Chasen Cream No. 4 · Golden Bamboo, 64 Tines · Usucha

Warm golden bamboo · black thread · 64 fine latticed tines · one of a kind

Warm honey-gold bamboo throughout, bound in black thread with a neat tassel at the collar. The head opens into a broad bell of 64 fine outer tines that cross in a lattice before curling at the tips — an easy, everyday chasen (matcha whisk) for a light, even usucha foam.

Hand-cut from a single piece of bamboo in Takayama, Nara — the district that has made Japan's tea whisks for five centuries. We spent three days there going workshop to workshop; four artisans agreed to sell to us, several met through the town's chasen museum where the makers gather. One of a kind — we have only this piece.

Five years from standing bamboo to the first cut, then split by hand tine by tine with a single blade. Why a Takayama chasen costs what it does →

Care: rest on a whisk holder (kusenaoki), rinse in warm water only, air-dry. Never soak or machine-wash.