For my smoothie this week in the Smoothie a Day newsletter, I decided to create a green smoothie using matcha. Angie from Raw Mama Nature has posted a number of smoothie photos on Instagram using matcha so I just had to give it a try!
Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder. Nuts.com explains, “Many people drink green tea for its health benefits or to lose weight; Matcha takes it a step further. Matcha contains more antioxidants than virtually any other food, including Acai berries and pomegranates. It also contains high levels of L-theanine, an amino acid which lowers stress levels but preserves alertness. The L-theanine counteracts the caffeine in the tea, making Matcha ideal for creating a mental state of relaxed alertness.”
Matcha green tea powder is expensive so I think of this smoothie as once-in-a-while smoothie. I posted a photo on Facebook of my matcha green tea powder purchase at Whole Foods. The tea clerk gave me the smallest amount the scale could register and it came to $1.10 or $55/pound. Angie suggested I check some local Japanese markets – I called one here in Austin – their matcha powder runs approximately $13 for 1.4 ounces. Other places to buy the green tea powder less expensively include Nuts.com and Amazon.
My suggestion is that you go to Whole Foods and grab the same amount I did – if you use my recipe below, the amount I purchased will work for 4-5 smoothies and will be a great way to test out if you like the benefits of matcha.
One important note that Angie mentioned to me is that matcha does have caffeine so it may have a kick. I didn’t notice any caffeine effects when I drank the matcha smoothies so far.
- ½ tsp matcha green tea powder
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 cup strawberries – fresh or frozen
- 3 handfuls of spinach
- 4 ounces apple juice
- 6 ounces water
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
- 1 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)
- Put the matcha green tea powder in the blender first so that it doesn’t blow around when the blender is turned on. Then blend and enjoy!
Note: the photo shows the smoothie before the spinach was added to make a prettier color for the photo 
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Hey Allen! I came across your blog (love matcha), and wanted to just invite you to check out our website at CitySprout.com. We’ve moved down to Austin and are busy connecting people and communities to local food in the area. Tell us what you think!
That looks delicious! One thing you can do to cut down on the cost of Matcha is to look for a culinary grade matcha. It still tastes great and holds up well to beverages, baked goods, ice cream, etc. It’s much less expensive than using your premium grade ceremonial matcha out of that special little tin. Culinary grade matcha should run you about $4 or $5 per ounce.
Thanks for your suggestion Lisa – will definitely check out “culinary grade matcha” – cool!
I love Matcha discovered it at Starbucks like 7 years ago with the Green Tea Latte( i get it with Soy milk), so freaking addicting that stuff is!
Nice recipe I can’t wait to try it.
I got some Matcha from whole foods but i got the stuff in a tin can that cost about 20 bucks, tastes just the same.
Thanks Carron! Yea matcha is good – just be careful to add too much because it does contain some caffeine
i like matcha! i bought mine at nuts.com. can’t beat their prices. thanks for the recipe!