Your Green Tea Breakfast

"Green tea breakfast, anyone?"

Easy or elegant?

Whether your breakfast is on the go or as elegant as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, it’s still true that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is important for both your body’s fuel and your brain.

If you’re watching your weight, it also can help you avoid overeating later in the day (ADA, 2008). Not only that, but if you’re accustomed to high calorie beverages for breakfast like high fat, high sugar lattes, you can save several hundred calories by switching to green tea at 0-2 calories per cup.

In addition to helping you reduce your daily calories, green tea offers some uniquely helpful chemicals for your breakfast.

During the night, your body can accumulate metabolic waste products including free radicals. Antioxidants help neutralize these free radicals.

And freshly made green tea is the richest natural source of EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), one of the most powerful antioxidant polyphenols around.

Extra benefits

All green teas can be brewed differently and adjusted to taste. For preparation instructions, click on the tea links on this page.

Breakfast is a great opportunity to make extra green tea to take with you for a mid-morning snack. You should avoid metallic insulated containers as they may affect the taste.

Easy green tea breakfast

Try Japanese sencha for an easy breakfast and a great flavor you can count on. Add non-fat yogurt with a half-cup fresh fruit and you’re good for the morning. Take along an oat bran muffin with currants for a mid-morning snack with your second cuppa of sencha.

Sencha also goes well with light Mexican food and vegetarian breakfasts.

On-the-go green tea breakfast

For your on-the-go breakfast, try different green teabags until you settle on some favorites. Local stores may carry universal brands like Lipton, Bigelow, and Twinings. All make green tea in plain or divided teabags. Most will offer flavored green teas in teabags also.

Matcha tea is a good choice for a fast breakfast. Individual packets are hard to find, but you can carry some with you and measure out your own portion to taste.

You can also make a low calorie green tea smoothie with matcha or Japanese sencha, a matcha smoothie, or matcha latte. Then grab a whole grain scone or muffin with fruit.

Stopping at Starbucks? They own Tazo tea now and carry several fine green teas in teabags.

Just add a meal replacement bar (energy bars or sports bars are usually incomplete nutrition) or a whole-grain pita with some non-fat protein and you can start your day. Carry an apple for a mid-morning snack with another cup of your favorite green tea.

Wake up green tea breakfast

Traditional wake up green teas include Gunpowder tea and strong Matcha.

Gunpowder tea works well with breakfasts that include an egg or lean meat. In the summer, you can add mint leaves and lemon to help stay cooler. Matcha can work well if you’re filling half a pita with some Denver scrambled eggs.

Serene, elegant green tea breakfast

For an elegant breakfast, try aMao Feng with some chunks of fresh fruit and two or three half-ounce pieces of your favorite cheese. You may also want to taste Lu shan yun wu. This light spring tea will stand up to mild egg dishes, but it is difficult to find. Also, a high grade of fresh Chun mee works perfectly when plums are in season.

Give it a try

Adding green tea to your healthy habits for breakfast can open a new world of delicious taste combinations. It may take a bit of effort in the beginning, but it’s worth it for the antioxidant benefits and new flavors.

After a while, you wouldn’t miss your green tea breakfast.

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