Essential Tools for Making Matcha

When creating the perfect bowl of matcha, certain utensils should be used to increase your chances of making the perfect serving of matcha.

We will go over these utensils/tools.

• Yuzamashi (water cooler)
• Chasen (matcha whisk)
• Chawan (matcha bowl)
• Chashaku (matcha scoop)

In order to make a cup of tea, you first must have boiling water. The Yuzamashi, or water cooler, is used to cool water down to the perfect temperature of 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is then poured into a Chawan (discussed later in this post) to make the matcha. Yuzamashi come in all different shapes and sizes, some of the most intricate made by hand with delicate designs. You can also simply use any ceramic container that is easy to pour out of to serve as a Yuzamashi. Using cooled water is essential for making matcha because using boiling water can ruin the matcha’s taste and nutrients.

Arguably the most important tool when creating matcha is the chasen, or matcha whisk. This tool is created from a single piece of bamboo, then split into an array of delicate tines, used to whisk the matcha powder into a foamy usucha, or knead it into a thick paste as koicha.

Chasen come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most common being 80-tine, 100-tine, 120-tine, and shin. While the number of tines does increase from the 80-tine whisk through to the 120-tine whisk, the most noticeable difference in use is the wider diameter handle of the higher-tined whisks. 

How to care for a chasen:

Among tea ceremony practitioners, chasen are seen as ‘consumables’, with the expectation that they will eventually wear down over time and need to be replaced. However, with the right care, these whisk can last for many years. Here are some important tips to keep in mind:

• always soak before using
• be careful while whisking
• gently clean after using
• reshape as necessary with a whisk-shaped drier.

A Chawan, (literally, “tea bowl”) is the centerpiece of most tea ceremonies. Many types of chawan are used in East Asian tea ceremonies. The choice of their use depends upon many considerations. There are many different chawans on the market including common marketplace bowls to high-end handmade products. In the end, your own personal chawan depends on your personal tastes and needs.

Aesthetics aside, there are practical uses of bowls that make useful chawan.  Part of a potter’s skill is balancing their artistic expression with this practicality. After all, what use is a chawan if you can’t use it to make tea? While some of these considerations are specific to a bowl’s use within a traditional ceremonial setting, many of these constraints arise simply from the physical requirements of making tea.

Size, shape and texture:

Ideally, a chawan is neither too big or too small. If the bowl is too big, there will be too much space for the water and you’ll end up sloshing water instead of whisking up enough froth. If the bowl is too small, you won’t have enough room to whisk. . A tea bowl should nestle quite comfortably in the hands, with a diameter somewhere between 11 and 16 centimeters (roughly 4.5 – 6 inches), depending on the shape of the bowl. Lastly, the lip of the bowl should not be so rough that drinking from it is difficult or uncomfortable, or that a cloth gets snagged on it while wiping it. Similarly the inside of the bowl should not be too rough, lest it damage the delicate tines of the chasen.

We have chawan available on this page:

The Chashaku is used to scoop up the perfect amount of matcha.

Chashaku is considered one of the three tools (or dōgu) that are considered essential. Those are the chawan , chasen, and—last but not least—the chashaku. In Japanese, chashaku literally translates to “tea scoop”. It’s basic job is to scoop matcha powder. After making matcha for some time, you might notice that using a regular teaspoon can make scooping out matcha powder difficult and messy. Matcha powder is usually kept in canisters or small lacquered boxes in order to preserve freshness. A standard teaspoon is simply not designed for the task of scooping the right amount. The chashaku is the perfect solution.

Shape and length:

Ideally, a chashaku is 18cm in length, made with almost a 48° curve at the base. The “scoop” should be flatter, and slightly wider than the rest of the body for measuring out matcha efficiently. One chashaku scoopful of matcha equates to roughly a third of a teaspoon of matcha powder. Two scoopfuls of powder equate to a standard amount for usucha style brewing (1/2 teaspoon).

Sources

https://www.tezumi.com/blogs/tezumi-insights/a-guide-to-chasen

https://www.tezumi.com/blogs/tezumi-insights/what-makes-a-bowl-a-chawan

https://mizubatea.com/blogs/news-1/about-chashaku