Coffee, tea or Me?

FEATURE "DRINK" OF THE MONTH

Well hello there, it's been awhile...and I am quite behind in my food blogging (even with my Asia trip entries. Yikes!). I will definitely get back to those during my winter break from work *crosses fingers*

It's December already! And what is more appropriate than to celebrate it with a hot drink? =D Lately, I have been obsessed with Teaopia's Matcha Superior. http://www.teaopia.ca/

Green tea has always been one of my favorite drinks, why? No artificial flavors, it tastes fresh and it helped me lose weight. A lot of my friends have noticed a dramatic change with my body weight and I give props to healthy eating and green tea itself [here you go, there's my secret lol]. I lost around 15-20 pounds within the past five years of drinking green tea religiously. I noticed every time when I'm eating a big meal, green tea helps me digest the food a lot quicker and easier. I have always used the green tea bags, they all range from Costco's Kirkland to Starbucks' Tazo or to some really random ones I buy from a Chinese supermarket.

There's one thing I didn't know until recently I picked up a brochure from Teaopia - matcha vs. green tea. Green tea are the leafs itself and matcha is a fine powdered green tea. So one are leaves and the other one is powder. What's the difference? Since matcha is the final product from green tea, you are taking in all the nutritious residue and you are receiving 10x more than an infusion of Green Tea leaves [source: Teaopia].

According to research done by Teaopia, Matcha Green Tea is ranked the highest for antioxidant when consumed by one. Based on 1 gram, Matcha has 1384 ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity), this is why matcha is good for you. Antioxidants are used in medicine to prevent diseases such as heart strokes and cancer, I think one of the reason why I lost a bit of weight is because green tea kicks out the bad stuff in your system (such as fatty cells and radicals) and acts as a catalyst to increase your metabolism by 35-40%. Quite frankly, when I drink it religiously, I go to the washroom and make #2's almost every other day. LOL!

MATCHA SUPERIOR

"Teaopia's Superior grade Matcha has a mellow and fresh taste. This Matcha is ideal for those who are new to the art of Matcha drinking and is great for adding to smoothies, sprinkling on yogurt and of course traditionally prepared." 

Very rich and smooth matcha powder :)

just half a teaspoon was enough!

It tastes great, I love how you can really taste the green tea. There's a difference with tea bags and powder. Powder gives you the richness and the sweetness of green tea, something you can't taste when you use tea bags. It is probably the best quality of green tea I have seen in town at the moment. Though I must say two things: this one tiny can is quite expensive - ~$30/can. AND be careful when you prepare it. Do not put more than half a teaspoon because your drink will end up really powdery and you will waste the green tea goodness. Some serving suggestions: sprinkle it with vanilla icecream, bet you won't be disappointed!! :) Hope you'd enjoyed this entry! Till next time! <3