By now, you’ve surely heard about some of the purported health benefits of green tea, particularly when it comes to Japanese matcha. It’s supposed to be great for providing a steadier stream of all-day energy than the usual jolt you get out of coffee and matcha is said to have far more antioxidants than regular brewed green tea too. And unlike regular loose leaf tea, matcha is always offered as a fine powder. This lends itself to many applications beyond a regular hot drink.
To test some of these theories, I was provided with a sample package of organic matcha green tea powder
Culinary Grade Green Tea Powder
The package itself measures about 20cm x 12cm and contains four ounces (113 grams) of the fine green tea powder. You can see just how green it is in the picture above and I’ve been told this is one of the indications of a quality matcha. This is particularly true if the rich green color carries through with whatever food product you create out of it.
On the pouch, Kiss Me Organics tells us that the organic matcha will boost metabolism, increase focus, improve skin health and provide all day energy. It also happens to be a calorie burner with anti-aging properties. Yes, it’s almost like a miracle drug. You’ll also notice that this matcha is USDA Organic. Even though Kiss Me Organics is based out of Ohio, the actual product is made in China. This makes me question the authenticity, as I would prefer matcha from Japan, but other people wouldn’t mind as much.
And while you could certainly use this matcha powder simply to prepare some green tea to drink, as we sampled at the Vancouver Tea Festival (with a different company), matcha can also be used to flavor and dye a variety of other foods, including green tea ice cream and green tea soba noodles.
Making Matcha Desserts
Due to my ineptitude when it comes to baking, I left this job to the expert: my wife. When you purchase a bag of green tea powder from Kiss Me Organics, they also provide you with a complimentary recipe guide. Using this as a foundation, Susanne tried her hand at a couple of matcha desserts. Shown above is the matcha creme brulee and below is a matcha panna cotta with blueberries.
The green color is far more pronounced in the creme brulee than in the panna cotta and the same could be said about the overall matcha flavor. Green tea has a light and distinct taste to it and this carried through quite well in both desserts. One problem that we did encounter, though, is that the matcha powder tends to settle to the bottom. We didn’t have the proper matcha whisk, but we did try to stir it up as much as possible before baking.
Even so, we were still left with some raw powder on the bottom of both dishes. It’s not the taste that bothered me; it’s the texture that raw powder had when it hit my tongue. I imagine this would be less of an issue with more of a baked item like a matcha opera cake or something similar.
Indeed, when the matcha powder was incorporated into this waffle recipe, the settling powder was a non-issue. At the same time, the green tea flavor was not nearly as pronounced here as it was in both the creme brulee and the panna cotta.
How Much Does It Cost?
A single bag of Kiss Me Organics Matcha Green Tea Powder
While the little bag of green tea powder may not look like all that much, you have to realize that each recipe only calls for a very small amount. The matcha essence is light and distinct. I’m not sure I really experienced all of those health benefits, but it sure tasted good!
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