Chasen No. 114 · White Bamboo, 80 Tines · Usucha

Pale natural bamboo · black thread · very fine, tightly curled kazuho · one of a kind

One of the finest heads we brought back: a very dense, high-count crown of around 80 exceptionally fine outer tines whose tips curl into a lacy dome, shaved from pale (white) bamboo and bound in black thread. Made for the silkiest, most delicate usucha (thin matcha) 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.