Chasen — the matcha whisk
Where to buy a matcha whisk in Japan
Buying in Japan does not by itself get you a Japanese whisk. About 70% of the chasen sold there are imports. What to check, and where the place really is...
Where to buy a matcha whisk in Japan
Buying in Japan does not by itself get you a Japanese whisk. About 70% of the chasen sold there are imports. What to check, and where the place really is...
Best matcha whisk for beginners: what to look for
Whisks that look identical in a photograph behave nothing alike. Origin before prong count: aged bamboo and a named Takayama maker decide whether it survives a year of daily use.
Best matcha whisk for beginners: what to look for
Whisks that look identical in a photograph behave nothing alike. Origin before prong count: aged bamboo and a named Takayama maker decide whether it survives a year of daily use.
Do You Need a Matcha Whisk Holder?
A kusenaoshi is a shaping tool, not a drying rack. Six sources, split down the middle on whether it helps a whisk dry or stops it. The $42 stand against...
Do You Need a Matcha Whisk Holder?
A kusenaoshi is a shaping tool, not a drying rack. Six sources, split down the middle on whether it helps a whisk dry or stops it. The $42 stand against...
How to Use a Matcha Whisk for the First Time
Two steps before the first bowl, and they use different water: a cold rinse because the whisk is new, then chasen-toshi in hot water. About a minute.
How to Use a Matcha Whisk for the First Time
Two steps before the first bowl, and they use different water: a cold rinse because the whisk is new, then chasen-toshi in hot water. About a minute.
How to Clean a Matcha Whisk Without Breaking th...
Rinse in warm water immediately, never use soap, and dry the whisk standing up. How warm the water should be, and the step almost no guide explains.
How to Clean a Matcha Whisk Without Breaking th...
Rinse in warm water immediately, never use soap, and dry the whisk standing up. How warm the water should be, and the step almost no guide explains.
80 vs 100 prong chasen: which whisk should you ...
The number is about foam, not quality. A hundred tines forgive an imperfect motion while you are learning; eighty is coarser, tougher, and better suited to thick tea.
80 vs 100 prong chasen: which whisk should you ...
The number is about foam, not quality. A hundred tines forgive an imperfect motion while you are learning; eighty is coarser, tougher, and better suited to thick tea.
Tomari (とまり) is an old word for a mooring — the place a boat ties up for the night. A bowl of tea is meant to be the same: a few minutes to put the day down. You do not need to know the rules to begin.
Who chose this
I choose everything here by hand, in Japan. I practise tea rather than simply selling the tools for it — I am not a tea master and I do not claim to be. I am a practitioner, which mostly means I have ruined enough bad whisks to know what a good one feels like in the first second of holding it.
Nothing is drop-shipped and nothing passes through a third warehouse. I pack each order in Tokyo and post it from Japan, ceramics double-boxed by hand. If something arrives broken, send me a photograph and post the piece back — I cover the return postage — and I replace it. Who writes and chooses all this, and the longer version of why this shop exists.