Chasen Cream No. 7 · Golden Bamboo, 62 Tines · Usucha

Warm golden bamboo · black thread · around 62 fine, curled tines · one of a kind

A generous, wide-belled chasen in warm golden bamboo, bound in black thread. Around 62 fine outer tines flare outward and roll into neat curls at every tip — the curl is what lifts a soft, close-grained crema rather than large bubbles, making this one built for a luxurious usucha (thin matcha).

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.