Friday, December 19, 2014

Really Need a Chasen Bamboo Whisk?


Hesitation to start matcha

I sometimes see people making matcha with an electrical milk frother. Someone even uses an ordinary beater. Matcha beginners might wonder if you really need a chasen (bamboo whisk) to make matcha. For the people who want to try matcha for a bit to see if they will like it, purchasing chasen can be a reason to hesitate to try it. People might have an electric frother, but not a chasen. If you can use the electric frother to substitute chasen, it will be wonderful, don’t you think?


Chasen vs Electrical frother

I have never used an electric frother or an ordinary beater for brewing matcha. Today, I tried making matcha with a chasen, an electrical frother and an ordinary beater. I took a video of it. Please check out what result I got.
If you don’t see the subtitles, please check your setting on YouTube.


Use electric frother

Here is the bottom line. The tea made with the beater was not delicious, so I don’t recommend it. The electric frother can make as tasty tea as a chasen does. So, if you want to try matcha just to see if you like it, use an electric milk frother. It won’t be a problem and helps you save money. However, there is still a certain difference between the ones made with chasen and electrical one. If you like matcha and want to continue consuming it, I recommend you to get a chasen. You will appreciate the gentle foam created with a fine art of bamboo.

Need Chasen? It’s available here >>> www.everyonestea.com

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18 comments:

  1. Fascinating! I don't have an electric frother, so I have been wondering about this. (And, you are brave to use a metal whisk on your nice looking bowl. I would be afraid of scratching it!) Thank you for the very interesting results!

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    1. Hi, Tea Apprentice-san,
      Thanks for watching! You are right. I might have damaged my cup. It can be an negative aspect of the milk frother. People should be careful using it on their precious cups. Thanks for your advice!

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  2. Hi!

    This is a bit random, but the reason that I contacted you, is because few weeks ago I draw a picture based on one of your pictures, of your grandfather. I like drawing and wanted to practice drawing different kind of people I usually do, so I stumbled across of the picture of your grandfather drinking tea (and it's a very nice picture by the way). I only now came to check where the picture originally was published and found your amazing blog. I love tea as well, even tho at the moment I'm stuck with white tea. And as I live in Finland, it's very hard to come by Japanese tea (tho I have once tasted it, it was very good!).

    But the purpose of my commenting here is that I wanted to share the picture I drew with you. I have tried to figure out a way to send it to you, unfortunately without success, so I'll share a link to my blog in here where you can see the picture. Sorry about this terribly long comment. :)

    http://coloursofillusion.blogspot.fi/

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    Replies

    1. Hi, Hanna-san,
      Thank you very much for the link of your blog! I love your drawing. It is very nice. I guess that it is very difficult to draw the expression of the face. Your drawing is not just a copy of the picture but also it expresses the emotion of my grandpa. On your drawing, I can tell that he is careful on sipping it and eager to savor the flavor of green. Thank you very much for sharing it.
      By the way, I love the photos on your blog. You have a keen sense of choosing the subject. They have interesting compositions with different colors and angle of view. You also play with the depth of field. They are very interesting to look at. Cool blog!

      Delete

    2. Thank you very much, I am honored that you liked the drawing and my photos too. Drawing people is difficult, especially the emotions, as you said and I'm happy to hear that you found them in the drawing. It' made me very happy that I found a way to show it to you. I wish very good New Year to you and your family and many beautiful moments drinking tea with loved ones along the year!

      Delete

  3. Hi Kohei-san,

    I just wanted to wish you and your wife a Very Happy New Year! Also thank you for enhancing my year with your information, videos and products. You have a beautiful site and I love the blog. See you in the New Year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Thank you, Lin-san!
      Thank you for leaving many comments on my blog. I enjoyed communicating with you. Receiving comments from readers makes me happy. I hope you have a wonderful new year!!

      Delete

  4. http://www.tea-talk.be/blog/2015/1/24/chasen

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  5. I have a hand frother but haven't tried to use it to whisk matcha. I thought the metal material might cause a difference or even ruin the taste. But after watching your video, I'm curious to try it myself. It's interesting!

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    Replies

    1. You might be right. Metal material might deteriorate the taste of tea, which is like that you experience in sencha brewing using a metallic- strainer teapot I guess the matcha has richer taste than sencha, so I would not notice the deterioration.
      One negative aspect of the electric frother is that it creates rough and firm foam. When I sipped it, the tea was not as smooth as the one made by chasen. The taste was okay but I felt roughness of forth. I should have insist more about it in this video.

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  6. I recently found many useful information in your website especially this blog page. Among the lots of comments on your articles. Thanks for sharing.
    sencha

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  7. I'm a Matcha virgin and after a very bitter first cup thought I must be doing something wrong !! I have adjusted the amount and now after seeing your blog will be buying the appropriate whisk, many thanks for the information...looking forward to the next cup now !!lol

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  8. Add a teaspoon of coconut oil in it as its hot instead of milk! I feel it really gives it a different spin

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  9. Thank for for making this experiment. Love it!

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  11. Wow this was really informative thank you! May I ask what the taste differences are with different matcha blends? In the past I have only enjoyed the sweet matcha with milk, however I recently tried a genmai matcha (gifted to me by a Japanese seller with a pen) and loved it! When looking at buying a more traditional matcha I became overwhelmed by the different types.

    I'm searching for a matcha tea that is not bitter and mixed with hot water, and does not contain any sugar. Can you please advise? (or anyone else for that matter).

    Thanking you in advance.

    ReplyDelete

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