Chasen No. 106 · White Bamboo, 90 Tines · Usucha

Pale natural bamboo · black thread · very fine, high-count · one of a kind

Classic pale (white) bamboo bound in black thread, with a remarkably dense dome of around 90 very fine outer tines curled inward at the tips — an exceptionally high count, and a head that takes an artisan the best part of a day to split by hand. It raises an exceptionally smooth, airy foam on thin matcha (usucha).

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.