Dear coffee,
I still love you. But I need to start seeing someone else that energizes me.
You get my engine going in the morning, that’s for sure. But do I really need your hundreds of milligrams of caffeine?
True, without you, I’d be a wreck and wouldn’t be able to get my day started. And I’d have a pounding headache because of my addiction to you.
But in the last several years since our hot affair began each and every morning, you’ve caused my blood pressure to spike. And not in a good way.
You see, coffee, I have borderline high blood pressure. And after what I’ve been reading lately, it’s your fault. You spike my blood pressure for 3 hours or more. (Thankfully, you haven’t been linked to heart disease, yet.)
Are you the only one I blame? Of course not. The bills to pay, child-rearing responsibilities, they boil my blood, too.
Coffee, you are a great lover. You stimulate me both mentally and physically. But I don’t like how much of a crutch you are. I have become utterly dependent on you.
We don’t need to totally break up. I just want to see someone else that will give me the same energetic lift—without hundreds of milligrams of caffeine.
Here’s who I plan on spending more time with in the mornings.
White Matcha Tea Powder
I’ve never been a big fan of tea, especially in the morning. To me, what’s the point of drinking tea when you can drink coffee? But considering my desire to reduce my daily dosage of caffeine, I was willing to give tea a try. And I’m glad I did because white matcha tea powder gives me everything I need in the morning.
It boosts my mental focus and concentration and powers my morning workouts (when I’m disciplined enough to fit in exercise at the beginning of the day).
White matcha tea powder has the Goldilocks amount of caffeine: not too much and not too little. I take a full teaspoon of the powder and add it to hot water. That serving size provides me with approximately 100 mg of caffeine. Considering I was regularly consuming 350-500 mg of caffeine per day, that’s a big reduction. With this serving size, I don’t get any caffeine-withdrawal headaches.
Although white matcha doesn’t give me that jolt of energy that a jumbo cup of coffee does, it provides me with longer-lasting, more streamlined energy. With that large serving of coffee I used to drink, if I didn’t go right out and conquer Mt. Everest right away so to speak, I often felt like I had way too much Qi, and I didn’t know what to do with it.
But with a teaspoon of white matcha, I’m steady Eddie.
White vs Green Matcha
Almost everyone is familiar with green matcha tea. While nearly all green matcha comes from Japan, white matcha is grown in China and Kenya. (Miracle Noodle’s white matcha is sourced from Kenya’s High Rift Valley.)
And while green matcha is considered the healthiest tea on the planet, white matcha from Kenya actually contains more polyphenols than its green counterpart. Polyphenols are a particular type of antioxidant that is a potent free radical killer. (Free radicals are compounds that cause oxidative stress to cells.)
In particular, white matcha contains a group of polyphenols called catechins. Several studies (like this one) suggest that epigallocatechin gallate, a particular type of catechin may help reduce the physiological symptoms of metabolic syndrome.
The Ritual Of Drinking Coffee
In addition to the physical dependency from the caffeine in coffee, I was also addicted to the ritual of drinking it: open up tin of whole beans; take a sniff; let the synapses fire up; grind beans; steep in French press; pour in blender; add other ingredients (like coconut oil, which dangerously spiked my cholesterol levels), and sip from my favorite coffee mug.
With white matcha tea, would I get the same psychosomatic rush? Yes! And in far less time. Now, granted, to make any matcha tea the traditional way requires a virtual Ph.D. in Japanese tea ceremony. I have neither the time for ceremonial tea making nor the interest.
But here’s what I love about drinking white matcha tea: I save so much time drinking it compared to my coffee ritual. Just open the tin of matcha powder, add to hot water, stir for a few seconds, let it steep for a couple minutes and it’s ready to drink. I’m able to get to my emails much faster with matcha now in my morning ritual.
Conclusion
If you’re thinking that there’s no way that tea can replace coffee, I don’t blame you. I was skeptical myself. I thought there’s no way that tea can lift my energy and give me that boost of concentration I need to wake me from the dead each morning. And to be honest, white matcha tea is no coffee; it doesn’t make you feel as if you’re hooked up to an IV of caffeine. But isn’t that the point. If you’re looking to reduce your dependency on caffeine and looking for an alternative to coffee without giving up the morning ritual, give white matcha tea a try. I have fallen in love with it.
