How to make the perfect matcha latte: Traditional & brain-fuelling

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Do you have any food and drink morning rituals? I love to start each day with a cup of the prettiest, frothiest, creamiest matcha latte. Divine, green goodness packed with health-promoting polyphenols, delivering that signature matcha lift: clear, calm alertness and incredible focus.🧘🧠💥

Cognitive performance and mood

That zen, in-the-zone feeling is down to the synergistic effects of two substances on cognitive performance and mood: caffeine and L-theanine.

Caffeine boosts performance via its stimulant action, but it can also give you the jitters, anxiety and insomnia.[1,2] 

L-theanine is an amino acid found almost uniquely in the leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), the only other sources being a species of holly tree and a mushroom (Boletus badius, commonly known as the Bay Bolete).[3] L-theanine promotes relaxation and lowers stress and anxiety without sedating, fostering a calm, attentive wakefulness that improves attention, focus, memory, learning and sleep.[4-12] It’s also what gives tea its umami (savoury) flavour.[13,14]

Taken together, caffeine and L-theanine are the perfect pairing, synergistically stimulating and calming, allowing you to get the benefits of caffeine without its nervous, jangly ‘edge’.[8] In combination, studies show improved reaction times, attention, task accuracy, accuracy switching between tasks, ability to ignore distraction, higher subjective alertness and lower self-reported mental fatigue.[6,9,15-19] For up to six hours![20]

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Brain fuel

For a further cognitive boost, plus their taste and textural properties (see the next section), I like to add a teaspoon each of pure C8 MCT oil and coconut butter to my matcha latte. Both contain medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) (100% and 40% respectively), which have been shown to improve cognitive function[21,22] by providing the brain with an alternative fuel supply.

Due to their shorter chain length than LCTs, MCTs are rapidly absorbed, transported throughout the body, taken up by the body’s cells and utilised immediately for energy (see Box 1 below). The brain, however, can’t burn fats directly: they’re too big to cross the blood-brain barrier; it only runs on glucose or ketones. But here’s the really cool thing about MCTs – once they reach the liver, a portion is converted into ketones. And because it can only use two fuels, your brain always gets first dibs on them!

Caffeine, overnight fasting, MCTs and coconut oil are all strategies that can be used to raise ketone levels – either independently of a ketogenic diet, or in conjunction to deepen ketosis. Caffeine raises ketone levels by 0.2-0.3mmol/L and the others by 0.3-0.5mmol/L each.[23] Each strategy can be used alone or in combination for greater effect.

Thus, simply breaking your overnight fast with an MCT oil and coconut butter spiked matcha latte means you have a grand total of FOUR ketone-inducing strategies simultaneously in play, raising your blood ketones to mild-moderate levels – effortlessly and deliciously! 

The benefits to your brain are manifold. Not only are ketones an alternative fuel for your brain, improving cognitive function (concentration, learning, memory), sleep, mood & mental health, they also play important roles in disease protection.[23] Research shows they’re antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-ageing, anticancer and neuroprotective, preventing, slowing down and even treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, and other neurodegenerative conditions.[23]

Box 1: Triglycerides, MCTs & LCTs: Definitions and MCTs’ metabolic advantage

• Triglycerides are a type of fat made up of three (the ‘tri’) fatty acid chains bound to a glycerol backbone. They’re the main type of fat found in the human body and come from two sources:

  • Direct – from your diet

  • Indirect – formed in the liver when you eat calories your body doesn’t need for energy right away and stored as fat for later use.

• Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) – As the name suggests, MCTs are made up of three medium-length fatty acid chains, each 6-12 carbon atoms.

• Long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) – LCTs are also made up of three fatty acid chains, but the chains are longer, each >12 carbon atoms long.

• MCTs’ metabolic advantage – Due to their shorter chain length, MCTs are rapidly absorbed, transported and metabolised. Unlike LCTs, they go straight from the gut to the liver (via the portal vein) to the body’s cells, where they're used immediately for energy. In contrast, LCTs take a very roundabout route. Because they’re not water soluble, LC fatty acids must first be repackaged into chylomicrons, which then cross the gut into the lymphatic system, cross over into the bloodstream in the neck, and are then sent to the body’s cells.

