7 Day Drink Green Challenge + Matcha-Maca Latte

Recently I signed on to take the #7daydrinkgreenchallenge.  This consisted of drinking nothing but green tea and water to satisfy my hydration needs.  I was provided tea from Nanami Tea, specifically their Zen Set.  The Zen Set consisted of 4 varieties of green tea:  Matcha, Sencha, Hojicha, and Genmaicha.



I was really looking forward to trying Nanami Tea and incorporating all four varieties in my day.  Each tea has a number on the label, I decided to drink them in that order.

  1.  Matcha is a finely ground powder of shade-grown green tea with the highest amount of caffeine. I brewed this hot, with water.  This brew, I enjoyed on my commute during the week.  I experimented a bitt with it over the weekend as I had more time to spare and made a matcha-maca latte.  I found the recipe that I base mine on at the first mess.

  2. Sencha is most common variety of Japanese green tea, made by steaming young leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. I found this to have a clean, green tea flavor.  It was not bitter.  I brewed a cup and enjoyed it in the morning after I got into work, and usually enjoyed a second cup with the same leaves.  

  3. Hojicha is roasted green tea, it has a distinct brown appearance in the cup.The tea had a nice nutty flavor, due to the roasted leaves.  This was enjoyed directly after lunch for a little caffeine pick me up.  Being the tea lover... I would brew a second cup with the same leaves.

  4. Genmaicha is a blend of green tea with well-toasted brown rice. This tea has an even nuttier flavor than the Hojicha.  This variety was definitely my favorite.   I brewed this in the evening.  It didn't seem to have enough caffeine to mess with my sleep.


Nanami teas are handpicked and handcrafted from our partner organic tea farm located in Uji Kyoto, Japan, the most famous place known for premium Japanese green tea. The teas are packaged at the source to a farm-to-cup experience.

The most important thing that I learned during this challenge is that I was brewing my tea too hot and too long.  This resulted in a bitter tea.  Nanami teas are loose teas, and very good!  I plan to continue drinking the green tea even though the challenge is over.

Here's the recipe for the Matcha-Maca Latte.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:70]




I’m linking up with Rock My Vegan Socks & VNutrition for Healthy Vegan Fridays!

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6 Comments

  1. Interesting challenge! Not sure I could give up coffee for a whole week!

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  2. […] water in me and made my toast/almond butter/banana.  I showered, got dressed, and made a cup of matcha-maca latte for the road, and was out the door by 5:15 am.  The race director had sent an e-mail advising of […]

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  3. I love both matcha and maca so I'm totally trying this as soon as I can order some more maca. Yum!

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  4. I'm a huge tea drinker, so this was awesome for me... I did miss my afternoon Nuun Energy.

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  5. I love matcha, this tea looks and tastes much different from the green tea most are used to and is also made in a unique way. The bushes are grown under trees for shade and are covered weeks before harvest. In order to maintain the bright, neon green color of the tea, sunlight must be significantly reduced. Once the tea leaves are picked, they are laid flat to dry. As soon as the drying process has started, the leaves will begin to crumble. They are then taken and stone-ground to a very thin, talc-like powder. Years ago, this powder was made into blocks and stored away for later use.

    Cheers then.

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