Matcha seems so flippin’ trendy right now. I’ve always been a coffee drinker but I decided to give matcha a try to see if it’s really worth the hype.

Okay, so WTF is matcha? It’s a fine powder ground from green tea leaves. It packs a punch of caffeine and allegedly has a ton of health benefits.

I decided to give Vital Proteins matcha collagen a try because collagen helps heal leaky gut. Why try Matcha without it, ya know? It came in a 12 oz plastic container with 24 servings (which will totally last longer for me because I’m sensitive to caffeine). There are a lot of matcha products out there and I chose this one because I wanted to test out the collagen + matcha combo for its gut healing properties.

Matcha has an earthy, almost seaweed-y flavor. I didn’t like it on its own with just water, but it tasted pretty delicious when I added coconut milk.  The sweetness of the coconut milk balanced the bitterness of the matcha really well.

This matcha got me hyped! There are 50 mg of caffeine in one scoop compared to approximately 100 mg of caffeine in an 8 oz cup of coffee. I hadn’t been drinking coffee lately and definitely felt the caffeine kick.

The caffeine kick was so good that I was inspired to make these MATCHA MACA ENERGY BITES! Maca is a root that has been known to help balance women’s hormones, increase fertility and increase sex drive. My ladies with hashimotos can understand why this is something I wanted to try adding it to my diet.  It’s also an adaptogen that supposedly helps your body adjust to stress better. Since caffeine can stress out my system,  I thought maca would pair well with the matcha.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Vital Proteins Matcha Powder

1 Tbsp Maca Powder

1 Cup of melted Coconut Butter

¼ Cup Organic Cocoa Powder

Method:

• Combine matcha and maca in a small bowl and set aside
• Using a double boiler, melt 1 cup of coconut butter in a glass measuring cup
• Once melted, pour ½ cup of coconut butter in matcha and maca powder and stir to form a thick, clumpy paste, set aside
• Combine cocoa powder with the remaining ½ cup of coconut butter
• Pour cocoa mixture into your muffin tin approximately 1/3 of the way
• Place muffin tin in freezer for 10 minutes
• Remove from freezer and add a layer of the matcha and maca paste to each cup (use a spoon to flatten it out)
• Place muffin tin in freezer another 10 minutes
• Meanwhile, your cocoa mixture may have solidified, so put that back in a warm bath of water to melt it again
• Top off muffin tins with the remaining cocoa mixture and add to freezer for another ten minutes

Eat them on their own or with a giant dollop of creamy almond butter

Enjoy!