SUMMARY
Matcha green tea powder (MGTP) is made with finely ground green tea leaves that are rich in phytochemicals, most particularly catechins. Shortbread biscuits were enriched with MGTP and evaluated for consumer acceptability and potential functional health properties. Baking decreased the content of total catechins by 19% compared to dough, although epimerization increased the amount of (+)-gallocatechin gallate at the expense of other catechins such as (-)-epigallocatechin gallate. Consumer acceptability tests using a 9-point hedonic scale showed that consumers preferred enriched biscuits with low content of MGTP (2 g of MGTP 100 g-1 of flour), and an increase of sugar content did not significantly improve the acceptability of MGTP-enriched biscuits. Overall, enrichment of biscuits with MGTP did not significantly affect the postprandial glucose or triglyceride response (area under curve) compared to non-enriched biscuits consumed with water or MGTP drink. Enriching biscuits with Matcha green tea is acceptable to consumers, but may not bring significant postprandial effects.