Care of matchawares

Non-oxidized tea
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debunix
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Mon Dec 25, 2017 12:50 pm

I'm new to matcha in the past few months, and am trying to figure out how to best care for my matcha implements. I want them to last as long as possible by caring for them well.

The chawans are easy: I make sure they're rinsed with hot water, and dried with a soft towel. If, as often happens, I continue with the chawan for the rest of the day and the next, it will get a wash with baking soda to remove any tea stains, but nothing harsher than that.

For the chasen, I'm whisking it though a fresh batch of hot water, usually hotter than I use for the matcha itself, in the same chawan, making sure any green spots are rinsed off (spot rinsing with water direct from the kettle if needed, then leaving it on the ceramic chasen stand to dry, and storing it there between uses. Still wondering: does it matter how hot the water is that I use for the rinsing? Is it OK as long as there no visible matcha left and it dries thoroughly before the next use?

Lastly, the chashaku: right now I'm using a wooden tea scoop by Ondřej Sedlák, which easily scoops the right amount from my tin of matcha. But the matcha gets into the grooves, and using water to wash it and scrub those bits out seems likely to lead to cracking, whether of this lovely wooden scoop, or of a traditional bamboo chashaku (I haven't got one of those yet). It seems like wiping with a soft dry clean cloth after vigorously tapping it to try to knock off as much as possible is the best I can do for now, but.....what do you do?

Right now I'm using a small stainless steel strainer I already had for sifting the matcha, and it works great and is easy to just rinse or toss in the dishwasher if needed. But....if you use a traditional sifter--a matcha furui?--how do you care for that?
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Baisao
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Location: ATX

Tue Jan 30, 2018 12:41 am

I recommend using a Magic Eraser for cleaning the chawan. I use it on all my ceramics when I want to remove tea stains. After a brief soaking in warm water, the Magic Eraser wipes the stains away with very little effort. It will not damage the ceramic and has no added chemicals since it is just foam. I’ve been using these regularly for a decade now without incident.

It sounds to me like you are doing fine with the chasen. Water that is too hot could hypothetically alter the curl of the tines. I think it would be nice if it developed its own patina from usage, in fact I think it is considered ideal.

I think you are correct about not using water on your scoop. Have you tried a dry brush? It would be perfect for getting into the cracks and lifting out powdered tea.

HTH
Noonie
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:30 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Tue Jan 30, 2018 4:42 am

I’ve been enjoying Matcha for over a year now, and your cleaning methods are similar to mine. No soap or chemical ever touches any teaware and it’s the same for Matcha-ware.

I have a papertowel I use to dry the chawan after I’ve heated it, before the Matcha goes in, and I use this now wet papertowel to clean the chasaku afterwards. I rinse the SS suffer under a hot stream of tap water.

Enjoy!
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Nis
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Location: France

Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:14 am

Indeed, the scoop you just wipe off with a dry cloth.
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debunix
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Location: Los Angeles, CA

Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:51 am

Thanks all! Glad to hear I'm not so far off in my techniques.
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chamekke
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Location: British Columbia, Canada

Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:49 pm

Towards the end of a Japanese tea ceremony, the host fills the chawan with cold water and whisks the chasen in that. The cold water re-strengthens the tines so that they're less prone to breakage. (Also, the guests can now enjoy hearing what whisking with cold water sounds like -- it's higher-pitched, more breezy-sounding, than the same action with hot water. But I digress.)

However! Once you're back in the mizuya (anteroom), you'll often give the chasen a very thorough second clean, especially after making koicha. If traces of matcha are still clinging to the tines, we pinch each tine -- or maybe a cluster of 2-3 tines -- with thumb and forefinger and wipe them from root to tip. I find that matcha residue is particularly likely to cling to the sides, in which case you really are looking at a tine-by-tine wipe. If you're very keen, you'd be surprised how many traces of old matcha you can find. Anyhow, you wipe like this, wipe, rinse (always with cold water), until you're satisfied with the result.

At least, this is how my tea sensei taught me. For all I know, mileages elsewhere may vary.

If you're lost you can look
And you will find me
Tine after tine
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debunix
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Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:46 pm

Thank you for the tips. Wondering now if a fine pastry brush might serve to gently really clean a chasen....of course, one only used for the chasen and never for floury pastry!
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chamekke
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Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:32 am

debunix wrote:
Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:46 pm
Thank you for the tips. Wondering now if a fine pastry brush might serve to gently really clean a chasen....of course, one only used for the chasen and never for floury pastry!
Maybe! You'd want to be very sure you weren't abrading the tines at all, however, as they can get awfully delicate with age. The trickiest spot is always the sides of the tines (= where they're parallel to each other), as they can be quite hard to reach. Hence the pinched-fingers approach. It takes a bit of time but it usually does the trick.

If you do try using a fine pastry brush to clean your chasen, I would love to hear how you do!
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