Why matcha is measured differently
With leaf green tea you drink the infusion and throw the leaf away. With matcha you whisk the powder into water and swallow the whole leaf. So for the same weight of leaf, more of the compounds end up in the cup, and matcha figures cannot simply be compared with leaf green tea figures.
The reference dose used throughout this site is 2 g per cup, which is ordinary usucha. Every per-cup figure below is worked out on those 2 g.
Catechins, and EGCG in particular
Catechins are the polyphenols characteristic of green tea. The most abundant and most studied is epigallocatechin gallate, abbreviated EGCG.
The reference work on catechins in matcha is Weiss and Anderton (2003), which measured by micellar electrokinetic chromatography how much EGCG actually reaches the cup. Their conclusion, in their own terms, is that the EGCG available from drinking matcha is 137 times greater than from a China Green Tips green tea and at least three times greater than the highest value published to that point for other green teas.2
That figure needs reading carefully. The factor of 137 comes from comparing matcha with one specific sample of one specific tea, not with green tea in general; the paper itself limits the general comparison to «at least three times». It is the number that circulates most online, almost always without that caveat.
As a reference for leaf content, the review by Kochman and colleagues reports that catechins in green teas run between 5.46 and 7.44 mg per gram, against a range of 0 to 3.47 mg/g in black teas.1
L-theanine
L-theanine is an amino acid found almost only in tea. It builds up in the leaf when the plant grows in shade, which is exactly what is done to the tencha matcha comes from: twenty to thirty days of shading before picking.
The same review reports the measurement by Unno and colleagues, who found up to 44.65 mg of L-theanine per gram in matcha samples.1 At 2 g a cup that would be about 89 mg, though the real spread between products is wide and depends on cultivar, shading and harvest.
The Matcha Zen Ceremonial specification declares 1.2% L-theanine, that is about 12 mg per gram, or 24 mg in a 2 g cup. That is the maker’s figure, not a measurement of ours.
Caffeine
Matcha contains considerably more caffeine than leaf green tea, again because the whole leaf is swallowed. Kochman and colleagues report 18.9 to 44.4 mg per gram in matcha, against 11.3 to 24.67 mg/g in green teas.1
For a 2 g cup: between 38 and 89 mg of caffeine. For scale, an ordinary espresso is around 60 to 80 mg. The Matcha Zen specification declares about 3.2 g of caffeine per 100 g of product, roughly 64 mg in a 2 g cup, inside that range.
If you drink matcha in the afternoon and sleep badly, caffeine is the first place to look.
Chlorophyll and colour
Shading raises the chlorophyll in the leaf, and that is where the deep green of a good matcha comes from. Tencha leaves measured 5.65 mg of chlorophyll per gram, against 4.33 mg/g in ordinary green tea.1 That is why colour works as an indicator of quality: a dull or olive green usually means insufficient shading, a late harvest, or oxidation in storage.
What else has been measured in the infusion
Jakubczyk and colleagues analysed matcha infusions made with 1.75 g of product at different temperatures and published these figures: flavonoids 1,968.8 mg/L, total polyphenols 1,765.1 mg/L and vitamin C 44.8 mg/L.3 The same work notes that water temperature changes how much is extracted, which fits the practical advice not to go too hot: besides making it bitter, it alters what ends up in the cup.
Summary for a 2 g cup
| Compound | Per gram | Per cup (2 g) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caffeine | 18,9-44,4 mg | 38-89 mg | 1 |
| L-theanine | up to 44.65 mg | up to 89 mg | 1 |
| Catechins (green tea, reference) | 5,46-7,44 mg | 10,9-14,9 mg | 1 |
| Chlorophyll (tencha leaf) | 5,65 mg | 11,3 mg | 1 |
The ranges are deliberately wide: between one matcha and another the differences are large, depending on cultivar, shading, which harvest it came from, and how long ago it was ground. Any single figure you see quoted for «matcha» is a simplification.
Why this page does not talk about benefits
In Great Britain, saying that a food affects a bodily function or the risk of disease is a health claim, and it may only be made using the authorised wordings on the GB nutrition and health claims register, under the conditions that register sets. That framework is the assimilated British version of Regulation (EC) No 1924/20064 , which Great Britain carried over into its own law at the end of the transition period; the GB register was created from the EU register of claims and still shares its authorised wordings. Northern Ireland continues to apply the EU register directly.5
For green tea catechins, EFSA assessed in 2011 a set of proposed relationships (endothelium-dependent vasodilation, maintenance of normal blood pressure, of LDL cholesterol, of blood glucose, cognitive function and others) and did not consider a cause and effect relationship established for any of them.6 None was authorised.
So phrases like «matcha protects the heart», «speeds up your metabolism» or «improves concentration» are not merely over-enthusiastic: they are unauthorised claims. This page carried several of them until September 2026 and they have been removed.
What can be said, and what we have done, is set out what matcha contains and how much. Everyone can draw their own conclusions from that, and anyone with questions about their diet should put them to a healthcare professional, who is the person who can answer them.
And what matcha certainly does not do
Three claims circulate online that are worth taking apart separately, because they do not hold up even as hypotheses:
- «It detoxifies the body». The word «detox» means nothing specific in physiology. The liver and kidneys already do that job and do not need a drink’s help.
- «It burns fat». No food burns fat. EFSA assessed relationships of this kind for green tea catechins and did not consider them established.
- «It cures or prevents disease». Attributing the prevention or treatment of a disease to a food is prohibited in general terms for any food, whatever the evidence.
If a matcha seller promises you any of the three, you already know something useful about that seller.
Sources
- Kochman J, Jakubczyk K, Antoniewicz J, Mruk H, Janda K. Health Benefits and Chemical Composition of Matcha Green Tea: A Review. Molecules. 2020;26(1):85. doi:10.3390/molecules26010085. Open access.
- Weiss DJ, Anderton CR. Determination of catechins in matcha green tea by micellar electrokinetic chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A. 2003;1011(1-2):173-180. doi:10.1016/S0021-9673(03)01133-6
- Jakubczyk K, Kochman J, Kwiatkowska A, Kałduńska J, Dec K, Kawczuga D, Janda K. Antioxidant Properties and Nutritional Composition of Matcha Green Tea. Foods. 2020;9(4):483. doi:10.3390/foods9040483. Open access.
- Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, assimilated into British law. Consolidated text on EUR-Lex
- European Commission. EU Register of nutrition and health claims made on foods. Public register of claims
- EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (tea), including catechins in green tea… EFSA Journal. 2011;9(4):2055. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2055
The six sources were consulted on 9 September 2026. The first three were located and checked through Europe PMC; the first two are open access and can be read in full.