want to be involved in. You'd have to pay me a lot to do that and no, under the matcha is so expensive, because I'm sure they have not. They're probably doing that hand hand vein pulling. I think if you pulled someone's vein in a human, it would probably all come out at once, but plant veins, who knows? Like you would have to cut the skin. I don't know, I haven't. I'm afraid I can't answer that question, not that it was a question.

Speaker 1 9:34

Then they grind it, apparently using a stone mill. I don't really know how important it is that the material is stone Like. Surely you can just do it with, I don't know, a blender. It's questionable how much they really need to do with the stone mill. But there we go and I guess you could say that the blender might like mash up the amino acids and they're not like whole, but then you are kind of grinding it, so I didn't really know, and then packet. Well, we didn't need that step, did we? That was kind of obvious. It doesn't just float over the sea to us, we don't just inhale it, catch it in our own nets or something.

Speaker 1 10:10

So I've put a thing here. What is what drinking matcha is like? What excellent English dawn have? So I haven't actually written anything below it, which is kind of stupid. So let me tell you my little, my little story. So about a week ago, about a week ago, I bought Real R-H-E-A-L Superfoods Magic Matcha. It is difficultly. It has four ingredients in. So whilst Dawn is drinking matcha, she's also consuming three other naughty ingredients, one of those being I've just got my middle finger up one of those being Lion's Mane Mushroom, which I have a plan to do.

Speaker 1 10:53

Another episode after this, maybe not tonight, but on Monday it's going to come out On Lion's Mane Mushroom Ashwagandha. I don't know if I'm saying that right. I think I am. I also am going to do an episode on that too, so stick around if you want to hear about the Ashwagandha. Lion's Mane Mushroom. Vibe Ginger everyone knows about ginger. I didn't need to do an episode on that, do I? But maybe I could do like a common household herby vibe situation podcast. What am I saying? I don't know what's going on with me today. I think maybe it's the drugs. Okay, as in the drugs of matcha. So what is it? Drink, what is it like? Well, it's an experience because I think you can take. You could take like pills. I was looking at supplements that had Lion's Mane and stuff like that in and I was thinking do you know what?

Speaker 1 11:48

As part of my like ritual, I prefer just to have a drink. I like having a drink, I like making it. Do I like making it? I think so. I like making it. I don't like washing up, though. I like drinking it. I like just sitting down and drinking and watching the crown and drinking my green tea, my green coffee, matcha latte, whatever you want to call it. Now, I would usually do that with coffee. I'm kind of like weirded about a bit with coffee. Now I don't know. In my head I'm like can I drink it still? Like, is it possible? Because drinking matcha is a bit weird. It's green for a start.

Speaker 1 12:26

Now the matcha I have is not the bright green that you typically get, it's more of like a darker green, and I'm thinking it's either quality related, although they did say they use high quality ceremonial grade, don't ask. Apparently that's the best kind Ceremonial grade matcha. But they've also got other things in it. So I'm thinking is it a problem with the matcha or is it because it's got mushroom in it which is kind of brown? So that makes sense, right? So if you separated the ingredients, actually the matcha would look really green. Then the lion's mane mushroom is dried, so it's brown, and then ginger is kind of browny orange and then ashwagandha is brown. So maybe that's just making it more brown. Anyway, it's kind of cool drinking a like. It's kind of appealing for the eyes, like it's a nice cute little green color.

Comparison of Matcha and Coffee

Speaker 1 13:16

You feel like you're drinking health and you can put some milk in it, which is fine, whereas I don't really think you could put milk in green tea like, and I don't really get how, what the problem is. But there's something wrong there, as in the fact that I can put milk into green sorry, milk into matcha, but not into green tea. I think it's because green tea, when you brew it, it's just water and green pigment, like it's not the, it's got no like substance to it, it's just watery. If you put water in that, it would just turn into this like cloudy green liquid, which I get. That is what matcha looks like, but it's also thicker, like it's more concentrated. It's thicker, it's like it's a bit like a kind of green hot chocolate, but like, not, not too thick. So putting milk in it doesn't seem like an atrocity, as it would with green tea, and I don't know anybody that puts milk in green tea like, please, they need to go to prison if they. If anybody does that, there should be a crime against humanity. So it is an experience for the eyes.

Speaker 1 14:25

Now I think if you don't like coffee, I would give matcha a go, because it doesn't taste anything like it. Matcha is, I would say, earthy coffee. Everybody knows what coffee tastes like like I don't know even how to describe it. It's kind of I don't want to say it's bitter, but it's got a very strong flavour, and matcha doesn't. It's quite a neutral flavour, but it's also very earthy and grassy, like if I was to take a kind of small segment of, if I was just to dig my fingers. No, wait there. Yeah, dig my fingers in the soil, get some grass, get some soil, mash it up, put it in a tea strainer and make a drink from it. I would imagine that's kind of what matcha tastes like. So, yeah, it's, it's.

