Matcha

 I like Japanese green tea, kind of!

It's very bitter, so whenever I drink it, I usually have some kind of Japanese sweet with it. Traditional Japanese sweets are very sweet.  I love Yokan, a jelly like sweet made from red bean paste and agar or Dorayaki, small pancakes with sandwiched together with sweet red bean paste.

The tea or the sweets alone don't work for me; they are at the extreme end of the taste spectrum, very bitter or very sweet. But taken together, they are really nice!

But matcha is something that I have never wanted to try.

Matcha is a finely ground green powder that is made from tea leaves that are grown in the shade. Because all of the leaf is used, it delivers a richer, more concentrated flavor, which is earthy and slightly bitter.

The powder is whisked with hot water to create a frothy drink. Matcha is also used in desserts, ice cream, and cakes. There is even a match latte.

I have shied away from matcha after my first experience with it many years ago when I first came to Japan.

I was in a store that was selling ice cream. There was green ice cream on sale. I assumed it was mint. So I ordered one. Turned out to be matcha ice cream and not a good one at that!

Since that disappointing experience, I've kept away from matcha until now.

The other day I was listening to a podcast, I forgot the name of the doctor I was listening to!! He was talking about the health benefits of matcha, saying that there is some chemical in the matcha that stops the stem cells of breast cancer from growing.  Since I've already had breast cancer, I'm always looking for ways to stop it from coming back. I know that stopping sugar is good, but I'm having a hard time with that at the moment!

It's also rich in L-theanine, an amino acid that promotes relaxation and focus, something I really need! 

So I bought some matcha and have been drinking it for the past few days. It's not as bad as I remember it!

Hot matcha

Today was a latte matcha

 Christopher makes it for me; he doesn't make it too strong which helps.

The podcast was talking about food as medicine, something that I find very interesting.  

I've managed to download a few books on this idea and am going to try and see if I can start to prepare healthier meals without losing taste!