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I Traded My Morning Cup of Coffee for Matcha for a Week

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at Emory chapter.

As an avid black coffee drinker, switching to matcha everyday certainly wasn’t easy. While my mom would constantly remind me of the benefits of both matcha and green tea, I was never quite ready to ditch my daily java. That was until I spent all my Dooley Dollars at Kaldi’s and didn’t have another choice. It was finally time to dust off my Keurig and get my caffeine-fix sans Kaldi’s. For one week, I traded my plain old cup o’ joe for the antioxidant-powerhouse that is matcha.

For my trial run, I purchased a 40g container of Teavana’s Matcha Japanese Green Tea (and earned 49 Starbucks stars in the process). The container cost me less than what I would pay in a week for coffee and is supposed to last me a lot longer–apparently it’s enough for 20-25 uses.

At first glance, the bright green powder was a bit off-putting, especially since I’ve never been a fan of drinking anything green. I must admit, I was skeptical that it would give me any kind of boost before my 9 am, let alone kick my coffee habit. 

Day 1:

matcha tea coffee
Alyssa Van Arsdale

Using my Keurig for hot water, I followed Teavana’s steeping instructions to a T(ea), poured the frothy hot drink into a to-go cup and then headed to class. While I wish I could say that the first sip was deliciously life-altering, it was not. In fact, it tasted like how I imagined dirt to taste. With a little less flavor.

But I was determined not to give up. By the end of the day, I drank three cups of matcha and alas, no jitters, headaches, or afternoon crashes that accompanied my coffee addiction. I even skipped my usual afternoon nap and was pleasantly surprised, considering the caffeine in one cup of matcha equates only about one-third of a cup of coffee.

 Day 2:

matcha smoothie avocado
Zoe Katsamakis

My first alarm went off at 8:30 am and interestingly enough, I woke up a little less groggy than usual (I only hit the snooze button twice). I rolled out of bed and brewed myself a cup of matcha before heading to my 9 am spinning class where I was feelin’ myself–I didn’t cramp up once, a stark contrast to the charlie horses and side-stitches I typically experience. Prior to my matcha experiment, I drank a cup of coffee before and after spinning. But today, I walked straight through Kaldi’s to my second class.

I didn’t begin to “crash” until about 3 pm when I was in the library, so I walked down to Starbucks and ordered a venti ice water with two scoops of matcha powder (what the barista recommended). It tasted a little weak compared to my homemade drink, so I made a mental note to ask for an extra scoop next time. But it did the trick and gave me the boost I needed to finish my work.

Day 3:

matcha tea beer
Alyssa Van Arsdale

This day was the hardest–I was starting to miss coffee a lot. Needless to say, I was definitely in need of something a bit stronger than matcha after staying awake until 2 am the night before. I woke up with a pounding headache, so I immediately brewed an extra-strong mug of matcha. When my headache failed to subside, I popped a few Advil before heading to class. Fast forward a few hours later, and I had taken two more Advil. Today was definitely not my day.

Day 4:

matcha
Alyssa Van Arsdale

I was pretty cranky on day three. Thankfully, this didn’t carry over to day four. I woke up at 8:30 am for spinning, had a cup of matcha and headed to the gym. In class, my friend commented that my skin looked like it was “glowing.” Could this be a result of my newfound friendship with matcha? Or simply because I took off my makeup for once before hitting the sack the night before? Hmm…

Day 5:

A photo posted by MetaMatcha (@meta_matcha) on

Anyone who knows me knows that brunch is my favorite meal (yes, brunch is a meal). So when my friends and I went to The General Muir Saturday morning, I was heartbroken that I couldn’t have my usual cup of steaming black coffee. I longingly looked around the table at my friends sipping lattes and mochas, while I reluctantly drank my now-lukewarm matcha in a to-go cup. Fact: tea just doesn’t go as well with brunch as coffee.

Day 6:

matcha tea coffee
Drew Stafford

Ah, Sundays. The day for homework, the library and LOTS of caffeine. I needed to study for a 100-point French test and write an essay for my sociology class, which I had pushed off until today, of course. Instead of grabbing my trusty black iced coffee from Kaldi’s, I sipped matcha from a styrofoam cup on the way to the library. I went into hibernation for a few hours until I needed a fix.

I headed back to my dorm room where I made myself two more cups of matcha and headed back to the library for the rest of the day. By the end of it, I was exhausted. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow despite my three (strong) doses of caffeine.

Day 7:

pinterest tea coffee
Rachael Ross

Finally, the last day of my experiment. I couldn’t wait to return to my committed relationship with coffee after briefly experimenting with matcha. I giddily thought about what my first drink would be: should I keep it simple with a black coffee or splurge on a salted caramel frozen coffee from Kaldi’s? 

But I held that thought, drinking (what I was convinced would be) my last cup of matcha and headed to French. I walked into the test feeling (relatively) calm, yet still energized. My heart wasn’t racing, nor were my palms sweating–something I definitely wasn’t used to. The secret? L-theanine, an amino acid proven to reduce stress. Combined with the caffeine in matcha, it resulted in the mellow buzz I had felt over the past week.

I finished my test and as a treat, I went to Starbucks and ended my day with the best of both worlds: a matcha latte. 

The Results:

matcha tea beer
Alyssa Van Arsdale

My one-week matcha experiment made me realize that there’s more to caffeine than shaky hands and mid-morning crashes. While I’m not quite ready to give up coffee for good, matcha has a new place in my life–and my mug.