Matcha Naturopathy Green Tea as Trend Drink

Japanese Matcha tea is also becoming increasingly popular in Germany

11/02/2013

Not only bubble tea, but also other, much healthier tea drinks enjoy growing popularity in Germany. The poisonous matcha tea from Japan is one of those trendy drinks. The Japanese powder tea is said to have numerous health-promoting properties.

Matcha tea consists of fine powder of Tencha (special green tea variety) that is doused in the preparation with hot water and beaten with a bamboo whisk foamy. The foamy, poisonous green tea looks at first glance like a synthetic brew, but matcha (Japanese: ground tea) is a purely natural drink, which is also considered extremely healthy. In Japan, matcha is a traditional part of the tea ceremonies, but until recently the noble tea was unknown to most Germans.

Now, German suppliers have discovered the powder and in large cities such as Berlin or Hamburg open more tea salons, which offer in addition to the expensive Japanese green tea varieties such as Sencha, Gyokuro and Tamaryokucha Matcha „Mirror online“. While the Matcha tea used to be reserved for the Japanese upper classes as part of traditional tea ceremonies, demand has also risen in this country. In addition, Matcha find more use as an ingredient in chocolate, ice cream, and baked goods use. However, Japan only exports a small fraction of the annual matcha tea production, and the imitations available from other countries can not compete in quality so far.

Only a little Japanese matcha tea is exported
Matcha is extracted from the leaves of the Tencha tea plant. As a so-called shade tea, the Tencha grows in the last month before harvest in reduced sunlight (mats over the tea plantations provide shade), resulting in increased production of chlorophyll. This gives the tea its typical green color and also develops its fine, fresh, slightly sweet taste, so „Mirror online“. After harvesting, the tea leaves are treated with steam, then dried and ground into fine powder in traditional stone mills. Original Matcha is made exclusively in Japan.

According to the experts, the annual production in recent years amounted to nearly 80,000 tons, of which, however, only 2,420 tons were exported in 2011. Although they are getting now „Also in Germany in selected shops top green tea from Japan“,explained Monika Beutgen, Managing Director of the German Tea Association „Mirror online“, but at a high price. A 30-gram can of Matcha tea costs more than 50 euros.

Inferior imitations of the noble green tea
It has been observed for some time that Matcha is becoming better known, explained the managing director of the German Tea Association. Was the noble tea „a few years ago, only diehard Japan fans a term“, That's why Matcha enjoys a growing popularity in Germany today as well. In view of the strictly limited offer of Japanese Matcha, the trend tea is grown meanwhile also in some Chinese provinces, whereby qualitatively however substantial differences exist. According to the experts, the powder tea from Chinese provinces is often based on inferior leaf tea, which is ground to powder and then dyed green. Here are usually significant differences in taste to the original matcha noted.

Health promoting effect of green tea
Regarding the health-promoting effect of Matcha, Prof. Ulrich Engelhardt, head of the Institute of Food Chemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig „Mirror online“, that „a certain positive effect of Matcha on health is recognizable“ be. Since not only an extract, but the whole leaf of the green tea is included here, the assumption seems to be justified that the already known positive effects of green tea are enhanced in Matcha. But so far there is no indication that Matcha uses health more than the consumption of normal green tea, said Prof. Engelhardt. The health-promoting effect of green tea in general, however, has been widely studied and confirmed.

Reduced risk of fatal cardiovascular disease
For example, Prof. Dr. Peter Stehle from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (IEL) at the University of Bonn in 2007 in the journal „Scientific Information Service Tea“ (published by the German Tea Institute) that green tea is inversely correlated with the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease. Relying on a Japanese cohort study with more than 40,000 participants, Prof. Stehle explained that the preventive effects were most pronounced in the case of fatal strokes. But in other cardiovascular diseases (eg, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease) green tea had a positive effect according to the Japanese researchers. The protective effects are attributed above all to the high content of flavanoids, explained Prof. Stehle.

However, the Japanese study did not confirm the expected protective effect of green tea on cancer. Also for the preventive effect in terms of the risk of diabetes, according to the experts lack the scientific evidence so far. However, the Japanese study found a generally lower mortality rate with high green tea consumption. It can certainly be assumed that the Matcha trend is more conducive to health than the Bubble Tea boom observed last year. (Fp)

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Image: Cameraobscura