When you want to make your matcha in the traditional Japanese style, it's essential to invest in a proper Japanese tea set. A basic tea set will include a chawan (matcha bowl), chasen (matcha whisk), and chashaku (matcha scoop). If you want a complete Japanese tea set, however, you should also get a furui (tea sift), and a kusenaoshi (chasen holder). By the way, this is only if you want to enjoy matcha at home, casually. If you're going to make matcha as per the ways of Chado, you need much more equipment. So, if you want to make a proper bowl of frothy green matcha, if nothing else, you should always have quality matcha tea powder and a chasen. So how do we take care of the matcha whisk to ensure its longevity for years of umami-rich tea bowls to come? (Read more)
In our recent blog post, we talked about the history of the Japanese tea sage — Sen no Rikyu. Without a doubt, he had a significant effect on The Way of Tea in Japan, and his legacy continues to this day. Ultimately there are three separate schools of Chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) that follow his teachings to this day, although all slightly varying. These schools refer to "San Senke" — Three Sen Families.(Read more)
Sen no Rikyu (1522 – 1591) is known by everyone to have the most profound influence on chanoyu, the Japanese "Way of Tea". Also known as matcha tea ceremony. Rikyu took to tiny grass-hut tea houses for his tea practices and kept promoting the wabi-sabi style of tea ceremony that he and his tea master started. (Read more)
Chashitsu is the Japanese term for a tea room. It is a little hut, resembling a house, where Japanese tea ceremonies (chanoyu) would take place. Following tradition, matcha green tea is always served in the chashitsu, alongside with some simple sweets prepared by the tea master. It is said that chashitsu started appearing during the Sengoku period (mid-15th century to early 17th century). Before then, tea was commonly enjoyed in separate rooms and not in individual tea huts. (Read more)
Teacups! They come in so many different shapes and sizes. Growing up in the west, I was always used to drinking tea from giant mugs. And the more absurdly giant the cup was — the better! I still remember like it was yesterday, the day I first tried tea from a tiny teacup, which barely fit in my fingers. It seemed it wasn’t even enough tea for half a sip. However, that half a sip was incomparable to any of the giant tea gulps I’ve had before!
There exist many different styles of teacups used for both the tea ceremony and casual tea drinking. Let’s take a look at each one. (Read more)
