Matcha is something you might be seeing more and more on social media, or it's being served in coffee shops, such as a delicious matcha latte. Matcha is often used as a coffee substitute. But doesn't matcha also contain caffeine?
Back to the origin of Matcha
Matcha is a Chinese powder and has been a well-known type of tea in China for centuries. Japanese monks brought matcha tea from China to Japan, where its popularity quickly grew. Subsequently, this unique tea spread all over the world and nowadays we can no longer imagine our healthy lifestyle without it.
Matcha has various health benefits, it is packed with
antioxidants and provides an energy boost. You can read more about this in this blog.
Is Matcha a good substitute for coffee?
A cup of coffee can vary in caffeine content, depending on how strong your coffee is. A cup of coffee can contain between 20-30 and more than 1500 mg of caffeine per cup. An average cup of coffee contains approximately 80 mg of caffeine.
What applies to coffee also applies to tea. Some types of tea naturally contain less or more caffeine. For a cup of matcha, you use about 1 gram, and 1 gram of Matcha contains a maximum of 45 mg of caffeine. The maximum amount of caffeine you can have per day is 320 mg. With a cup of matcha, you are well below this.
A cup of matcha therefore contains less caffeine than a cup of coffee and could be drunk as a substitute for your coffee. However, because it does contain some caffeine, we recommend drinking your matcha preferably during the day. Stick to 1 to 2 cups per day.
