This is part of our ongoing series, Real Talk, where we feature real folks and real convos that are important, inspiring and true to us.
Azora Zoe, Goldune's founder here— even though starting Goldune has been a dream come true, it hasn't been a walk in the park. First of all, 2020. Second of all, I'm a solo, first-time entrepreneur trying to launch a business during the weirdest, wackiest, holiday and election season we've ever seen. There are definitely days I am bugging about how much I have to get done, and most days, around 2pm, I get dazey and have a hard time sitting and staring at the screen on my desk. (Shout out to my mom's old desktop monitor that she donated to the Goldune cause.)
I got that slumpy feeling in the afternoon when I worked in New York City too, and my favorite way to cure it was to go for a walk to get a caffeinated beverage, usually with a coworker. I'm missing that sensation a ton— both the frenetic energy of the city (I live in the mountains and so my coworkers are actually birds and bobcats) and drinking a beverage that I didn't make myself. Some days it was a cold brew from my favorite coffee shop, Variety, and other, special-er days, it was a matcha lemonade from Cha Cha Matcha. I was never a huge matcha-head, but something about the tart lemonade really got me going.
When my pal Rachael at Goldmine Adaptogens sent me their new Immunity Blend to try, I started playing around in the kitchen, and had an idea to recreate my favorite afternoon pick me up. It's a wellness-ier, 2020 nod to the matcha lemonade days of yore, and it keeps me going. (It's also the only thing that's gotten me to limit my cold brew habit to one a day.) The adaptogens work double time for me to help manage stress response, but I honestly don't even taste em.
Goldune's Adaptogenic Matcha Lemonade
You'll need:
- Matcha powder of your choice (I'm using Matchabar's, which comes in a small aluminum canister that is easy to reuse or recycle).
- 1 jar Immunity Blend
- 1 jar Adaptogenic Blend
- Fresh squeezed lemon or limeade (the less ingredients, the better! My local market puts out a few fresh squeezed, unpasteurized juices a day, and I stock up whenever I can. If you can make your own, that's great too, and saves the planet a few plastic bottles, but making lemonade by hand wasn't realistic for me while I was working round the clock to launch Goldune. No shame in that game if it isn't realistic for you either!)
- A mini whisk or frother. I use one that charges via USB and has three settings, and I absolutely love it.
- Pick your cup— I base how much matcha lemonade I make on how big my cup is! I use a tall 16 oz glass, and fill it halfway with ice. (I'm an ice girl.) Fill your glass with however much ice you prefer, and then pour the lemonade into the glass until it is 2/3 full of lemonade.
- In a separate cup, I add two to three fingers of filtered water. (Yes, I am using fingers as a measurement, as though this were whisky and not matcha.)
- Add the appropriate amount of matcha based on the serving guidelines that your matcha maker recommends. For me, this is half a tablespoon.
- Add 1/2 a teaspoon of Immunity blend and 1/2 a teaspoon of Adaptogenic blend. Totally optional— sometimes I also add in a turmeric and lemon blend that I really like and layer that with the matcha for a yellow to green gradient. This is extra, and if you stop with the adaptogens and the matcha, you will still have a kick ass drink.
- Blend on medium for about a minute. There will be a good amount of froth at the top of the matcha when you stop.
- Pour the blended matcha over the lemonade on ice and watch the colors blend together.
- Pop in a reusable straw to stir and sip!