I was in Japan as an exchange student when I was 17 (in 1959) and lived with a Japanese family outside of Tokyo. In this edition of Plantfluencer Stories - we hear from Brooklyn-based plant kween and community builder Christopher Griffin. Learn how to use a few common plant remedies, like valerian for sleep, kava for relaxation, garlic to ward off colds, chamomile to soothe the stomach, stinging nettle for hay fever. Hi, I’m Dr. Jim Nicolai. For more information, read Dr. Weil’s article on buying green tea. This doesn’t mean that you don’t necessarily have to drink other caffeinated beverages, but if you can begin to start leaning more towards using good quality tea as an alternative to say, coffee, or soda, or other forms of caffeine. Then agitate it with a bamboo whisk and you are ready to drink it. Leave it to the Japanese to make something so beautiful, right? You get the benefits of that through what’s in the beverage and so that’s the magic of what tea can give you. I’m Dr. Weil. Grocery & … ©Copyright 2020 Healthy Lifestyle Brands, LLC. The Christmas Cactus, Money Tree, ZZ Plant and Ponytail Palm. Most of the time we drink coffee to get wired, and if you ever look at tea time, tea time is based on stepping back, slowing down calming down. Know their proper uses. The Chawan is something that most people don’t drink tea out of. I began to appreciate the nuances of flavor and the skill necessary to produce the remarkable single-estate teas. And then what you do is, you allow the bowl to warm up for probably about 30 to 60 seconds and the warm water will cause the bowl to heat up a little bit. It creates a mental state of alert calm, which is not something found in any other caffeinated beverage. This has already been pre-filtered and it’s in a nice ornate bowl that allows the powder to stay pretty fine. But the magical quality of tea is, it has an amino acid called L-Theanine and L-Theanine is calmative. With an expertise in alternative plant-based healing, Dr. Weil saw that there was an opportunity to bring high-quality matcha and the healing power of plants to the U.S. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. There have been many studies done on the tea plant, but usually they are not examinations of the different types of tea, but rather comparisons of different types of beverages entirely (like coffee and tea). For more on matcha and plant tips, check out our Instagram Live conversation with Dr. Weil below. So the first thing that we do when we’re preparing matcha is, you have to know your instruments and the first instrument that you get to know is what we call the matcha bowl or the Chawan. After sharing a cup of ceremonial cacao and matcha with Dr. Weil and his team at his Tucson home, we got to sit down to discuss all things wellness, consciousness and entrepreneurship. And what you’re doing is your stirring this powder into fine frothy liquid so that ultimately, it has froth to it. One important polyphenol found in matcha is EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), a potent antioxidant that is probably responsible for a good deal of matcha’s health-protective benefit. I’m an avid gardener and grow much of the food I eat. And the trick with matcha is that matcha is not necessarily something that you drink as a beverage where you pour the water all the way full. Dr. Weil’s colleague, Dr. Jim Nicolai, shows how to enjoy a delicious cup of matcha green tea. Matcha lattes are everywhere these days, but this special drink has been around long before they hit Instagram. In Japan it is a very important part of the tea ceremony, and in both Asia and the West, people drink it because they like the taste and the ritual. I’m the medical director for the Dr. Weil Integrative Wellness Program at Miraval Resort and Spa, and I’m going to talk to you about developing a taste for tea. All tea comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, which is related to the Camellia plant. Dr. Andrew Weil, the founder and director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and founder of Matcha Kari, first went to Japan in the late 1950s and was so inspired by his matcha experience that he later made it a part of his life. All rights reserved. The taste is strong and vegetal – some people would say spinachy, others would say grassy and with an umami character. So you want to let the water cool down just a bit so that you’re getting it at that temperature. Any third party offering or advertising on this website does not constitute an endorsement by Andrew Weil, M.D. Try Prime Cart. You use the whisk, which is made out of bamboo. In this edition of Plantfluencer Stories – we hear from Slovenia based chemist, strategic sales manager and plant parent Jan Robin. Order Dr. Weil's ceremonial matcha and while you wait for it to arrive, catch Dr. Weil making me a bowl of matcha … Dr. Andrew Weil, the founder of Matcha Kari, chats with us about the must-knows about matcha and the importance of plants in his everyday life. What the goal for matcha is, is to drink this, this tea beverage in somewhere between three or four large drinks or large slurpy drinks. or Healthy Lifestyle Brands. And what you want to do is, you want to use this spoon, which is also called a Chashaku and put somewhere between one to two clumps of tea in so that this is about how much tea that you have and then you pour water in. Green …defined. Matcha tea is a special variety of green tea in which the whole, powdered leaf is consumed rather than just an infusion of the leaves. You want to purchase your tea from an importer who moves through their stock so that you get fresh product. There’s a meditation involved, that’s a wonderful practice to learn how to do. All rights reserved. You’re drinking a plant that’s into a solution. We chatted with Dr. Weil about our burning matcha questions, as well as his top plant tips. Skip to main content Hello, Sign in. Amazon.com : Dr. Weil Tea, Sencha with Matcha, 3 Ounce (Pack of 2) : Grocery & Gourmet Food. There are many culinary traditions involving tea – from the famous tea-smoked duck to a wonderful oolong tempura I had several years ago. Read an interview with Dr. Nicolai here, and see all of Dr. Weil’s videos here. By the end of the interview, you're going to crave a cup of matcha. I had been learning about tea for some time before visiting the tea estates in Darjeeling in the early 1990s. It is the only form of tea in which the whole leaf is consumed. If you’re getting started on holiday shopping, consider supporting these female-founded businesses and securing the perfect gift for anyone on you... Meet a few of the artists behind Flower Press, a Detroit-based equitable publishing practice that features artists to elevate important issues. www.drweil.com, Video: How to Make Matcha Tea - Dr. Jim Nicolai, 4-7-8 Breathing: Health Benefits & Demonstration, 5 Supplements That Support Healthy Vision. My host mother took me to a neighbor who practiced tea ceremony for my first matcha experience. One of the things about matcha is that this green tea powder is concentrated and it has all the healthy benefits of green tea, things like the antioxidants that we call polyphenols that help with preventing heart disease, lowering cholesterol. Shop up to 50% off. Getting to know plants and their uses can be an important component of healthy living. In this edition of Plantfluencer Stories – we hear from New York City based Maria Failla, the founder of one of our favorite podcasts for budding p... {item.variant_title | format_variant_title item}. You should use about a teaspoon in a bowl with a third of a cup of hot water and heated to less than a boil. Stay Connected With Dr. Weil - Get Free Newsletters Right In Your Inbox, Information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional.