How many grams is a chashaku scoop?

Every guide to matcha says two scoops, and very few say what a scoop is. That is why the conversions contradict each other — one shop tells you a chashaku holds a third of a teaspoon, another says half — and why a bowl made by the same recipe can come out thin one morning and bitter the next.

One scoop of a bamboo chashaku holds about 1 g of matcha, but only when it is heaped — noticeably heaped, more than feels polite. Two of those scoops, about 2 g, make one bowl of thin tea (usucha). A level teaspoon holds about the same 2 g, so if you have no chashaku, one level teaspoon is a bowl. You do not need a chashaku to make good matcha; what you need is to take the same amount every time, and the scoop is simply the easiest way to do that.

What "one scoop" means

A chashaku is a strip of bamboo with a shallow curve at one end. It was never a measuring spoon, and nobody calibrated it. The amount it carries depends almost entirely on how much powder you let sit on the curve.

That is where the confusion comes from. Heaped, a chashaku carries about one gram. Scooped level, it carries well under that — roughly half, depending on the curve of the bamboo. Guides that quote a third of a teaspoon are describing a light scoop; guides that quote half a teaspoon are describing a full one. Both are copying a real number, but not the same scoop.

The heaped version is the one tea practice uses. A student of the Urasenke school who weighed it put it plainly: to get one gram onto a chashaku, you have to scoop it quite heaped, and if you actually put it on a scale you will see just how heaped. The photograph at the top of this page is my own scoop taken that way, straight from the tin. That mound is one gram.

One small thing I measured: my chashaku weighs 3.4 g on its own. The two scoops of matcha that make a bowl weigh less than the bamboo that carries them. It is a good way to remember how little powder a bowl really is.

The conversions, in one table

Koicha is the row that catches people out. It is usually described as three scoops, and it is — but three scoops only reach four grams if each one is piled as high as the curve will hold. Take three ordinary scoops and you have made a strong usucha, not koicha.

You will also see one and a half heaped scoops given for a bowl of thin tea, including by Ippodo in Kyoto. That is not a disagreement about how much tea goes in the bowl: both land on two grams. It is a difference in how generously each scoop is taken. Pick one habit and keep it.

What the scoop is, what it is made of and why tea people give scoops names: what is a chashaku.

Do you need a chashaku?

No. A level teaspoon gives you a bowl, and the tea will not know the difference. I would rather you started with a teaspoon than waited for the right tool.

What a chashaku gives you is not accuracy, which it does not have, but repetition. Its curve is narrow enough to go into a tin, it takes powder from the surface rather than digging, and once your hand has learned what a heaped scoop looks like, it takes the same amount every morning without you thinking about it. A teaspoon can do that too, but a teaspoon also varies from drawer to drawer, and a heaped teaspoon is nearly double a level one.

If you do use a spoon, two habits keep it honest:

• Level it every time. Draw the back of a knife across the top. A heaped teaspoon is 3–4 g, which is koicha strength in a bowl of thin tea, and the bitterness people blame on the matcha is often just that.
• Sift after you measure, not before. Sifted matcha is lighter by volume, so a level spoon of sifted powder weighs less than a level spoon from the tin. Measure from the tin, then push it through the sieve.

Too little, too much

Almost every problem with the amount shows up in the bowl, and it is worth knowing which is which.

Too little powder gives a pale, watery bowl that tastes of nothing much and will not hold a foam for long. It is the more common mistake by far, because a gram looks like so little that people stop halfway. That is covered in why matcha can taste like nothing.

Too much powder for the water gives a heavy, bitter, slightly chalky bowl. If your matcha is bitter and you measured with a heaped spoon, change the spoon before you change the tea; why matcha turns bitter goes through the other causes.

Questions I get asked

How many grams is one chashaku scoop?

About 1 g when the scoop is heaped, and well under that, roughly half, when it is level. Tea practice uses the heaped scoop, which is why two scoops, about 2 g, make one bowl of thin tea.

How many chashaku scoops for one bowl of matcha?

Two heaped scoops, about 2 g, with 60–70 ml of water for thin tea. Some shops give one and a half heaped scoops; they are aiming for the same 2 g with a fuller scoop. Thick tea takes three very full scoops, about 4 g.

How many teaspoons is a chashaku scoop?

A heaped chashaku scoop is about half a level teaspoon. One level teaspoon holds about 2 g, the same as two heaped scoops, which is one bowl of thin tea.

Can I use a teaspoon instead of a chashaku?

Yes. One level teaspoon of matcha is a bowl of thin tea. Level it with the back of a knife, because a heaped teaspoon holds nearly twice as much and makes the bowl bitter.

How many scoops of matcha for a latte?

Two to three heaped chashaku scoops, 2–3 g, whisked in 40–60 ml of water before the milk goes in. Milk softens the tea, so a latte can take a little more than a plain bowl.

Where this fits

Caring for it takes a dry cloth and nothing else: how to clean a chashaku.

The scoop I stock is a single piece of white bamboo with the node left in, and it also comes in the starter set with a whisk and bowl. If you keep your matcha in a caddy, a bamboo scoop will not scratch it the way a metal spoon can, though the metal does nothing to the tea itself (can you use metal with matcha). Thin and thick tea are compared in usucha and koicha, the sieve in sifting matcha, and everything else you need to begin is in the beginner's guide.

Written by Mio.K, who chooses everything in this shop by hand in Japan.