Exclusive: This New Healthier Hot Chocolate Is Made With Matcha and Adaptogens

Photo: Mateo Aguilar
Warming drinks like hot chocolate are enticing all year long—even in summer. (Especially when you work in a freezing cold office and that 4 p.m. craving for sweets hits.) But real talk: Unless your mix is loaded with sugar, chances are it just doesn't taste all that good. Leave it to adaptogenic tonic brand Moondeli to figure out how to make a healthy hot chocolate actually delicious. Its latest powder, Ceremony Tonic, blends rich cacao with another anti-inflammatory favorite, matcha. Oh, and maca—known for reducing stress (and boosting libido)—is in there too, for added benefit.

Moondeli
Photo: Mateo Aguilar

"As recovering chocolatiers, we knew the flavors in green tea marry perfectly with cacao and creamy maca, but it was our customers who inspired us to create Ceremony Tonic," says Moondeli co-founder Krysia Zajonc. "During our first year, we found that customers not only loved the health benefits behind our products, but also the psychological benefits that come from creating a daily tonic ritual. Because cacao and matcha have both been used in ceremony historically, in Central America and Japan respectively, we thought there was no better way to create a new and different yet an uplifting mind and body harmonizing blend."

"As recovering chocolatiers we knew the flavors in green tea marry perfectly with cacao and creamy maca."

Cacao has been linked to boosting happiness and is full of polyphenols, while matcha reputedly boosts energy and focus—and maca is believed to be an all-around vitality enhancer. That's a lot of benefits in one mug.

moondeli
Photo: Mateo Aguilar

And that's not the only new product the cult favorite brand is launching. Also coming out tomorrow is Holy Ashwagandha, made with ashwagandha, holy basil, and shatavari. "It was designed to relieve stress, support the reproductive system, and to taste delicious," Zajonc says, adding that shatavari has been known to reduce anxiety and aid digestion.

Whatever your blend of choice is, what you'll be sipping on this fall will be anything but basic.

Something else sure to be trending this fall: matcha PSL. Plus, here are three inflammation-fighting beverages to make at home.

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