Chavan for Matcha

matcha chavan, bowl, or chawan

A matcha bowl is not just a bowl

Before us is not just a large tea bowl, a chavan is a place where matcha is prepared and, as a rule, this matcha is then drunk from it. This product is truly the most important tool, literally a portal through which matcha materializes, there are no teapots and gaiwans like in the Chinese tea ceremony, for the Japanese everything revolves around the chavan and the matcha inside. A handmade chavan, specifically handmade, because as a rule, a matcha bowl embodies the entire visual of the Japanese tea ceremony: it is at it that we constantly look while drinking the infusion and changing our state. You can read more about how to brew matcha, prepare it correctly, and more about different types of chavans in detail on our text about japanese tea ceremony.

What should be the right ceramic chavan?

Cool, if it is a handmade Ukrainian chavan, here is the same one that I made. Haha! Made from Ukrainian clay, in a workshop in Kyiv, completely handmade, even during glazing, because we use a brush to emphasize the texture on our products by revealing the glaze. Like our river stone chawan. This is a real chavan! But seriously, a quality bowl should be:

  • ceramic, because there is no better material for this tool on the planet
  • the chavan should be from 300 ml to 400 ml or 500 ml, with a margin
  • thick walls, so that the matcha bowl is comfortable to hold in your hands and the temperature of the infusion is correctly distributed
  • a flat bottom, so as not to damage the matcha whisk, and you can calmly whip up a delicious foam

The Japanese matcha bowl and handmade ceramics are very closely related, so to this must have list I want to add that our copy is not a factory work, each of them is made correctly, as the Japanese have done from the very beginning, each chavan is a separate story, a separate, original, unique product, made by the hands of a master. In this case, a Ukrainian one. Each copy has its own unique shape, its texture, its own glaze opening, and this makes these chavans real. I like them so much that I use them every day not only for matcha, but also drink different teas by brewing them in a large cast iron tetsubin teapot. Yummy!

Chawan for matcha or tyawan for matcha?

I always remember linguistic moments when I write about something from the heart, and because in tea culture, a word that means “something” and is pronounced “somehow” often takes root. The correct transliteration of the word “tea” from Japanese is “tya”, not “cha”, because “cha” is tea in Chinese. Therefore, the words chawan for matcha can be called “correct”. But we are unlikely to hear such a thing anywhere in the Nenka region, so we will say it correctly – like all Japanese words in the Chinese style: chawan for matcha. But!

If you want to buy a chawan as a gift or order a chawan for yourself, don’t worry, we have both!