Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert on whether matcha is healthier than coffee

Both matcha and coffee will give you a noticable energy boost in the morning, but which drink is really better for you

Matcha is generally considered healthier than coffee due to its high concentration of antioxidants - and it give you a 'calmer' boost without the crash afterwards.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara compared the drinks to examine the health benefits of both.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b Erin.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
O'Hara is with us now to talk wellness. Good morning,
Good morning. Interesting question, Mucha or coffee. I think if
you love coffee, you just drink coffee, wouldn't you. I
don't drink coffee, so I do drink Mucha, so.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm a bit more of a coffee. I don't really
love the Marcher, but it is the fair drink right now.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, that's the thing. So if you weren't just doing
it on taste, which is what I tend to do,
is one better for you than the other?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, there's really interesting research on that because potentially, yes,
there could be more health benefits with your Marcher, with
the antioxidants and anti microbials, anti inflammatory, antiobesity, so really
good for metabolism and anti cancer effects with the green tea,
with the EGCG which is an antioxidant, as well as
the thining which makes your mind nice and calm and organized.

(01:06):
So it does have some beautiful benefits. However, there's not
really the significant research to really back it up because
obviously it's a little bit more of a new thing,
even though it has been around for a long time. Traditionally,
it actually comes from China, and then it moved into
Japan in the twelfth century and became the drink choice,
particularly around Chinese culture zen tea ceremonies and Buddhist monks.

(01:31):
They were the ones that brought it across into Japan.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
So as much as I drink Mucha, I only drink
it when I know it's from someone who's serving it
to me in a very palatable state, because it can
be quite an unusual grassy taste, can't it.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah, if you don't know what marcha is, it is
a green powder has that vibrance. They pick the young leaves,
they dry them, and then they make it into grind
it into a powder. It has a very distinctive, earthy,
grassy kind of taste. And I think for most people
that are drinking much irregularly, they're not really having it
in the traditional way in that they're having some sort

(02:07):
of delicious kind of milk in there along with some
sort of honey or some sort of treasure. They would
actually drink it not with milk, just the green powder
with hot water, and it's definitely not how the mainstream
people are drinking it at the moment. We're very much
about the type of milk that goes in it to

(02:27):
make it less bitter. But it's interesting that actually marcha
has quite distinctive to taste difference depending on the quality
of what you're buying. So if you're buying more ceremonial grade,
it's going to be a little bit more smoother and richer,
and if it's more like a lower quality product going
to be quite bitter and dull. Generally need some sort

(02:47):
of sweetener in it to make it taste nice. However,
when you look at coffee, coffee is actually quite a
bitter taste as well, and I think coffee sometimes gets
a really bad rap and being a not a very
good drink of choice. But actually, if you look at
the clinical research on coffee, there is amazing research on
coffee as well, probably more research on coffee than there

(03:08):
is a marcher right now on focus and mood and
metabolism and even reducing risk of certain diseases like Alzheimer's
and Parkinson's disease because it improves the blood flow to
the brain, so it does have lots of beautiful benefits
as well. So I think when it comes to which
is better, marcher or coffee, what if you like.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
The taste, I think pack what makes.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
You feel better? If you do get jittery, probably go
with the marcher because it makes you less jittery. Otherwise,
coffee is just as good too.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Erin for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.
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