Speaker 1 15:13

I'm enjoying it because I'm like it's good for me. So I'm like it's fine if it tastes a bit weird, and actually I don't mind it. It tastes kind of nice. I could see why you might need to add something sweet to it so you could have like a little bit of, I don't know, a garvey nectar. I've got some of that. At the moment I don't put it in, but I'm just saying theoretically or just like something to sweeten it. Or oat milk sometimes has a well, whatever milk you want to use has like a kind of sweeter flavour, so it kind of makes it a bit more palatable. So, yeah, let's talk about, let's talk about sex, baby.

Speaker 1 15:47

Also, you feel like a boss ass bitch when you're drinking matcha. You're like I'm drinking a green coffee thing, because I'm amazing, like that's kind of what it feels like Coffee, basic bitch. It is a basic bitch drink, isn't it? Everyone's got coffee. Now the difference between drinking, oh, also okay, the difference between drinking coffee and matcha.

Speaker 1 16:14

One of the other things I've noticed is your breath when you drink coffee fucking stinks. You get this coffee breath and this like brown tongue. And if you don't have, if you don't brush your teeth after or have any chewing gum, people are not going to enjoy being in your presence. And I have had it where I've been like oh boy, you had a cup of coffee earlier, didn't you? When I've been like with other people and I hate the idea of me smelling bad to other people. So if I can reduce how much stinkiness I have, then perfect. So that is, that's one of the benefits of matcha is, I think, you are a bit less stinky.

Speaker 1 16:55

The other thing is they have put alkaline acidic. I mean there is literally no evidence to show that you should have a more alkaline food based diet, drink, etc. Because your body neutralizes it anyway. Because, like, fair enough, if you have acid reflux but or have, I don't know, stomach ulcers, but if you're like, I'm gonna try and neutralize my body with alkaline drinks, like, don't try and go there, come on, sort your life out. But I do understand the reflux vibe Like I get that I'm well on that train, trust me.

Speaker 1 17:34

Now, I think one of the biggest differences well, we're a few, but one of the biggest differences with matcha and coffee is that coffee basically kicks you in the fucking ass with the caffeine content straight away. Number one within 15 minutes. Number two it peaks really, really quickly but subsequently drops very, very quickly. Now what I've noticed with coffee is I end up getting this crash and I end up feeling like I'm gonna die, basically Feeling really shaky, and I'm like, oh my God, I can't cope. And then I end up being like right, I need something sugary, because I literally feel like my blood sugar is about to be zero or minus one, like I feel like it's that's not possible, but I feel like it's nothing, like I have no fucking sugar left in my body or energy or life. So then I just go and get something that boosts you back up and that cannot be good for your blood sugar or your you know overall health. So what I have noticed in drinking matcha is that I haven't had that crash, and that is so nice, because I hate that feeling of like, feeling like, oh my God, I am walking on sunshine and then feeling like, wow, I could be in the pit of hell right now. So that is a great benefit.

Speaker 1 18:52

In my opinion, it's because of something called the Elphianine Do you remember? I talked about that earlier, you remember, don't you? And basically it slows down the absorption of caffeine and if you don't have that, then 99% of your caffeine gets absorbed like straight away. So it's like bam, and then you're like ah, whereas matcha it's like dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee. That was the caffeine throughout the day. I'm now a dee, that's me. So I've already talked about matcha versus green tea, blah, blah, blah Over caffeine content as well.

Speaker 1 19:31

Matcha has about 70 milligrams of caffeine and coffee has anywhere from 95 to 100, and it hits you way quicker and it makes you wanna die after about an hour or two. The other thing is oh my God, I've just had a complete mind blank. Oh, the other thing is, the negative on the side of matcha is that it doesn't give you any mood boosting effects. So I actually did a podcast on caffeine if you wanna go check that one out. I don't know how long ago it was, I'm afraid couple of months, month maybe and when we drink caffeine in coffee form or tea, I suppose we get this serotonin boost and some kind of happy hormone I can't remember neurotransmitter sorry, don't quote me on that there.

Speaker 1 20:18

Like, go and check out the podcast. It's called Exploring Caffeine's Benefits or something, and we get a mood boost, whereas I have noticed that my mood is kind of fairly like do, do, do, do. I'm not gonna do that again, but you get the point throughout the day like it's not, like I get this like massive, oh, my God, ah, like I'm jumping off the fucking walls and then I'm like crying in the toilets in the next hour. So that is definitely a benefit, although, yeah, you don't wanna. It would be nice to if you're happy all the time, but life does not give us that benefit, I'm afraid.

Speaker 1 20:57

Despite being called Paxi Positivity, I bring you back down to reality. So I think the biggest positives for Matcha is that it's been shown, literally clinically proven, to reduce stress and anxiety, especially compared with coffee, and it also enhances short and long-term memory and cognitive function. You wouldn't believe it right now, would you Like? I mean, I'm doing pretty well, I haven't yawned once it is midnight, is it midnight, half midnight, half midnight, half 12. So I'm doing pretty well, I'm not gonna lie. And but it also has no effect on mood.

