After reading Anticancer: A New Way of Life I knew green tea should be something I drank every day. But since it’s summer, I hardly felt like having a hot cup of green tea and found it was too much of a hassle to brew a batch to cool for iced green tea.

So when Matcha Source sent me an email about matcha powdered green tea  that can be added to smoothies, baked goods, and even pasta salad, fish and eggs, I asked to try a sample. After all, I had been having green tea powder put into the smoothies I ordered at Starbuck’s, so why not try to make the same thing, just cheaper and healthier, at home?

Making a matcha smoothie

Matcha sent me two small packets of their Dakota and Gotcha Matcha teas to sample. Wanting to recreate the green tea smoothies I get at Starbucks, I used both the Dakota and Gotcha varieties. I couldn’t determine any taste difference between the two, though the Dakota was a bit grittier.

I started with the smoothie recipe Matcha Source’s PR firm sent me, and came up with this recipe that seems fairly close to what Starbuck’s serves.

This Mama’s Matcha Green Tea Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup no fat vanilla yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm Organic French Vanilla fat free yogurt)
• 2 tsp ingredient grade matcha
• 1 banana
• 1 cup ice cubes

Directions:

• Blend ingredients together in electric blender. 
• Pour into a tall glass and serve

Weight Watchers POINTS = 5

Tips:

• Add some flaxseed oil for additional Omega-3s
• Add some protein powder to boost the protein content

I enjoyed used Matcha Sources tea and look forward to trying more of their recipes.