Motto: We want to make Matcha green tea accessible, so we put it in a bottle and added bubbles...
Another new product that caught our eye - especially after the buzz being generated by Matcha Green Tea supplier Aiya at the IFT show this year - was Motto, a sparkling ready-to-drink beverage made with Matcha green tea.
Packed with insoluble fibers, antioxidants, and l-theanines, and starting to show up in some high-profile products from Häagen-Dazs ice cream to Jamba Juice smoothies, Matcha is a whole food in that it contains all of the leaf, unlike regular tea, which is steeped in hot water such that many of its nutrients stay in the pot or teabag.
Matcha - a 'ceremonial' tea grown in Japan - is sold as a fine powder, and as such there is some sediment at the bottom of each bottle, but this dissipates when you turn it upside down, say Boston-based brand owners Henry Crosby and Tom Olcott.
Says Olcott: "Matcha has a much higher concentration of antioxidants than steeped green tea and while we still have to educate people about what it is, a lot of people are really buying into the fact that it's a whole food."
He adds: "We're in six Whole Foods regions now and it's still very early days, but we're the first people to do a sparkling RTD Matcha tea. People like Matcha but they don't necessarily want to spend ages preparing the tea. Our product is fun, ready to drink and much more accessible."
Click HERE for more details about Motto, which contains sparkling water, Matcha green tea, honey, organic agave, lemon juice, organic apple cider vinegar and natural plant extracts for color and flavor. Each 12 oz bottle has 70 calories.
