If you’ve recently, or ever, caught yourself staring at the menu display behind the counter of your coffee shop, wondering if you should finally order a matcha latte instead of your usual coffee drink, this blog post is for you.
The pull of a habit, particularly when it’s the linchpin of your morning routine, can be hard to break. We’re here to enlighten, not bash coffee, because, thankfully, we live in a world where the two can coexist.
A caffeine comparison
Inevitably, a comparison of coffee and matcha needs to address their caffeine levels because, while it’s certainly not the only reason anyone drinks either, it is the main reason for many.
There are many, many (many) different kinds of coffee. And there are different grades of matcha (ceremonial being the highest quality and standard or premium being what you’re most likely to encounter in a coffee shop). This variation means that there’s no set amount of caffeine for coffee or matcha. But talking in general terms, an eight-ounce cup of quality drip coffee will have between 80 and 120mg of caffeine (a shot of expresso runs around 60 to 75mg), while an eight-ounce serving of matcha has between 30 and 85mg of caffeine. (The reason for the wide variation is a traditional preparation includes two grams of powder, whereas a typical matcha latte is made with a single gram.)
How it feels
The caffeine only tells part of the story here. Coffee and matcha deliver caffeine differently, and that difference is why many people prefer one over the other, or prefer to drink one over the other at different points in the day.
Coffee blocks sleep signals in the brain, which can feel like a switch has been flipped inside of you. One minute you’re groggy and wishing you were back in bed, the next you’re ready to take on the day. This can happen within 10 to 15 minutes of your first sip. The peak of this boost, when blood concentration reaches its highest point, comes within 30 to 60 minutes of starting that cup.
You’ll feel those effects for the next few hours, but they’ll lessen gradually with each passing hour. If you drink coffee every morning, you may argue that you’re ready for a nap by lunch, the caffeine rush can feel that short-lived. But it actually takes your body 10 hours, sometimes longer, to fully clear the caffeine.
Matcha provides a more muted but sustained caffeine boost. It contains L-theanine, an amino acid that slows the absorption of caffeine, extending the energy window. This window is often described as a “steady, calm alertness” that lasts for four to six hours.
We find it more accurate to think of it this way: Picture a scale of one to five, with one being not caffeinated at all and five being the most caffeinated you’ve ever been. An eight-ounce cup of matcha would leave you around 1.25 to 1.5, while an eight-ounce cup of coffee would drop you off at three.
Try them both
For the sake of brevity, we’re not going to get into the antioxidant aspect, other than to say both coffee and matcha are rich in them. And the more antioxidants you can consume on a daily basis, the better off you’re going to be.
Like we said at the top, this comparison isn’t meant to force you into picking sides. On the contrary, we’ve found a lot of joy in regularly enjoying both.
Matcha may not provide quite the boost we need in the morning, but we love its subtle buzz when we’re grinding through the afternoon sessions at a conference or seeking a light pick-me-up after the meal’s been served at a wedding. It keeps us present and focused without threatening to wreck our sleep later on.
And after a good night’s sleep, we know that cup of coffee will be there waiting for us in the morning.