“Oh, the ADHD special,” the Starbucks barista commented, and I swiveled to see who she was talking to. I’d heard the order, too. Chai latte with two scoops of matcha powder. I raised an eyebrow, because now I’d heard it in two places: people treating ADHD with green tea matcha. The first person had been my therapist, and I was surprised when she recommended it; she wasn’t someone prone to non-traditional medicine. Still, I had written it off. But hearing the barista, who was now explaining the “White Girl ADHD Special” to her coworker made me wonder, is there anything to it?
The topic has lit up on TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook groups for ADHD. The claim is simple: green tea, or specifically, matcha, has some of the same benefits as Adderall, in a gentler, cheaper, more accessible form.
Why people are looking for alternatives to Adderall
Roughly 10% of U.S. children and 8% of U.S. adults have an ADHD diagnosis, and if it seems like you’ve been noticing more and more people you know getting diagnosed, that’s not an algorithm. There’s been an 123% increase in diagnoses from 2007 to 2016, and it continues to climb.
While there are a number of medications for ADHD, including Ritalin and Vyvanse, Adderall continues to be the most popular. Starting in October 2022, production delays created an Adderall shortage that has perpetuated through the winter and spring. Combined with an increased demand, this spelled disaster. Dialing in psychiatric dosages is a long and tedious process for patients, and for many, these medications mean being able to competently work their jobs or complete household necessities. They play a role in personal and professional relationships. If you can’t find your medication, you look for alternatives out of desperation.
What is the difference between Adderall and matcha?
Adderall, the most popular drug prescribed for ADHD patients, is a central nervous agent stimulant that should help by improving focus on tasks, and reducing the impulsivity for change that many with ADHD feel. It’s a serious drug—its main components are amphetamines—which also explains why there is so much abuse of Adderall. It’s become quite popular on college campuses to help students study.
Adderall has some side effects that some people tolerate better than others: feeling like your heart is racing, or actual heart palpitations, anxiety, sweating, headaches, dry mouth, and more. We’re also experiencing a nationwide shortage so severe, ADHD forums are besieged by folks asking for advice on how to deal with jobs, school, or relationships without their meds.
Matcha is just ground-up green tea. Green tea isn’t very different from any other tea; it’s just unoxidized leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Brewed green tea doesn’t taste very different from other tea, but matcha, as a concentrate, tends to be pretty herbaceous and turns most drinks a delightful chartreuse.
The hype around green tea focuses on two compounds: caffeine and L-theanine, a non-essential amino acid. While you could get caffeine from a number of sources, coffee doesn’t have L-theanine. L-theanine is being called a nootropic, a cognitive enhancer, and you can buy supplements of it on its own, skipping the matcha altogether. In fact, plenty of people just add L-theanine to their coffee.
Does green tea really help ADHD symptoms?
Studies have been conducted on caffeine, L-theanine and their effect on ADHD, but those conclusions are hard to extrapolate to suggesting matcha is effective. The reason is simple: When people imbibe matcha, they’re using variable amounts of it rather than a consistent amount, every body metabolizes the components of the matcha differently, and the volume of the caffeine and L-theanine are minuscule compared to the therapeutic doses of Adderall or similarly prescribed meds. In short, the comparison is apples to oranges.
Still, there are potential benefits: A 2021 study suggested that matcha, as an addition to caffeine, in high volume amounts (nine pills per day), had a small positive effect on work performance and attention in high-stress situations. Relative to that, drinking a cup of matcha is really just microdosing. You’d need many cups (one study suggested eight) to get to a therapeutic dose of the compounds in the matcha.
Instead of drinking matcha, there may be promise in the individual components themselves: caffeine and L-theanine, both of which are available as supplements on their own.
Could caffeine and L-theanine supplements help?
In 2021, researchers analyzed studies from the past 20 years that looked at these compounds and ADHD. They utilized the following criteria: cognition, reaction times, concentration, headaches, tiredness, or alertness.
Although the side effects of caffeine, specifically, included some of the same side effects of Adderall, like migraines and heart issues, there was a net positive improvement in short-term sustained attention and overall cognition in adults. In fact, “after reviewing the studies, we found the combination shows favorable clinical significance in the domains of attention, memory, cognition, and hyperactivity. Overall, we conclude that the combination of L-theanine and caffeine is likely a safe and effective cognitive enhancer. “
Before you get too excited, they noted that continued research was needed, likely because the studies had been so limited and inconsistent in their dosages. The conclusion didn’t quantify how much the caffeine and L-theanine helped and it didn’t compare those results to Adderall or more conventional treatments. Lastly, it needs to be noted that the studies, collectively, were conducted on a small number of participants.
It should also be noted that caffeine and L-theanine have their own side effects: consuming withdrawal headaches and elevated blood pressure or tachycardia. High doses of L-theanine are associated with nausea.
The bottom line: Don’t expect much
In short, while caffeine and L-theanine may have some promise, their effects are still understudied. Most people who are using matcha therapeutically are probably doing so at vastly lower dosages than needed to see any effect, and if they did, they’d have some of the same side effects that people taking prescribed medication observe.
On the other hand, at low dosages such as a cup of matcha, these compounds have very little negative effect, either. They’re unlikely to do harm, and may have a placebo effect.
