A tea strainer made to honor both the aroma of good loose leaf and the small choreography of pouring it. The fine 40-mesh cup catches even the smallest sencha or gyokuro fragments; the long handle balances cleanly across a mug or a yunomi; the proportions feel right in the hand from the first use.
What looks simple is technically uncommon. Most fine-mesh strainers in this size need a reinforcement ring around the cup to keep their shape—a ring that traps tea leaves and slows cleaning. Three Snow's wire-craft technique uses a heavier-than-standard SUS304 stainless wire that holds its form without any reinforcement at all, leaving the mesh clean to rinse and easy to wipe dry. Over that, a food-safe gold plating—antibacterial and compliant with Japanese food-safety standards—suppresses the metallic note untreated steel can carry and lets the natural fragrance of the tea come through. Pink Gold is a copper-gold alloy that gently patinas toward warm copper with use; Yellow Gold is 24K and stays bright. Both finishes share the same wire-craft underneath.
Excellent for Japanese green teas, black teas, and herbal infusions; equally good for sifting matcha powder for a latte or for catching ginger fibers out of an infusion. Each strainer ships in a small gift box, which makes it a natural gift for a tea drinker—or for anyone who appreciates how Japanese craftsmanship treats an everyday object as something worth refining. Three Snow has been making wire-craft kitchen tools in Tsubame-Sanjo since 1963; this is one of the few that earns a place at the table itself.
Specifications
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Material: SUS304 stainless steel with pink gold plating (copper-gold alloy; patinas with use)
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Size (product): ø 3.27 × W 1.65 × H 4.72 in
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Size (package): 3.35 × 8.66 × 1.97 in
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Weight (product): 0.077 lb
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Weight (shipping): 0.143 lb
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Origin: Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata, Japan
Care & Handling
The plating is food-safe gold; any color change or wear with use is purely cosmetic and the strainer remains safe to use. Pink Gold is designed to patina toward copper tones with use—this is intended, not damage. Do not clean with sodium hypochlorite (bleach), which can discolor the plating. Dishwasher use is not recommended, as it may dull the finish. If the plating wears significantly over years of use, re-plating service is available through Three Snow.
