Green Tea Powder
Royal Matcha and Kina Organic Review

Do the so called high quality green tea powder such as the Royal Matcha and Kina Organic Green Tea Complex contain enough tea extract and antioxidants?

Tea powders may be taken in capsule form or mixed with water to form an instant beverage. They are convenient to make and are ideal for making iced tea. In addition, they often come in added flavors - which make them delicious to drink.

However, as an healthy beverage, I have my reservation.

In this article about instant green tea, I outlined two reasons for caution: lack of antioxidants and high fluoride content.

While these concerns may apply to green tea powder from supermarket shelves, you may wonder if more upmarket products is worth trying.

So in this article, I review two popular products: Kina Green Tea Complex and Royal Matcha.

Green Tea Powder #1:
Kina Green Tea Complex Organic Powder

At first reading, you can't help being impressed. To quote the manufacturer, Kina®:

Green Tea Complex is the first 100% organic whole food green tea supplement. It is processed from hand-harvested Japanese green tea grown in Nara Prefecture.

Other green teas are processed which can destroy about 85% of the healthful ingredients in green tea.

Because of a patented process, this is the only product that contains the full tea complex.

Research indicates that a full tea complex is more healthful than extracts, brewed or processed green tea products.

The powder can be taken in capsule form or you can break open the capsules and add them to any drink that is not too hot. Convenient, isn’t it?

The green tea used to make the powder is grown organically, and the product is tested to make sure it is free of anything harmful.

However, the potency is low. 1 gram contains only 11 mg of catechins, versus the USDA’s average of 127 milligrams of catechins in regular brewed green tea (click to read tea catechins study).

The verdict? This product won’t harm you, but it may be a waste of money!

Green Tea Complex Organic Powder - One Thing Missing

Green Tea Powder #2:
Mercola Organic Royal Matcha Green Tea

Mercola.com is an alternative health website that mixes advice on nutrition and supplements with advertisements for various products that the company sells. One of these products is the Mercola Organic Royal Matcha Green Tea.

According to Dr. Mercola, this green tea powder has the following advantages:

It is grown organically, so there is no need to worry about pesticides, herbicides or any other form of chemical contamination.
This green tea powder is shaded before harvest to increase the amount of chlorophyll and harvested by hand, selecting only top two leaves and the bud.
The company performs quality-control procedures like laboratory testing.

Although the product copy is very well written, most of the facts cited refer to the general practices of Japanese tea farms, and not the matcha powder itself.

Here are some problems with the supposed benefits:

Although the tea leaves are certified organic, the matcha green tea is not guaranteed to be free of herbicide or pesticide. A tea extract product like Teavigo provides better protection as it is guaranteed to be herbicide free.
The shading of tea plants is a feature of Japanese tea farms and is used primarily to increase the theanine content of tea. Chlorophyll content is important, but if you are taking matcha for heath reasons, then it shouldn't be your main concern.
A 1959 study conducted by scientist Frederick Wolf on green tea and chlorophyll found that tea contains only minute amounts of chlorophyll. If you want to increase your intake of chlorophyll, spinach is your best bet, not green tea.
Although the company performs laboratory testing, the product does not provide any indication of the level of antioxidants it contains. This is hardly convincing, and does not bode well.

Finally, at $1.30 per serving this product is very expensive. For the same amount of money, you would be able to purchase the Tribute Dragon Well tea.

This is the same tea consumed by the Chinese White House, and would rival any other quality green tea grown in the Far East. Just 3 grams of a day would provide approximately 300 milligrams of catechins, which would satisfy most people's need for antioxidants.

However, if you want a cheaper matcha powder, Vita Life Matcha is much, much cheaper. Customers give it high reviews for quality. If you love matcha, this product might be the way to go.