Today I attended the World Tea Expo East- conveniently held in Philadelphia, only 10 minutes from my house! I tasted my way through the entire expo and was most intrigued by the Matcha. While my store has never sold Matcha I have been putting it in the smoothies I make at home for the last 2 years because of the high antioxidant content. I picked up a nutritional guide about Matcha at the expo and was surprised to find that 2g of Matcha (with 3oz hot water) has 172% more protein and 94% more potassium than a 3g Sencha teabag (with 3oz hot water)- source: Standard Tables of Food Composition. Also, in 2006 the Toyama University Medicine Research Institute announced that Matcha contains components that help lower blood sugar levels because the key ingredients in the tea leaves are not steeped out of the tea as the entire tea leaf is consumed- source: Hokkoku News, 3/2006.
