I know, I rave about how amazing matcha is for your insides, but did you know it's also amazing for your skin too?!

The same properties that make matcha incredible for your inner health, make it amazing for your skin. Especially the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) content, which is reduced inflammation and evens out your skin tone. The high level of antioxidants in the matcha may also be helpful for reducing acne and increasing skin elasticity, AND studies have shown that the antioxidants can fight free radicals on your skin, the same way they do in your body!

Making a matcha face mask is easy, and a great way to keep your skin healthy with a simple once a week routine. While there are many recipes you can follow, below are what I find the most simple:

Matcha and Greek Yogurt:

(loaded with probiotics, and best for oily skin)

1 x Teaspoon of Matcha

1x Tablespoon of Greek Yogurt

OR

Matcha andHoney:

(best for normal skin, or acne)

1 x Teaspoon of Matcha

1x Tablespoon of Raw Honey

OR

Matcha and Coconut Oil:

(best for dry skin)

1 x Teaspoon of Matcha

1 x Teaspoon of Raw organic Coconut Oil

•Mix the ingredients together until you have a bright green paste

•Apply to your face and neck and leave for 10-15 minutes

•Wash off with warm water and enjoy your tighter glowing skin!

*For the absolute best results, apply once a week, combined with a daily application of watered down apple cider vinegar toner.

Xxo

Okay, so I'm not that great at writing down recipes, because I'm not a 'measure-it-perfectly-into-every-cup' kinda gal. In my kitchen there is alot of mess, a lot of music, a lot of guessing and almost always, wine.

But these bliss balls are my absolute favorite thing to make if I have a low food grade matcha on hand I know I'm not going to drink!

Guys, don't freak out on the measurements too much here... I'm making them up as I go. I don't measure anything in my kitchen, so just add in whatever ratio you like. As long as the mixture has the consistency to roll into balls, you'll be fine. (I don't pretend to be a food blogger... yet here we are)

Matcha Coconut Bliss Balls!

You'll need:

• 1 cup dates

• 2 teaspoons of food grade Matcha (with no added sugar)

• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

• A good handful of cashews, pistachios or almonds (I usually do pistachios, but whatever you have on hand)

• 1 tablespoon of desiccated coconut for the mixture

• Another 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut for rolling

• A food processor

How to make them:

1) Soak the dates for 15 minutes in hot water and drain

2) Add all the ingredients (except the dates, and the coconut for rolling) to your food processor, and process until a fine green mixture. Careful not to overdo the coconut oil, as this will make it sloppy and harder to roll!

3) Add the dates and process for a full minute, pausing to scrape down the sides, ensuring the whole lot is evenly mixed. If the mixture is too wet to roll into balls, add desiccated coconut, or if the mixture is too dry, add coconut oil (only VERY small bits at a time)

4) Roll the mixture into ball shapes, roughly 4 cm in diametre

5) Roll the balls into the leftover desiccated coconut to help the balls stay together

6) Place all your bliss balls on a tray and refrigerate for an hour

7) Move to a container and continue storing in the fridge

These are usually good for up to a week, and will make your snack time so guilt free! These bliss balls are entirely raw, vegan, amazing for your body, and delicious!

Enjoy!

Xxo

If there is one opinion that splits the world down the middle more than Donald Trump, its those who drink their tea with milk, and those who don't.

Even as I sit writing this, the discussion around the table has split us, (though admittedly we're 50% Australian, and 50% British, so that's to be expected...)

Whether or not milk makes tea taste better is entirely personal (and I'll try to keep my opinion neutral here) but is the milk itself negating the benefits of the tea?

The answer is hard to find it seems, however studies have found that the consumption of milk alongside green tea inhibits the natural effect of increasing metabolism (which aids weight loss), and the consumption of milk along side any type of tea diminishes its effect in regulating blood pressure.

Researchers at the Fifth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health suggest that milk proteins bind with the flavonols in tea, making the bodies ability to absorb them and gain the health benefits of the tea much more difficult.

Of course, not all researchers agree with these findings as it's also suggested that the amount of milk traditionally added to tea is typically quite small, meaning there isn't enough milk proteins to to interfere with the flavenols.

As with everything I say if you love milk in your tea, go ahead. Try limiting yourself to one dairy milk tea a day and if you are concerned about the health benefits, or try switching out dairy milk for soy, coconut, or almond (but still drink all of those in moderation!!)

After all, life is too short to not take your tea with milk, if that's indeed your thing... (#savages)

Xxo

I've got a couple of best friends who are about to be Mamas [wait, what? When did we become grown ups??], so I figured what a fabulous time to write about the benefits of herbal tisanes during the course of pregnancy!

