Green Tea powder, or Green Tea, is something we’ve all heard of before. Primarily due to its perceived health benefits. Word of mouth often has people claiming that green tea powder can be a great solution for increasing metabolism, promoting weight loss, contributing to cognitive function & even improving bad breath.

These perceived benefits have led to a recent uprise in popularity for green tea consumption along with other herbal tea options. Many people now consider green tea to be a ‘healthier’ alternative to regular coffee or regular tea. With tea being the most consumed drink after water, could a transfer from coffee to green tea be the life-changing health hack you need?

In this article we take a deeper look into the claimed benefits of green tea powder to explore if adding it to your daily routine is truly worthwhile.

Does green tea have caffeine?

Before we dig deeper into understanding green tea powder some more, we wanted to debunk a common misconception.

Firstly, YES green tea does contain caffeine.

Secondly, NO green tea does not contain as much caffeine as coffee.

A common misconception via ‘word of mouth’ is that green tea not only contains caffeine but contains more caffeine than coffee. This rumour is responsible for many people replacing coffee with green tea, looking for an increased caffeine boost.

The truth is that a typical cup of coffee is considered to contain around 80mg of caffeine. On the other hand, green tea contains around 40mg per cup, essentially half the amount!

What is Green Tea?

Without stating the obvious, green tea powder is a biproduct of green tea. Green tea, along with most other forms of tea, is grown on a plant known as the Camellia Sinensis. Black teas or traditional Asian teas are also grown on this plant, although what separates all of them is the fermentation process. Usually, oxidation or withering.

This process is undertaken after the harvesting of the leaves, which are vital in determining the flavour, scent & texture of the final product. Green tea undergoes a much less strenuous level of processing as the leaves are unoxidized. As a result of this, it’s widely considered that green tea leaves are more nutritious, rich with antioxidants that stimulate the nervous system.

What is Green Tea Powder?

The difference between Green Tea powder is simple, it’s ground down into smaller particles so it can be whisked or absorbed into hot water or hot milk. This makes consumption of green tea & its benefits more flexible.

Green tea powder is stronger in flavour & usually contains higher contents of caffeine as opposed to infused green tea leaves.

Along with a high dose of antioxidants, studies have found that green tea powder is packed with polyphenols. These are plant-based compounds that have been closely associated with contributing to brain function, digestion, diabetes & heart disease.

We will look at some of the potential benefits further below.

DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION & STUDIES LINKED IN THIS ARTICLE SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR MEDICAL ADVICE OR AS SUGGESTED TREATMENT OF ANY ILLNESS. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FOR CLEAR DIRECTION ON TREATMENT FOR ANY ILLNESS OR HEALTH DISCOMFORT.

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Where is green tea powder from?

As previously highlighted, green tea powder is the product of green tea leaves. Green tea leaves are the product of fermentation processing of the Camellia Sinensis.

The Camellia Sinensis is a plant native to many regions of Asia. Most notably China, Japan, Sri Lanka, India & Bangladesh. Outside of Asia the plant has also been cultivated in New Zealand & some regions of America such as Hawaii.

The top 5 producers of green tea today are China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia & India.

Uses

Green tea leaves & green tea powder are unanimously popular as an addition to hot water or hot milk. Outside of infusion into hot drinks, it is rarely used otherwise. Although some food recipes such as salad’s have been known to include green tea leaves.

Before its western popularity, green tea has been an essential part of traditional medicine in China & Japan for centuries. Whilst there is no defined date, it is estimated that Green Tea has been part of some Asian cultures for up to 5000 years!

Prior to being used as a tea with large focus being on flavour, the leaves were viewed as medicinal. Instead of being brewed with hot water, is believed that the leaves were chewed & eaten for the perceived health benefits.

What are the benefits of green tea powder?

Popular research regularly associates green tea powder with 2 main factors that may contribute to improved wellbeing. These 2 factors are the dense population of antioxidants & polyphenols.

Antioxidants may offer vital protection to our bodily cells against harmful bacteria. Green tea particularly has been found to have Catechins. There are suggestions that catechins play a role in preventing cell damage. Some studies have even described green tea catechins as ‘efficient’ in prevention of stomach cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer & liver cancer. It must be reinstated that this is not conclusive.

As we mentioned above, polyphenols are plant-based compounds that may contribute to heart health, brain function & digestion. Further studies have been explored to review the impact of these polyphenols on diabetes, neurological & cardiovascular diseases.

So what does all this mean? It means that some of the main benefits associated with green tea powder may include:

• Battling against growth of cancerous cells
• Contribution to brain function
• Contribution to energy
• Weight loss through increased metabolism.

We have discussed above the possible contributing factors to battling cancerous cells through antioxidants & polyphenols, but what about the other key ingredient? Caffeine.

Caffeine

It’s not uncommon knowledge to know that caffeine gives you a kick when you need it, most often first thing in the morning. But how does caffeine actually work?

Caffeine is a stimulant. Sometimes the overuse of caffeine, like any other stimulant, can result in discomfort & jitters. One of the reasons that people turn to green tea powder instead of coffee is because of the reduced amount of caffeine, making it more manageable.

Some research has concluded that consumption of green tea produced caffeine can lead to a variety of potential benefits. Neurologically, consumption of green tea is believed to influence anxiety, memory & brain function. Whilst any coffee or energy drinker is already aware of the energy boost that caffeine can give.

Clean green tea extract is also a popular remedy for weight loss supplementation. This is because research suggests that caffeine in the green tea can play an important role in boosting our metabolic rate.

Your metabolic rate, in simplistic terms, is the amount of calories your body burns when resting. This can often mean that a higher metabolic rate leads to higher levels of fat being burnt. For this reason, green tea extract is highly popular in supplementation for weight loss or sports & fitness training.

It should be noted that overconsumption of caffeine can lead to adverse side effects such as anxiety, restlessness, jitters, insomnia, dehydration & dependency. Please be sure to manage your caffeine intake with care. The UK Associations of Dieticians advise no more than around 300mg of caffeine per day.

Green tea in every-day life

Nothing beats a warm cup of green tea. Try adding some punch to the flavour by adding either mint, ginger, lemon, or honey. We personally recommend ginger, lemon & honey together!

If green tea isn’t your thing, we’ve added green tea powder to look out for our Boosted Berries blend, coming soon. This means you can get all the benefits from green tea & plenty of other ingredients, and it takes like delicious berries!

Try it out with:

• Ice cold water
• Oatmeal
• Protein shakes (we recommend adding it to a strawberry protein shake).
• Fruit smoothies

Share your favourite Nutrifize beetroot blends with us so you can inspire our community!

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