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The story behind our organic competition grade matcha

5 years ago today, I met Nakanishi san, one of the best and appraised organic tea farmers in Japan.
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Whisk wouldn’t be what it is today without Nakanishi san. His competition grade organic matcha is rare and highly sought-after; it instantly won my heart 5 years ago, and still does today. I didn’t have a brick-and-mortar store at the time, so selling these precious matcha was pretty difficult. I was mostly living off by doing matcha tastings on AirBnb Experiences. I’ve been truly grateful that he’s willing to sell his matcha to me when I didn’t have much business for him😅, and that he respected me as a female entrepreneur (ahem - unlike other big corps 🤨). Nakanishi san’s matcha is also the main reason for me to open a cafe, so I can actually serve it to more people in Vancouver.

appraised tea farm in Kyoto
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I was trying to build a strong branding for Whisk, so I’ve kept Nakanishi san as my best-kept secret! He’s the one that grows, harvests, processes, and packs all of our competition organic matcha: Kuri, Kikyo, Ume, and recently Asahi, from his tea farm directly to us in Vancouver!
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It hasn’t been easy to have this “secret” as sometimes people would like to find out the producer of our matcha, some with good intentions and some don’t. I kept my mouth zipped until today 😅   ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Why today? Because Facebook has reminded me that it’s been 5 years since we bond strongly with this independent, micro-lot, award-winning, organic tea farm in Kyoto. It brings me a lot of good memories and emotions, and also how much I truly appreciate his hard work, for the nature, environment and our health. I look forward to many more years to come to serve Nakanishi san’s matcha.
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本当に本当にありがとうございます 中西さん!

 

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Whisk Matcha Cafe is now open in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver, BC

WHISK MATCHA CAFE IS NOW OPEN
IN MOUNT PLEASANT, VANCOUVER

The day has finally come. Located at 39 Kingsway, Vancouver, Whisk Matcha Cafe has softly opened its door mid-June, and now it's officially open with full summer operating hours as follow:
Sun - Thu 9am - 6pm
Fri & Sat 9am - 6pm

Sharing the space with Level V Bakery, you can now get freshly baked goods (all plant-based) and specialty matcha drinks in one place, and we also serve specialty coffee from Moving Coffee, as well as smoothies from The Good Stuff Co.

We have limited dine-in spots available (3 double booth seats, 1 single booth seat and 1 bench seating). Please kindly respect physical distancing as we only allow one group inside for ordering takeout. Thank you for your understanding.

You can also place your order online at whiskmatchaxlevelv.square.site and pick up in store with no ordering minimum. Simply give us a call upon arrival 604-558-3232 and we will bring out to you. 

Thank you again for your continuous support. We look forward to meeting you at our brand new cafe.

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The Art of Chasen

Chasen, also called bamboo whisk, is an essential tool used for making matcha in Japanese ceremonial style. In this blog, we will talk about the material used, how-it's-made, varieties and how to care for chasen. 

1. Different Types of Bamboo

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There're 3 major types of bamboo used for making chasen: Yellow bamboo (Hachiku), Gold bamboo (Susudake), and black bamboo (Kurodake). Yellow bamboo is the most common and economic material for making mass-produced matcha bamboo whisk; it's smooth and soft in texture and  it's easy to carve, but meanwhile it has low durability and breaks easily. Golden bamboo is known for it's added durability, and aged golden bamboo makes more durable chasen but the supply is very limited. Black bamboo is the most heavy-duty material for making a matcha whisk, but it's high in density making it extra difficult to carve. Black bamboo chasen can last 3 times longer than regular yellow bamboo chasen.

There's also SMOKED golden bamboo, which is not to be confused with black bamboo. Smoked golden bamboo is extremely fragile and commonly for display and aesthetic purpose only.