While every new Mama is free to make her own decision, study results are varied in relation to caffeine during pregnancy. The general consensus is to limit yourself to under 200mg a day, which equals roughly 2 cups of black tea or one cup of coffee.

Herbal teas, or tisanes however, do not contain caffeine, so many pregnant women find that certain herbal tisanes can be very beneficial in pregnancy and may help to alleviate some of the symptoms.

Always research which herbs to avoid, and a general guideline is to always drink herbal teas in a safe steady moderation. Overall, however, herbal teas are a safe and wonderful way to stay invigorated throughout your pregnancy.

Over the years working with tea, I'm come to learn that there is 3 different tisanes that remains the top favorites of women who are pregnant:

1) Ginger

Ginger is an absolute miracle spice with countless incredible properties. Listed here is only the tip of the iceberg in what ginger can do to your body, but relating close to pregnancy; ginger is incredibly effective when it comes to reducing and easing vomiting and pregnancy related nausea (morning sickness!).

Ginger is also said to ease the progression of muscle pain, when drunk on a regular basis!

2) Rooibos

Rooibos tea is highly recommended in pregnancy. It is caffeine free, contains calcium, magnesium and loads of antioxidants. It also has positive effects on digestion and can ease colic and reflux. Children can also drink Rooibos, and it is lovely with milk and a little honey.

3) Raspberry Leaf

In all my time working with tea, raspberry leaf if the most commonly requested by pregnant women! Raspberry leaf is highly recommended to drink from the second trimester onwards, and is highly effective in preparing your uterus for labour by strengthening uterine muscles and toning the pelvic floor in preparation for childbirth, as well as assists in preventing postpartum hemorrhage.

It's also incredibly high in calcium and magnesium (magnesium is great for those restless limbs!) It's been recommended that drinking one cup a day beginning in the 2nd trimester, and building your daily intake to up to 4 cups a day from 34 weeks onwards is safe amount, and as an added bonus, will also aid the mothers immune system and assist with breast milk supply.

All round, Raspberry Leaf is a Mama's best friend!

Xxo

I admit it - I'm a bit of a matcha fanatic. Not because of the 'superfood' label it has, but because I genuinely love the taste - the full bodied, sweet grassiness, served as a deliciously creamy soy matcha latte, or just matcha straight up is my version of heaven.

Naturally when you love something so much, you feel the need to shout it from the rooftops in hope that the rest of the world will listen and love it too! Matcha is a hard one, because the initial taste is earthy and grassy. I liken it to your first ever sip of red wine, or dark chocolate - think back to when we cringed at those when we were young!

Matcha is simply an acquired taste, and for those who take the time to appriciate it, well, you're in for a treat, because there is so many more reasons to drink matcha, than just the delicious taste:

1) Matcha is the healthiest way to drink tea!

Matcha is ground Japanese tea leaves, grown in shade to increase chlorophyll content, much like the leaves grown to create the highly prized Gyokuro.

These chlorophyll-rich leaves are then carefully handpicked, steamed, dried and ground into a beautifully fine green powder.

As would make perfect sense, it is the tea leaves that holds all of those valuable antioxidants and minerals - this means that when we brew our tea, and discard the leaves, we are actually throwing away the majority, because water can only extract a fraction of green teas benefits!

Matcha however, we ingest in its entirety, meaning we don't miss out on even a little bit of that goodness!

2) Drinking Matcha is never boring!

If you aren't keen on matcha straight up, don't fear, because much like coffee, there are a million and one ways you can consume matcha! My favorite is a good matcha latte with soy milk (avoid mixing with dairy as this will cancel out the amazing health benefits!). In summertime, try a delicious matcha milkshake with soy, almond or coconut milk, or mix with lemon and soda to make a deliciously cooling summertime drink! If you love your smoothies, add some matcha to your daily mixture for an extra kick!

3) A Caffeine Hit Without the Jitters

As you are ingesting the entire leaf unlike regular tea, drinking matcha does give you quite a caffeine kick - on par with a regular coffee. However, unlike coffee, matcha creates a calm alertness thanks to the l-theanine content, which induces relaxation without drowsiness. My personal experience with matcha leaves me feeling very focused mentally, and for much longer than a quick coffee caffeine 'high'.