Speaker 1 21:40

Studies on mice, I don't know if I should. If this is even, I was gonna say if it's even relevant, it is relevant because it's still a study, isn't it? Studies on every being are important. Studies on mice show that Matcha enhanced spatial learning, upregulated brain-derived neurotrophic test and insulin-degrading enzyme, leading to reduced neuro-inflammation. So basically, in summary, it reduced, it enhanced certain things that will protect your brain from inflammation, which is pretty nice because the brain is a pretty important little fella. So it also helps with lipid profile, so reducing the bad fat in your body and stabilizing glucose metabolism, reducing inflammation and reducing weight gain, also in mice, but also in humans.

Speaker 1 22:37

Some of this is obviously due to the caffeine content, but also the other benefits and it must surely be the profile of how quickly it comes on with the alfionine. If you're gonna have a massive sugar crash, then you're probably more likely to go to something that's gonna boost your sugar really quickly. So if you've got something that's just releasing nice and slowly. Well, that's gonna benefit you in so many ways, definitely physically.

Speaker 1 23:09

There's also been some evidence to show that there's some kind of anti-tumor effects, although I don't want people to think well, I'll take matcha and I will be cured of cancer. It might help to prevent, but I don't think it's. You know, we're not in the stages of let's take green tea, matcha, green tea to cure cancer. That would be good though, wouldn't it? That would be good if we could just drink green tea and all be happy.

Speaker 1 23:35

I think there are some negatives Now. Number one is, although I said I like the taste of it, I could see how it's definitely a interesting vibe you might not like it if you don't like the taste of grass and dirt no, don't take my word for that. And obviously different ones taste different, right, the one that I've got tastes pretty nice. It is quite earthy. I would say you can always just have less of it, have more milk, you could add sweetener, but I guess that kind of defeats the purpose. But you can like wean yourself up.

Speaker 1 24:05

Like most people when they try coffee for the first time, they're like I don't like it. Ew, what the fuck is this? It's gross, get it away from me. And it also depends on how well the coffee's brewed, etc. So the taste is a potential negative. Number two is it is actually it has more calories than coffee. I've put two and a half times more calories, but technically I can't remember exactly. But for the same amount of coffee and matcha one is like two calories. The coffee and the matcha is five. Technically it's two and a half times, but I mean, who is counting really? And also I only have one matcha a day. I wouldn't have more, but sometimes I have two. So you know also, like, come on, it's a drink whatever, calories don't matter.

Speaker 1 24:52

I would also say there have been some concerns about lead and arsenic and liver toxicity, but they're not particularly founded in evidence. There's some thought that if you mash up the leaves of a whole tree and don't just sort of soak them, then you are potentially getting all of the heavy metals, lead and arsenic that it's absorbed. So you know, from the ground and from I don't know if it takes it from the air, from the ground, so, but I mean it's probably minimal and we get exposed to, you know, all sorts of things every day. So just don't go drinking like 10 matches a day, and I think you'll be fine.

Speaker 1 25:29

The main issue I would say is that it's expensive. It's super expensive. It's like I don't even know how much was that thing that I bought. I mean, probably it was 20, 20 quid for a pot, but it says it's three servings, which is going to technically last me two months. If it does, who knows? It's never fully accurate, though, is it, but we'll see. But it is super. Like a kilo of it is like 100 quid or something.

Speaker 1 25:56

You would never get that with coffee, but then with matcha you are consuming the whole thing. You're not like you're not brewing it as such, you're not like you know, using the beans and then the ground beans and then throwing that away. You are like consuming the whole thing. So, yeah, I think the other thing is, if you get so used to it that you're like you can't live without it, and then you go away somewhere, you're going to have to take it with you because it's you pretty much can't get it anywhere. That I've noted.

Speaker 1 26:24

I've had a matcha latte out and about maybe like two or three times Like. It's not a common situation. So you know, coffee is fucking everywhere, like tea, everywhere Green tea, you could probably get to be fair. So, if you're not fussy, but matcha, if you start to get used to it, I do always worry that, you know we get used to something and then it's not there. I mean you could take it with you. I suppose, if you're you know, you could put it in your suitcase or whatever, depending on where you're going. So it's not the end of the world.

Considering Merchandise and Podcast Promotion

Speaker 1 26:53

Anyway, guys, I think that's going to be it. My fucking back is like oh, do you know what? It just feels like it needs to be like crack, like a one of those um, glow in the dark, things crack. I. I feel like I need to crack, like that. Anyway, thanks so much for listening or watching.

Speaker 1 27:09

I'm thinking about making some merch, I don't know, like just for me mainly, but I guess I could make it available. But I was kind of thinking I might get a top Um, I just thought the logo looks kind of cool and I could have it on a t-shirt. But is that sad? I don't know, let me know. But anyway, if you liked it, please give it a like um, subscribe, um, follow whatever you want to do. Give it a five-star rating please, because that would be like super lovely, on Spotify or Apple podcast or whatever you listen to podcast. And if you are just listening on the podcast, you can also um watch the video on my YouTube channel at Dawn Barlow or I've put the. I'm now putting the episodes on my YouTube channel um before they come out in video format as well, because they now support RSS feed. So, wow, so many new things happening. Anyway, thanks so much for listening and I'll see you in the next episode. I upload every two times a week, monday or Thursday, bye.