Matcha overnight oats with fresh berries

Only after a visit to Japan, I began to enjoy and invest in real green tea. I admit I am not a huge tea drinker but I like the taste and look of the Matcha powder. That’s why I love using it for overnight oats. The colours and contrast is beautiful and after all, green is my favourite colour! Matcha overnight oats belong to my favourite breakfast items. It’s easy to make, tasty and extremely healthy! And the colours.. seriously, guys just look, picture-perfect!

The health benefits of Matcha

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a loyal coffee drinker. However, at the same time I love a good tea. Not long I attempted to move away from tea bags, focusing my attention towards the leafy kinds. There are several extremely good reasons for avoiding tea bags, which I won’t be going into in this recipe post! I have not mastered the transition, yet I am a substantial matcha tea powder user. Naturally, I got curious about the praise it’s been receiving for the past several years and I dived into some of the articles crawling the internet to give you a taste of what you might benefit from when making this Matcha overnight oats breakfast. Yum!

Matcha is high in antioxidants, more specifically catechin. It helps prevent cell damage and lower the risk of chronic diseases. Also, and this is great I think, it helps protect your liver and kidneys, vital organs that process all the nutrients and toxins we intake. If anything, this benefit could certainly contribute to the health of an individual living THE life in Berlin ;). Next, thanks to its high caffeine levels, the consumption of matcha contributes to an increased brain function. Well, hallelujah! In case this was not enough for you to get on the matcha drinking train, the fact that this green powder can prevent cancer and heart diseases should certainly do just that! Besides, if you need to lose some weight, matcha seems to also be your friend! Let’s all toast to matcha, the magic green tea! 

Vegan or Vegetarian?

Generally, my breakfast recipes tend to be all vegan. I’m (so far unsuccessfully) trying to substitute the consumption of dairy products with plant-based alternatives but I fail miserably with cheese. Therefore, I cannot preach veganism, nor will I do that. If you don’t have plant-based milk at home, I’d suggest you simply use water for the making of this recipe or traditional dairy milk to achieve the creamier texture of the oats. If you opt for the water-based version, you might want to prepare the matcha tea before and then pour it over the dry ingredient mix.

How to make Matcha Overnight Oats?

Instructions

1. Pick a larger closable jar to place your overnight oats in. You can use a reused pickle or jam glass jar.
2. Place all the dry ingredients in the jar and mix well.
3. Pour over the liquids.
4. Add sweetener of choice. I prefer to use agave syrup or honey, but a good alternative is coconut sugar or maple syrup. With matcha having quite an intense taste, you might want to use a milder sweetener, that’s why agave sirup tends to work really well in this recipe. Mix well.
5. Make sure that you use enough liquid for the amount of oats. The liquid should come above the layer of oats as it will absorb a lot if not all of the liquid overnight.
6. Store in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight.
7. For serving: Check how much of the liquid got absorbed. It’s likely there is a need to add more milk to the mix when poured into the bowls. In this case, I would not suggest adding water. Or try and let me know how it tastes!
8. Top with a spoon or two of plant-based yogurt (plain or coconut flavor) and berries of your choice. You can also add a dash of the liquid sweetener and some sesame or chia seeds on top.