The short answer: for a healthy adult the practical amount is 1 to 2 servings a day, meaning 2 to 4 g of powder, counted together with the caffeine from everything else you drink. That is what most of our regular matcha customers drink, and it matches the amounts used in studies. There is no official limit on grams of matcha. There is only a limit on caffeine.
The longer answer depends on how much caffeine you take in outside matcha, what time of day you drink it, and whether you belong to a group that should be careful. Here are the numbers.
What that means in milligrams of caffeine
Caffeine is what sets the limit. A gram of matcha holds 19 to 44 mg of it, depending on the harvest and the quality, so servings can differ quite a lot.
| Matcha | Powder | Caffeine |
| 1 serving | 2 g | 40 to 90 mg |
| 2 servings | 4 g | 80 to 180 mg |
| 3 servings | 6 g | about 115 to 265 mg |
For comparison, a single espresso is about 60 mg. The European Food Safety Authority considers up to 400 mg of caffeine a day from all sources safe for a healthy adult, and up to 200 mg in a single dose.
What counts is the total, not the matcha on its own. Two servings of matcha and two espressos come to roughly 200 to 340 mg, depending on the matcha and the coffee. Three servings of matcha drunk in one go can push past the 200 mg single dose figure.
The second limit: EGCG
The other limit is catechins, and EGCG in particular. The European Food Safety Authority noted that doses from 800 mg of EGCG a day were linked in some subjects to a rise in liver enzyme activity. That concerned supplements with concentrated extract rather than drinking tea, which EFSA judged safe in principle.
Two servings of matcha a day do not take you anywhere near that line. Add green tea extract capsules on top and you might get there.
Can you drink matcha every day?
A healthy adult can drink matcha daily at 1 to 2 servings. At that level there is no recommendation to take periodic breaks, much as there is none for drinking coffee every day. Just remember that servings taken close together partly overlap.
Drinking it daily does matter for caffeine tolerance. With regular intake, partial tolerance can build within a few days: the lift fades, and the temptation to add a third serving grows. That is normal and applies to every source of caffeine.
If you want to know what drinking matcha actually does for the body, we covered that separately in our piece on the health benefits of matcha.
Who should be careful
Matcha is not for everyone. I would rather say that plainly than sell a tin to someone who feels unwell afterwards.
- People sensitive to caffeine. A serving of matcha can carry as much caffeine as an espresso. If coffee gives you palpitations or a migraine, matcha will not solve that.
- Pregnant and breastfeeding women. That is a decision for a doctor, not for a tea shop. The reason is the same as with coffee: caffeine.
- People with thyroid conditions, including Hashimoto’s. Some compounds in green tea have goitrogenic potential, although the evidence for an effect of normal consumption on the human thyroid is limited. Poland’s National Centre for Nutrition Education advises caution here. If you drink large amounts of matcha, or you are on thyroid hormone treatment, agree the dose with the doctor looking after you.
- People taking liver medication or green tea extract supplements. Here the catechins add up from two sources at once.
If you fall into one of those groups, the question is not for us but for your doctor. We can tell you how much of what is in the tin. We cannot tell you how much you personally may have.
What time of day to drink matcha
Morning or early afternoon. Caffeine from matcha clears the same way as caffeine from coffee, with an average half-life of around five hours and considerable variation between individuals.
Drink matcha at five in the afternoon and a good part of that caffeine is still in your system at ten in the evening. L-theanine may change how you perceive caffeine, though the research is mixed. There is no basis for claiming it speeds up how fast caffeine clears.
What is in matcha: caffeine, L-theanine and catechins
Three compounds account for most of what people like and dislike about matcha.
Caffeine. A gram of powder holds 19 to 44 mg, depending on harvest and quality. A standard serving is 2 g, which gives roughly 40 to 90 mg of caffeine. A level teaspoon is only an approximation; scales give you the real figure. For comparison, a single espresso is about 60 mg. So matcha is not gentler than coffee, whatever gets written about it. It is often comparable.
