I now have my very own piece of Korean Hagi, and I am loving it. This cream white piece that is already starting to stain wonderfully. It is also a classic rice bowl shape, very similar to the Ido style teabowls that are so renown.
My biggest pet peeve on this bowl, which granted I have not fully tested to see if it is actually more my new chasen rather than the bowl itself. In all honesty all Chawans I have used previously have had a rather flat bottom, and this bowl shaped bottom is so rounded, I have been having an incredibly hard time whisky my matcha. Although I have only tried using my new 80 prong ( instead of 100 prong) chasen.
So more on this piece, feels great in hand, uses Buncheong Clay. Amazingly enough this is one of the few glazed pieces I have seen that almost actively seems to pull water underneath the clay, and in fact just having water sitting in the bowl the cracks will darken.
hello
ReplyDeleteYou say you have trouble whisking your matcha
Do you pass it through a matcha sieve first?
Try holding the kettle or yusamachi in one hand pour a little hot water whisk with the other hand at the same time and then add a bit more.
Matcha wisking becomes easy then .. even with a damaged chasen
best
Michel,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your advice, and yes I do sieve first. The real issue is I had for a long time been used to using a 100 prong whisk, which makes it a lot easier to get the big thick froth on the top of the tea after whisking. I had gotten a new 80 prong chasen, and I am unsure if its something to do with the smaller handle, the fact that the tines are not as far apart so it acts more like a spoon than a whisk, but with this new chasen, it has taken some trouble getting used to it. I can now produce somewhat acceptable matcha with that chasen, but I am still working on getting back to the thick foam on top of the matcha.