4) A Super Food Worthy of the Name

The superfood label gets thrown around so much these days, but matcha really is worthy of the label. As it's known for its high levels of antioxidants, Tufts University in Boston, USA tested different types of 'superfoods' in comparison to matcha, using a method known as ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity), which in a nutshell, provides the antioxidant content value per gram. As opposed to blogger favorite superfoods like blueberries which say at 93 units per gram, or pomegranates which sat at 105 units per gram, matcha stood out with a huge 1573 units per gram, only beaten by ground cloves, which was around 2000, but as we only consume cloves in small amounts at a time, matcha really does take the lead as one of the highest ORAC values!

5) Good Quality Matcha is Becoming More and More Available

Thanks to the influx of health foodies and online bloggers, matcha has finally hit the mainstream market! This means two things, 1) the demand for good quality matcha is higher and, 2) as matcha becomes readily available the same rule applies the opposite way; big name companies like Starbucks and Mcdonalds add sugar to appeal to the masses who aren't used to its grassy flavour to try entice them to buy - while these have their time and place, remember that this isn't pure matcha, and good quality pure matcha is absolutely out there!

6) Matcha can be used in Cooking

As with most teas, matcha has different types of grading, and the lower grades are generally used for delicious matcha recipes, such as matcha ice cream, matcha bliss balls (my favorite!), matcha cakes, matcha smoothies, matcha breakfast bowls, matcha biscuits.... I could go on forever!

7) It was Traditionally used to aid Meditation

Before it was frequently mentioned in foodie blogs around the world, matcha was used in Japan to aid meditation. Another added bonus of matcha (does it ever end?) is that it is believed to stimulate the production of alpha waves of the brain, which is a side effect of meditation. This leaves you in a state of clarity and alertness - something I battle with before even going into mediation! Drink a cup of matcha and you've won half the battle!

While the traditional matcha ceremony in Japan focuses on rituals and precise preparation, to prepare matcha yourself at home, it couldn't be easier!

Use a QUARTER of a teaspoon per 100mL (that's right! Using so little means you get bang for your buck!) and dissolve in 85 degree water - use a whisk if needed to break up the powder.

Have a look at the two types of matcha available in our online store:

+ The highly prized and lavish Izu Matcha - from the Izu Penisula near Tokyo - for those who want extreme quality, and the highest levels of goodness possible from this tea!

+ Deliciously sweet Blueberry Matcha - for those who want to experience the benefits of matcha, but aren't quite ready to commit to the acquired taste, or for those who just want that extra kick in your smoothies or juices!

Many people are totally unaware that all the types of tea we drink, whether it be black tea, green tea, oolong tea or beautiful white tea, it all comes from the same plant, Camellia Sinensis, and the different types of tea (green, black etc) is determined based on the degree of oxidization and fermentation that the leaves have undergone.

This means that it is totally possible to pick four leaves from the same plant, and make 4 different varieties of tea with them, all depending on which of the processing stages the tea leaves are exposed to!

That is why tea refers to such a broad range of different flavours, colours and aromas.

There are 5 basis stages to processing tea, and whether or not your leaves are exposed to some, or all of these stages, really determines which type of tea you are left with:

1) Picking

Picking is very specific, and teas are classified according to the time of the season they were picked, where they are grown, and what part of the tea or bud is picked.

White teas are particularly specific, picked only once a year when in Spring when the tea buds emerge.

2) Withering

The picked tea leaves are taken to the processing area where they are laid out on a flat surface to wither. This causes the leaves to become limp and flexible so they can twisted without cracking or splitting the surface of the leaf. During the withering process, the leaves emit an aroma like grated green apples. This stage applies to most styles of green tea but excludes Japanese green teas, which go directly from picking to steaming.

3) Rolling / Shaping

This process involves rolling, twisting or rubbing of the leaves by machine or by hand. When done before oxidation, it breaks the cells in the leaf and releases the enzymes.

Done directly before firing or drying, it allows the leaf to be transformed into an attractive or characteristic shape.

4) Fermentation / Oxidization

This is a critical stage of production and is a delicate art that determines the finished variety of tea. The rolled or broken leaves are laid out on a surface in a cool, humid atmosphere for a length of time that varies from tea to tea.

This is when the broken cells can absorb oxygen, which initiates the chemical changes in the leaf. Sometimes called fermentation, the colour changes from green to red as the chlorophyll breaks down. A matter of minutes can cause dramatic differences in flavour or aroma!!

A master fermenter has a finely tuned sense of when to halt the process and send the tea for firing. Fermentation is the natural process of leaves beginning to decompose.

5) Firing / Drying / Pan Frying / Steaming

Heating stops the oxidation process at a predetermined stage by deactivating the chemical reaction between the oxygen and the enzymes in the leaf. Heating also expels any grassy odours and locks in the more refined aromas.