L-theanine. An amino acid that coffee does not supply in meaningful amounts. Its level in matcha varies enormously. In studies of products taken off the shop shelf it ranged from a few milligrams to over 40 mg per gram. Shading helps it accumulate, but variety and harvest date matter too. L-theanine is behind the umami in the taste, and behind the fact that the lift from matcha tends to feel steadier.
Catechins, EGCG among them. A group of polyphenols with antioxidant activity.
| Compound | Per 1 g of powder | In a 2 g serving |
| Caffeine | 19 to 44 mg | 40 to 90 mg |
| L-theanine | from a few to over 40 mg | highly variable, depends on the batch |
| Catechins | variable, depends on harvest and shading | usually tens to over a hundred mg of EGCG |
The spread is wide, and it is not down to sloppy measurement. Matcha is an agricultural product, not a tablet. Vintage, harvest and length of shading genuinely change the composition.
How to tell that a matcha is poor
What matcha does for you starts with whether you bought matcha at all, or ground powder made from anything to hand. You can see and taste the difference without any lab work.
- Colour. Good matcha is intensely green, at times almost vivid, because that is what a high chlorophyll content looks like. Dull, olive or yellowish usually means old powder or leaf from a late harvest.
- Smell. Fresh matcha smells sweet and grassy. Old matcha smells of hay, or of nothing.
- Bitterness. If you have to drown it in milk and syrup to get it down, that is not your technique.
- Packaging. Matcha oxidises quickly. A clear jar on a shop shelf is bad news.
We have written separately about where to buy matcha in Poland, and how supermarket matcha compares with the specialist kind, and about choosing matcha for a cafe. If you are wondering how far a tin goes, we also have a calculator for 100 g.
How much matcha a day: frequently asked questions
How much matcha can you drink in a day?
For a healthy adult the practical amount is 1 to 2 servings, meaning 2 to 4 g of powder. There is no official limit on grams of matcha, only on caffeine. That works out at 40 to 180 mg of caffeine. EFSA considers up to 400 mg a day from all sources safe, so two servings of matcha still leave room for coffee, though not for unlimited amounts.
Can you drink matcha every day?
Yes. At 1 to 2 servings a day a healthy adult can drink matcha daily, the way people drink coffee daily. Keep an eye on the caffeine total across everything you drink, and avoid it in the late afternoon.
Is 3 servings of matcha a day too much?
Spread across the day they usually stay within the 400 mg caffeine figure, since 6 g of matcha is about 115 to 265 mg. The problem is the total with coffee and energy drinks, and drinking several servings at once, because EFSA points to 200 mg as the single dose figure.
How many teaspoons is that?
One serving is about 2 g of matcha. Measuring by teaspoon is imprecise, because the weight depends on how aerated or compacted the powder is. If you are tracking caffeine, use scales.
How much matcha can you drink during pregnancy?
That is a decision for the doctor looking after you. EFSA points to up to 200 mg of caffeine a day from all sources for pregnant women, and two servings of matcha can reach 180 mg. One serving is 40 to 90 mg, so there is room for other sources of caffeine, but they have to be counted together.
Can you drink matcha with Hashimoto’s?
That is a question for your doctor, not for a shop. Some compounds in green tea have goitrogenic potential, although a review of the evidence found no convincing proof that typical consumption harms the human thyroid. Poland’s National Centre for Nutrition Education still advises caution, and matcha is concentrated leaf. Agree the amount and the timing with your doctor, particularly if you take levothyroxine.
How does matcha compare with coffee for caffeine?
A gram of powder holds 19 to 44 mg of caffeine, so a 2 g serving gives 40 to 90 mg. A single espresso is about 60 mg. Matcha is therefore not a gentler alternative to coffee in terms of dose. What differs is how it feels, because it comes with L-theanine, which coffee does not supply.
When is the best time to drink matcha?
Morning or early afternoon. The average half-life of caffeine is around five hours, with considerable variation between individuals. Drink matcha at five in the afternoon and a good part of the caffeine is still in your system at ten in the evening, where it can make falling asleep harder.
