Many people drink tea or coffee for the caffeine. However, matcha has a better long-term effect in comparison to these more conventional drinks.
That’s because, besides caffeine, matcha also possesses an amino acid. L-Theanine plays a crucial calming role, acting like a relaxation medication for the body.
A study concluded that matcha green tea is beneficial for improving performance on cognitively demanding tasks. The combination of T-theanine and caffeine in matcha improved both speed and accuracy of when performing tasks which require switching of attention, and reduced susceptibility to distracting information in the memory task. (4)
When consuming matcha, the caffeine gets released to the blood regulation stream at a slower pace, helping your energy to increase without you experiencing stress or anxiety.
Early studies have shown that high contents of theanine and arginine in matcha exhibited a high stress-reducing effect (5).