Taste and texture

Blitzed together in the blender with the rest of the matcha latte ingredients, the fats in the coconut butter and MCT oil add body, a luxuriantly rich, ultra-creamy texture and a fine foam, rather like the steamed milk in a cappuccino. The coconut butter also adds a little extra sweetness (MCT oil is tasteless). The combination is ambrosial, powering up concentration, clarity of thought and mood for several hours afterwards!😋🧠✨

If you’re in two minds about matcha, perhaps you’ve just not had a great quality one? Or perhaps you've not had it prepared correctly? I didn’t become smitten until I learned how to make the perfect potion from this wonderful book, Easy Leaf Tea: Tea House Recipes to Make at Home, by Timothy d’Offay of Postcard Teas.

Tim prescribes 1g of matcha to just 35ml water or 2g to 70ml – a teeny tiny matcha shot or a cheeky matcha double. Drinking it that concentrated was a total revelation!⚡ So flavourful and, with milk, custardy creamy.👌 I make mine a tad milder and longer – 2g to 125ml fluid – giving you all the more to savour.

Nail matcha latte technique and I bet you’ll become an equally ardent fan! Here’s how: traditional method and with added brain-fuelling fats.

What’s great about it

• Green tea is a fantastic source of polyphenols – plant-based chemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-microbial, neuroprotective, metabolism-regulating and gut-health promoting properties, helping to protect against many major diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.[24]

• Matcha packs even more polyphenol punch than infused green tea – about 10 times more – because you consume the whole tea leaf, very finely ground, versus steeping the leaves in water and drinking the infused liquor.

• The ability to produce ketones is like having a twin tank fuel system for the brain – the brain can only burn glucose or ketones for energy; fats are too big to cross the blood-brain barrier. Breaking your fast with the brain-fuelling matcha latte will induce mild-moderate levels of ketosis, improving cognitive function, sleep, mood & mental health.

• Ketones also play important roles in disease protection. Research shows they’re antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-ageing, anticancer and neuroprotective, preventing, slowing down and even treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, and other neurodegenerative conditions.[23]

Plant points: Traditional 2, brain-fuelling 3

Time

Prep: 2-3 minutes

Cooking: 1 minute

Ingredients (serves 1)

Traditional

2g/slightly rounded ½ teaspoon of great quality, organic matcha

125ml organic cashew or almond plant mylk (see recommendations below)

A small pinch of finely ground pink Himalayan or sea salt (to bring out the sweetness and accentuate the flavours)

Brain-fuelling

As above, plus:

5g/1 teaspoon organic coconut butter, e.g. Biona's Coconut Bliss (at a push, you can sub in coconut oil, but it won’t lend sweetness as well as creaminess)

5g/1 teaspoon 100% C8 MCT oil, e.g. Ketosource Pure C8 MCT Oil Glass Edition Bottle (for further details, see recommended products below)

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Method

Traditional

1. Weigh out 2g matcha – use a slightly rounded ½ teaspoon if you don’t have digital scales.

2. Sieve the matcha powder into a cup/tea bowl – as pictured, a matcha sieve handily sits on top, but any superfine sieve will do.

3. Place the plant mylk and pinch of salt in a small pan and heat to 80C. Be that precise! Too hot and the taste of the tea is lost, plus homemade plant mylks will separate out. I use a cheap and cheerful digital cooking thermometer to keep me right.

4. Pour 1-2cm warmed milk into the cup/tea bowl. Using a chasen (bamboo matcha whisk), whisk up a storm in a teacup, M-shapes, W-shapes, round and around, till you have a completely smooth paste.

5. Pour in the rest of the milk, stir to combine and sip your way to serenity.

Brain-fuelling

1. Warm the milk as above.

2. While you’re waiting for it to come up to heat, place the coconut butter and MCT oil in a liquidiser or heat-proof blender.

3. Pour over the warmed milk, add the sieved matcha and pinch of salt and whizz for a few seconds until frothy and combined.

