Tea Specialist (Chashi)

A tea specialist, or chashi, is a contextual term for a person involved in assessing tea, refining it, blending it, and shaping its flavor for a particular use. It is not a single universally defined license or job title; the word is used in tea-producing areas, wholesalers, tea shops, and processing settings for people whose judgment is based on experience.

How it differs from a tea wholesaler

A tea wholesaler refers to a business that buys, sorts, stores, refines, and sells tea. A chashi, by contrast, focuses on the person making sensory and technical decisions: how to evaluate the leaves, how to refine them, and how to approach blending. A tea wholesaler may employ tea specialists, and similar roles may also appear in tea shops or tea-processing companies.

The work of a chashi is most closely connected with what happens after harvest. They consider aroma, color, particle condition, astringency, umami, and aftertaste, then think about how the tea should perform when prepared as usucha, koicha, latte, or in sweets.

The role in matcha

For matcha, quality judgment before and after powdered processing is especially important. Stone milling is a general term for a traditional grinding method, but not all matcha is stone-milled. ICHIZEN’s Uji matcha is selected and refined by Wakimoto Jokoen in Kyoto Uji, then machine-milled into an ultra-fine, uniform powder.

For buyers, the practical point is not to judge by the title “tea specialist” alone. It is more useful to look at who evaluated the tea, how it was refined, and what use it was intended for. This helps when choosing matcha for thin tea, thick tea, lattes, or cooking. For background on the region, see the guide to Uji matcha.