Description

Japanese Matcha Tea Bowl (Chawan), white-brown, ceramic, 13 x 8 cm. The artfully hand-crafted Japanese Matcha tea bowl in characteristic tea cup shape and white and brown color pattern is perfectly suitable for the preparation and relishing of Matcha Green Tea. Unlike Japanese leaf green tea, Matcha tea is usually prepared in the same vessel than it is drunk from, mostly a dedicated Matcha tea bowl. The shape of a Matcha tea bowl essentially resembles that of “common” tea bowls, with the former being tendentiously bigger than the latter, due to the space requirement arising from the process of whisking the matcha powder in the hot water by means of a Matcha Whisk (Chasen). There are two characteristic basic shapes of Matcha tea bowls, one of which is the tampered or concave shape that is typical for many other tea bowls, too, while the other one is that of a low-walled, vertical mug with a relatively flat, only lightly concave bottom.

The Matcha tea bowl (Chawan) is an essential tool of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, which is all about the preparation of Matcha tea. At this, the Matcha powder is put into the Matcha tea bowl, poured over with hot water previously tempered in a cooling vessel (Yuzamashi), and then whisked until frothy with a special Matcha Whisk (Chasen). A distincition is made between „Koicha“ (strong, thick Matcha tea) and „Usucha“ (light, thin Matcha tea), which are both prepared served in the same type of Matcha cup, each at specific times during the tea ceremony. „Chawan“ is both the Japanese and the Chinese word for tea cup or tea bowl and in Japan is also used for the Matcha cup. Japan has long developed its very own individual style tea ware handicrafts. This becomes obvious, for example, in the design of the characteristic Japanese Sidehandle Teapot (Kyusu), but also in the art of creating Matcha tea bowls. Among Japanese tea ceramic artists, the Matcha tea bowl is considered as one of the most demanding work pieces at all.

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