4. Transfer to a cup/tea bowl and sip your way to clear, calm alertness and cognitive power that will last several hours.🧠💥

Recommended products & stockists

Plant mylk

• Matcha latte only works with the most delicately flavoured/neutral plant mylks, showcasing the matcha and allowing its full beauty to shine through. Even oat and macadamia mylk, neither of which you’d think of as ‘strong’, are too pronounced in flavour.

• Personally, I think cashew mylk works best of all as it has a richer, creamier mouthfeel than almond. My go-to is Plenish Cashew M*lk, although I love to use my own homemade salted cashew and vanilla mylk when I have time.

Matcha

Over the last few years, I’ve worked my way around more than a dozen ceremonial grade matchas available in the UK. Of these, my two personal favourites are:

• Postcard Teas’ Uji Matcha – made by the Azuma Family on a 2-acre mountain plot without pesticides or artificial fertilisers, this matcha has a beautifully creamy texture (think melted chocolate), intensely rich and buttery taste (definitely salted butter!), gentle sweetness and the pronounced umami notes that I can’t get enough of. The overall effect is soothing, balanced, concentrated. £14.95/£17.95 for a 20g refill/caddy.

• Matchæologist’s Misaki – the crème de la crème of their ceremonial grade matchas and the most umami matcha I have tasted to date. Also sweet, with wonderful intensity and complexity, the net effect is balanced, mouth-filling concentration. But it’s this matcha’s powerful umami flavour that really stops me in my tracks, reminding me of Gyokuro tea: sweet yet savoury, in arresting measure. £24 for 20g.

MCT oil

• MCTs are found naturally in coconut oil and palm kernel oil (comprising >60% and >50% of their total fat content respectively)[25] and in smaller amounts in dairy products. MCT oil is a by-product of coconut or palm kernel oil that is produced by extracting pure MCTs from the whole food; it is therefore 100% MCTs. Of the 4 types of MCT (C6, C8, C10 and C12), C6 and C12 are usually removed during the manufacturing of MCT oil – C6 because of its unpleasant ‘goaty’ taste and smell and propensity to cause GI upset and C12 because it is converted into ketones much more slowly. Most MCT is made from a combination of C8 (caprylic acid) and C10 (capric acid), both of which are well tolerated and efficiently converted into ketones. As C8 is more ketogenic than C10, for maximal energy and cognitive boost I recommend buying a 100% C8 MCT oil, such as Ketosource Pure C8 MCT Oil Glass Edition Bottle.

• Always buy MCT oil in a glass bottle. As plastics are an endocrine disruptor, I recommend avoiding plastic food packaging generally.

• If the MCT oil contains palm kernel oil, make sure it’s been sourced ethically and sustainably. Otherwise, choose 100% coconut.

References

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19. Camfield DA, Stough C, Farrimond J, et al. Acute effects of tea constituents L-theanine, caffeine, and epigallocatechin gallate on cognitive function and mood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition Reviews. 2014;72(8): 507–522. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/nure.12120.

20. Witherby J. HVMN. Caffeine and L-Theanine: The Best Combo for Energy. Updated November 2019. Available from: https://hvmn.com/blogs/blog/supplements-caffeine-and-l-theanine-the-best-combo-for-energy#Camfield2014 [Accessed 11th March 2021].

21. Page KA, Williamson A, Yu N, et al. Medium-chain fatty acids improve cognitive function in intensively treated type 1 diabetic patients and support in vitro synaptic transmission during acute hypoglycemia. Diabetes. 2009;58(5): 1237-44. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.2337%2Fdb08-1557.

22. Fortier M, Castellano CA, Croteau E, et al. A ketogenic drink improves brain energy and some measures of cognition in mild cognitive impairment. Alzheimers Dement. 2019;15(5): 625-634. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.12.017.

23. Newport MT. The complete book of ketones: A practical guide to ketogenic diets and ketone supplements. Nashville, Tennessee: Turner Publishing Company; 2019.

24. Zhang YJ, Gan RY, Li S, et al. Antioxidant phytochemicals for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Molecules. 2015;20(12):21138-21156. Available from: doi:10.3390/molecules201219753.

25. Acme-Hardesty. An Overview of MCT Oil and Medium-Chain Triglycerides. Available from: https://www.acme-hardesty.com/overview-mct-oil-medium-chain-triglycerides/ [Accessed 11th March 2021].