Matcha has a unique flavor and nutrient profile that’s packed with antioxidants and nutrients. Matcha green tea powder can be found in supplements, drinks and even baked goods. It's a superfood ingredient for its functional benefits.

Read more to see why you should add matcha for better health, brainpower, and increased mental focus.

Where Is Matcha From?

According to Louise Cheadle, who is the co-author of The Book of Matcha, in an interview for Time, the best matcha comes from Japan. Japanese green tea matcha has been grown for centuries and is part of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. 

This nutrient powerhouse can be found in matcha shots, lattes and teas. From health stores to coffee shops, the fine powder is available as natural supplements for brain health and overall health.

What’s Matcha Tea? What’s the Difference Between Green Tea and Matcha?

Matcha is a fine velvet-like powder and just like green tea, matcha comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. 

The main difference between traditional green tea and matcha is how the plant is grown and its nutrient profile. 

Matcha is grown in the shade and covered for 20-30 days, avoiding direct sunlight before it's harvested to retain its antioxidant and L-theanine content. This also is what gives matcha its vibrant green color. Matcha has all of the nutrients from the entire tea leaf, so it has more caffeine and antioxidants than steeped green tea. 

The terms are often used in conjunction or interchangeably, but it’s important to know the difference between matcha and green tea.

What Are the Different Grades of Matcha?

There are two main grades of matcha: ceremonial and culinary. 

Ceremonial grade matcha is intended to be consumed on its own and whisked with hot water, while culinary grade matcha is designed to be added to lattes, smoothies, and baked goods.

Within culinary grade matcha, there are different grades that include premium, café, classic, ingredient, and kitchen grade. The different matcha grades play a role in how you use them and how they taste.

The higher the grade, the better the matcha tastes and the more vibrant the green is. If you’re making matcha lattes, use a ceremonial or premium grade matcha. If you’re adding matcha powder to smoothie recipes, you can use ceremonial, premium, or culinary grade. Use a culinary or premium grade if you’re adding matcha to recipes and baked goods – although you can also get away with using ceremonial matcha in recipes, depending on the recipe.

How Can You Use Matcha Powder?

Matcha is a fine green powder. This makes it easy to mix into smoothie bowls, juices, lattes and desserts. Keep in mind that because of the velvety texture, matcha powder must be carefully whisked with hot water when making matcha lattes – it can get messy and stick on surfaces and your hands, but this is absolutely normal!

The matcha powder in Wholy Dose's Matcha Beauty Superfood Powder is premium-grade, non-GMO, from Japan, and rich in flavor (not bitter like most matcha). You can make a collagen matcha latte with our Matcha Beauty Superfood Powder that contains matcha, top-quality collagen peptides, biotin, and horsetail plant for improved mental focus, immunity, energy, metabolism, skin, hair, and nails.

There are so many ways to enjoy matcha to boost your brain power and make it a celebrated part of your day. Try seven ways to use matcha powder, a matcha pineapple smoothie and many more recipes on our blog. 

How Does Matcha Boost Brain Function?

This brain-healthy beverage has many benefits and improves your mood and cognition. It’s believed that matcha may reduce cell damage, prevent chronic disease, protect the liver, help prevent cancer, promote heart health and help you lose weight. On top of all of these matcha benefits, matcha has been found to boost brain function, focus, and brain power.

Matcha helps improve alertness, memory, performance and focus. It contains L-theanine, which is an amino acid that is rich in antioxidants and naturally occurs in tea. L-theanine helps promote alertness and can help avoid a caffeine crash. It can also help you relax and decrease your stress levels.

One study found that taking 2 grams of green tea powder daily for 2 months helped improve brain function. Another study found that matcha can enhance your attention, reaction time and memory.

Matcha may also protect the brain from mental decline. Research shows that matcha green tea can help boost brain power and your working memory. This is promising for treating impairments and disorders like dementia.

How Often Should You Drink Matcha?

According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s not recommended to have over 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. Keri Gans, RD, says that an eight-ounce cup of matcha is usually made from one teaspoon of matcha powder, which has 70 milligrams of caffeine, but this can vary. Generally, one cup of matcha has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. 

At Wholy Dose, one serving of our Matcha Beauty Superfood Powder has two grams of matcha. We recommend having one cup of matcha each day to notice brain-enhancing benefits.

How To Find the Best Matcha Powder?

Finding the best, good matcha powder has to do with the grade, quality, and sourcing (where the matcha comes from). 

The highest and purest grade of matcha is ceremonial matcha. Ceremonial grade matcha is a dark, vibrant green that is pure green tea. Premium grade matcha is also a great choice when finding the best matcha powder because it is also vibrant in color and taste. 

However, not all matcha is created equal. You know you’re drinking a top-quality matcha if the color is green (not yellow or brown), has a natural sweet herbal taste (not bitter), and tastes pure with no fluff, fillers, or sugar.

Wholy Dose matcha is considered one of the best matcha powder brands because our matcha is pure, sourced from the best quality tea leaves, and super tasty. There is no sugar added and the matcha is naturally sweet in taste (not bitter). Take a sip, sit back and enjoy our matcha collagen powder.