Most teas are dried mechanically, but some high grade teas are pan fried by hand. Others are steamed, rolled then dried, while white teas are usually fired in the oven.

Xxo

As far as a beverage goes, tea really has it all. It's healthy, gives you energy, is a fabulous ice-breaker ["fancy a cuppa?"] and just about everybody likes it.

But it turns out it goes so much deeper than just an old tea bag in a cup of hot water...

1) Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, after water!

Thats right, not beer, not wine, not even coffee! Tea still takes the cake around the world as the most consumed [and enjoyed] beverage. Some cultures argue that its also the oldest prepared beverage, but of course, that depends on who you talk to... ;)

2) The history of tea in England is pretty... dark!

After tea was introduced to England via the royal family in the 17th Century, and for a long period of time it was a highly taxed imported item and although many people wanted to enjoy tea ,only a few could afford to do so.

Thus entered the culture of tea smuggling - highly organizing gangs would smuggle the tea into the country, bypassing the tax man and no duty was ever paid. This meant tea could be sold cheaply and was often cut with other leaves and twigs to stretch it further. Over time tea smuggling became a big part of the black market and even resulted in gang deaths!

3 All tea comes from the same plant

That's right! We have the beautiful 'camellia sinensis' plant to thank for every type of tea there is in the world - black, green, oolong and white [and everything in between!] There are so many elements into what makes the different tastes in teas, including where it's grown, the height about the ocean, the climate, but mostly it all comes down to how it is processed after picking and its level of oxidization!

4 Teas and tisanes are different!

When we talk about teas, and we are referring to just peppermint, chamomile, ginger or any other herbal infusion, we are actually incorrectly referring to it as tea! Tea can only be named as such, if it comes from the tea plant, camellia sinensis, otherwise, it is technically just a 'tisane', which simply means 'infusion'.

5 Matcha tea is the healthiest superfood there is!

There is alot of hype about the term 'superfood', but matcha is one drink that truly deserves the title! According to the latest technology in antioxidant research, matcha [which is powdered japanese green tea] is packed with exponentially more antioxidants than any other 'superfood'. The testing method, known as ORAC [oxygen radical absorbance capacity] was carried out by experts at Tufts University, and it was found that matcha had more than 20 times the antioxidant levels than blueberries and pomegranates! Matcha's ORAC rating sat at 1573 units per gram, blueberries was 93 units per gram and pomegranates sat at 105 units per gram. WOW!

6) Tea isn't grown in England

[At least not on a large industrial capacity!] While those from the motherland might have the reputation of being tea crazy, and with common names like 'English Breakfast', 'Irish Breakfast', and Yorkshire Tea' flooding the shelves, it might shock to to know that tea isn't grown in England at all! The climate in dear mother England isnt one that suits the art of tea growing, not to mention, even if the entirety of England was covered in tea fields, there simply isn't enough land space to support the world's tea demand!

7) You can decaffeinate your tea yourself

Most decaffeination processes are costly and involve chemicals being in contact with those precious leaves, but it's simple to decaffeinate your teas yourself! Simply steep the leaves in hot water for 10 minutes to relive the tea of 90% of its caffeine content, and re-brew them for yourself! [be sure to start the process with a strong tea, like pu-erh to ensure there is still a delicious taste after re-brewing!]

8) 'Chai' is Indian for 'tea'

Yes - it's true! The word 'Chai' simply means 'tea' - meaning when we ask for a chai tea, if there were an Indian standing close by it would sound a little silly! Chai was made popular very recently in the west by adding steamed milk and it becoming our now coveted 'chai lattes', but traditionally in India, Masala Chai ['Masala Tea'] has been drunk by people of all social classes for centuries!

9) Reading tea leaves is an art with its own special word!

Tasseography is the art of reading tea leaves, and it is a skill that is passed down through female members of families with the skill. The basic idea is you drink a cup of tea, with the loose leaves dancing in the cup, and when you are done, swirl the cup until the leaves settle in formation. A special skilled tasseographer will then 'read' the leaves and answer questions about the future based on the patterns in the cup!

As most things of this nature, its wildly unanswered of how or why [or if] this works, and its suggested that psychometry - a psychic ability where one gains information from intimate objects through clairvoyance. I think it's best left unanswered, and simply enjoyed ;)

10) Tea is best enjoyed with no manners!

Thats right! Any tea connoisseur will tell you that tea is best enjoyed slurped onto your tongue! This is because the oxygen airs out the tea and the flavours are opened up and able to flourish! So put that pinky down, slurp your tea back, and enjoy the decadence!