Green Tea Forum

TBakerlaw · Posted: Jul 21, 2006 5:54 am Post subject: Superior Health Benefits of Matcha

Matcha P165 - Uji Matcha "Chiyo Mukashi"

Here is quote from one of your competitors:

"Matcha is the ultimate in green tea – and research shows that
the concentration of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) available from drinking Matcha is 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from commercially available China Green Tips green tea."

Do you agree? I love to drink matcha but it's relatively expensive. However, if it's this much better, than why not pay up?

Kevin, I always appreciate your fine products. Thanks.

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 904 Location: Japan

I don't really agree, at least 137 times. Plus, they mentioned "China green tips", who knows the quality on that stuff they're comparing it too? I mean, I don't know where they got that number from - I'd like to see a legitimate source cited. While it's true you are drinking the whole leaf when you drink matcha, it's still up in the air how much the human body is able to absorb from the powder over drinking it from an infusion. Your body does not absorb and digest everything from the leaf powder, no.

That said, since matcha is from shade grown leaves you do get different levels of properties from the leaf, it is very good stuff. There is more theanine in matcha, amino acids, etc. I think the ECGC is actually higher in a premium sencha than it is in matcha though, I'll have to look that up. Plus, there is the fiber factor. So I think the balanced approach is to drink both loose leaf and matcha as well.

joelbct · Posted: Apr 21, 2008 10:54 am Post subject:

This thread is 2 years old but it bears resurrection, because I found the source of that "137 times the concentration of antioxidants" claim, a researcher at The University of Colorado Chemistry Dept.

Note, the researcher is referring to EGCG (catechin) content of matcha vs. what he calls "China Green Tips," and reports finding a 3x greater concentration of EGCG in matcha than in the next highest measurement of conventional Green Tea.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=14518774&dopt=Citation

So the 137x figure applies just to whatever particular sample of Chinese Green tea he was testing at the time.

I think the results are still quite significant, but I would like to see a more exhaustive study though, with actual bio-availability/ absorption measured as well!

And as for what are catechins, here is an excerpt from a brief paper I put together last year:

"Catechins (also called flavenoids), along with tannins and lignins, are a type of polyphenols. Polyphenols are a group of antioxidant chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol group per molecule. Antioxidants neutralize the ability of free radical compounds to damage the cells that make up our body, thus reducing the effects of aging.

The polyphenols in tea possess an antioxidant effect 20 to 30 times more powerful than that of vitamin C. These beneficial compounds are most abundant in White and Green teas, but are also found in Blacks and Oolongs. "

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 904 Location: Japan

All the while, keep in mind "China green tips", at least the stuff I tried from Starbucks, had to be about the worst green tea I ever tried.