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2. How chasen is made

Making chasen is a traditional art handed down for the past hundred years and made with the spirit of crafting without compromising. Most of hand-crafted chasen is made in Takayama, located in Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture. Only top quality bamboo can be made into chasen. Bamboo is harvested in the winter and will need to be boiled before the sun-dry process. The photo below show the development of chasen making in process.

chasen making process

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Step 1: Raw materials are usually soaked in warm water for easy carving.

Step 2: Peeled side of bamboo is cut vertically and divided into 16 individual pieces.

Step 3: The inner part of each piece removed leaving only the hard outer layer.

Step 4: Each of the 16 pieces tip is further sliced into 4 similar wide individual pieces summing up to 64 pieces of tips at this stage.

Step 5: Each 64th tip is further separated into two, creating a total of 128 tips with less than 1mm width each.

Step 6: The wider tips are pulled outward while the thinner ones pushed inwards to create two layers of tips: The outer layer and inner core.

Step 7: Each sharp corner of the wider tips are shredded and polished with knife for whisking matcha tea more smoothly at the Tea Ceremony.

Step 8: Each outer tips is further shredded until extremely thin to maximize flexibility.

Last step: Threads will be weaved onto each bristle to tighten them all together.

3. Chasen Artisan

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It takes about 2-3 years to learn how to make chasen, and 10 years to become a Chasen master.

Depending on how complicated the design is and pondate counts, one chasen takes about 2 - 5 hours to complete.4. Use of Chasen

There're different kinds of Chasen for different uses. The more tips (prongs) it has, the better froth you will get. Typically Chasen with more prongs is meant for Usucha - thin tea, and the one with less prongs is meant for Koicha - thick tea.

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 The ones with chubbier and shorter handle are for traditional matcha bowl, and the ones with slimmer and longer handle are fit for coffee mugs or glasses.

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If you still have any questions about your bamboo whisk, please email us: info@whiskmatcha.ca

 

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Whisk Matcha Official Launch Party @ Yaletown, Vancouver

To celebrate the official launch of Whisk Premium Matcha, we hosted a private launch party at a lounge room in Yaletown, Vancouver, and had 40 amazing friends and customers witnessed this special celebration. 

We had 3 matcha stations setup: Hot Organic Matcha, Cold Organic Matcha, and Pinnacle Gold Ceremonial Matcha. At the organic matcha tables, matcha lovers got a chance to explore different ways of making a perfect cup of matcha to their liking. They had the choice of adding organic honey, organic raw sugar, organic soy milk, organic almond milk, or half & half into their matcha. Usually we will start with a question like: how would you enjoy your coffee or other types of tea such as Orange Pekoe? Go with the same route to acquire the taste of matcha. 

matcha tasting party

Our ceremonial matcha table was a hit with people attempting their first matcha-whisking experience. It's not a quick fix to your caffeine craving; whisking matcha is a state of art, a meditation, and a getaway from daily stress and chaos. Our precious Pinnacle Gold matcha is perfect for this ritual - it's the best of the best artisanal matcha you could ever find.

matcha tasting party, matcha whisking

matcha whisking

Adding more fun to the party, attendees would need to answer some matcha-related trivia questions. Our young volunteers were serious about their job! You could't cheat and you'd have to give out the best answer you could ever think of.

Here comes the cake cutting. We ordered this beautiful matcha cake from a local patisserie chef by using our own organic Everyday grade. It's garnished with edible flowers and fresh assorted berries. 

matcha cake

Last but not the least, we had a draw of our grand prize winner, and the lucky winner got an artisanal Pinnacle Gold matcha with a handcrafted black bamboo scoop.

matcha party

At Whisk Matcha, we strives to connect people and promote a healthy, natural lifestyle in a modern and fun approach. Please stay tuned for our next local workshop and event!

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All set for launch!

It's been a year since we first had the idea of launching our premium matcha brand. Lately we've been working hard to take photos for our beautiful products. We did mostly outdoor thanks to the hot sunny days. I adore this Edo glass matcha bowl; it's such a beauty! Check out our final product photos of this gorgeous babe here.

 

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