Coffee Didn't Like Me Back...But Then I Met My Matcha
How an accidental sip became a trek through Kyoto and a daily ritual in a Yeti.
Happy National Matcha Day!!! (who knew?!)
I’ve never been someone who grabs a requisite morning coffee to get going. Not because of some notable character trait. But because coffee can make me jittery and, how do I say this…make me crap my pants. That is problematic. And I tend to shy away from it.
I do, however, have a special bag of coffee beans tucked away in my pantry for the days when a decaf cold-brew sounds like it would hit the spot. The message on the package welcomes me into the world of coffee where I would otherwise be a gastro-distressed interloper. It says — Low-Acid Decaf.
I know, I know. What the heck is the point of that?!!! It’s like saying, “I’ll have a cheeseburger, but hold the cheese, and no meat or bun please.”
You see, the aforementioned gut issue doesn’t just lie in the “caf.” It’s also in the acid. And when you add the dairy on top of it for a nice latte situation, game on. Or off, as the case may be.
Out of the mouths of babes…
Which reminds me of a nugget of related wisdom offered by my son Chandler when he was just a little guy with the cutest lisp. “Jethuth and God don’t get diarrhea.” Which clearly means they can enjoy the occasional iced mocha with no issues.
But I digress.
When someone at work would make a “Starbucks run,” I could never resist. Knowing full well the probable consequences was not enough to deter me from responding cheerily, “Yes, please…I’ll take a decaf hazelnut iced latte.” And then tighten my laces for a quick sprint to the restroom.
All that to say, I used to enjoy a fairly regular weather-dependent iced or hot latte weekly “treat” routine with no real plan to upset the coffee cart.
Then one day it happened.
Someone gifted me an almost-full bag with the label “matcha” on the front. She said something akin to, “It tastes like grass. You can have it.”
My response when I opened it up to make my first matcha drink— “Good Lord! It’s bright fluorescent green! I’m gonna have to sweeten this up to swallow it.”
Having no idea what you’re actually supposed to do with this stuff, I scooped a couple teaspoons of the verdant powder into my glass, added enough cool water to take it to the brim and poured in some maple syrup to top it off. It took a bit of effort to dissolve the matcha in the cold water with my spoon, but once accomplished, in went the ice to make it nice and refreshing.
I took my ice cold matcha to work with me and proceeded to nurse it, which is my preferred way to enjoy any drink worth its weight. Which of course precludes any beverage aimed at cleaning me out for a colonoscopy or at prepping me for a prenatal glucose test.
I vividly recall stepping out of my office at some point that morning and announcing to my coworkers, “This stuff is amazing…it’s like magic! I feel alert and focused but not jittery!”
That’s the day I met my matcha.
Eventually, I began to add less and less maple syrup. Though I’ve never arrived at an unsweet sweet spot, I have settled on monk fruit drops as my healthy sweetener of choice. Matcha has become a morning anchor ritual that delights my taste buds and, as it turns out, does a whole lot more for me!
I can make a career out of researching a button hole. So naturally, I had to dive headlong into the evidence-based health benefits of regular matcha consumption. I was elated to find out that the vibrant green in my morning matcha is a concentrated dose of EGCG, an acronym for Extraordinarily Good to Consume for Glowing health. Well, maybe not exactly that. But not far off. After years of managing low bone density in menopause and then breast cancer, I was elated to learn that my daily fluorescent treat can actually help modulate bone loss and is linked to lower recurrence rates of breast cancer. Welcome to the toolbox, my little green friend.
Kyoto
In the summer of 2024, Chip and I went to Japan. Most of our time was spent in Tokyo, but we took a day to travel the countryside to Kyoto, about a two-hour train ride west of Tokyo.
In an entire day filled with exploration and discovery, the highlights included…
A walk through the iconic towering Senbon Torii Gates. Lunch at Vermillion Cafe with its cozy back patio set in a lush mangrove forest and serving up perfect avocado toast accompanied by bamboo-whisked ice-cold matcha. A trip through the 5-block, 400-year-old Nishiki Market.
All amazing memories. But the defining pinnacle of our day in Kyoto for this girl…
Ippodo Tea House in the heart of Kyoto.
My husband trekked for hours around Kyoto with me in search of this 300-year-old tea house. Mind you, Chip is a coffee guy all the way. No green tea has ever been accused of meeting his lips. So this was a pilgrimage of love for me.
When we finally arrived and stepped inside Ippodo Tea House, it was not unlike Indiana Jones upon finding the Holy Grail. Chip asked one of the ladies who worked there if she would take a picture with me. I was grinning like the matcha groupie I’ve become. You’d have thought I’d just met Elvis. Or maybe Bruno Mars, which would be far more probable.
I perused the menu and landed on an iced green tea for immediate enjoyment and then ordered tins of green tea and matcha to bring home with us. After schlepping a backpack around all day in 90+ degree weather, let me tell you, my first taste of that freshly brewed ice cold green tea was literally an “I’ll have what she’s having” moment.
I’ve long since finished off the tea we brought home from Ippodo Tea House, but I still treasure the little silver tins, souvenirs of a pilgrimage to the home of a green drink that accidentally appeared in my life and earned its permanent place of residence.
I’m embarrassed to say, in all my years of making matcha, I never owned the proper paraphernalia. Only recently have I outfitted myself as a legit matcha enthusiast—with a bamboo whisk and a ceramic matcha bowl. Imagine my surprise as I witnessed the velvety consistency of properly dissolved matcha!
It’s true…there’s a day for this.
Which brings me to today. It happens that today is National Matcha Day. Shame on me for not knowing that until I received a thoughtful email from Starbucks letting me know I can celebrate with any number of matcha items on their menu.
Instead, I decided to indulge in a particularly scrumptious matcha blend I discovered a couple of weeks ago at a local tea shop called Febe Coffee. They call it Pandan Matcha Latte with Nutty Sea Salt Cream. It is a deliciousness beyond words.
I contemplated taking out a loan and treating myself to a daily Febe Coffee masterpiece each day. I chose instead to research (of course I did) how to make that lovely drink myself. It entailed the purchase of pandan, which again, had to be researched. I found an organic pandan concentrate on Amazon, and it did not disappoint. That nutty, earthy flavor added to my matcha? Chef’s kiss. Haven’t tried making the nutty sea salt cream on top yet, but it’s coming. I think the secret may just be in the crushed toasted sesame seeds, but we shall see.
Truth be told, if someone brought me that perfect drink made with love at Febe every day, I wouldn’t be mad about it. But in between my tea shop visits, my homemade version in a stainless steel Yeti, sipped ice-cold all morning, will more than suffice.
Maybe you’ve arrived at this point in the story and think, “What does her weird obsession with matcha have to do with me?” Fair enough.
It’s all about the next small step.
How could I have known that the simple act of mixing up a glass of green powder, water and maple syrup the day I met my matcha would evolve into a morning ritual that nourishes my body, supports my specific health needs, leads me on an international pilgrimage, and just makes my taste buds so darn happy?
Maybe, OK, let’s be honest…probably your next small step is not matcha. Whether things are going well for you today or you’re reeling from unexpected news or you are just treading water until the tide can push you to shore, the next small step matters.
The next small step. Not all of them. Just the next small one.
What is one thing, just one, that you can do today to make your body or your soul or even your tastebuds feel well served?