A young Chicana reinvents the matcha whisk

On any day of the week in the Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) neighborhood of Echo Park, Sunset Boulevard is peppered with vendors, joggers, dog walkers and café regulars clutching their matcha lattes or cold brews as they power walk down Sunset or around the famous Echo Park lake. Inside a home just a few blocks away, Claudia Vazquez, an Echo Park local, prepares her matcha with a tool she designed herself: a modern twist to the traditional whisk, manufactured entirely in Los Angeles, called the Matcha Star.

Vazquez, a Chicana designer and small business owner who grew up in Echo Park, is the founder of a young product venture focused on that single object. Her whisk: a durable, spring coil whisk with a notably contemporary design, was born out of her personal frustration with existing tools that wouldn’t really get her matcha as foamy as she wanted.

“I was looking for a way to make a foamy Matcha latte. Typically, foamy lattes are reserved for cappuccinos or coffees,” Vazquez said in an interview with CALÓ news. “So whenever I order a matcha at a coffee shop, I’d run the risk of getting one that is flat.”

From daily routine to product idea

Vazquez is a regular matcha drinker and has her own ritual, as much as the making of the beverage itself. Traditional bamboo whisks were beautiful but could be delicate and difficult to clean. Achieving the perfect layer of foam often required time, technique and patience. She took matters into her own hands and redesigned the experience.

“It took three years to make because I designed it. I invented it. I patented it. It took three years through the production process to get it perfect the way I envisioned it,” said Vazquez.

Her whisk blends thoughtful design with everyday practicality. “It is easy to grip and simple to use, is eco-friendly and creates a rich, creamy foam. No special training is required,” she added. “In use, it makes clump-free foamy matcha in seconds without batteries or power and can also be used for lattes, protein powder, collagen powder, cocktails or anything you want to foam.”

The goal behind the Matcha Star was not to replace the history of matcha making or the centuries-old Japanese tradition of making that earthly tea, but to design a tool suited to contemporary use, easy to clean and accessible to people who drink matcha daily rather than ceremonially.  

The result of years of laboring over her love for this reinvention is a whisk featuring a spring-coil design engineered to create that perfect foam, a weighted handle engineered to support and last you forever, and a consistent whisking motion. The design process took more than a year and involved repeated prototyping and testing.

Choosing Los Angeles manufacturers

In the late 19th and early 20th Century, L.A. was a major manufacturing hub with oil, agriculture and automotive production. Later, this industrial powerhouse expanded to textiles, fashion and much more. While product design posed challenges for Vazquez, navigating the city’s manufacturing hubs was easier than expected. 

“I started reaching out to manufacturers in L.A. for certain parts. I found local partners who aligned with my vision for the whisk. In Burbank, I found a company, Three D Plastics, that did the injection molding, and then I had the coils made in El Monte, at Precision Coil Spring Company,” Vazquez added. “The packaging is made in Torrance, at OK Color America Corporation. So everything is within fifteen miles of my house.” Rather than outsourcing overseas, which is common for startups, Vazquez chose to build relationships with local manufacturers.

The success Vazquez achieved came after years of hard work and persistent outreach, during which she built a small network of partners across the city. “It is still very possible to make things in L.A. and not have to send items overseas and wait for weeks to receive a prototype.” Each step required in-person meetings and close collaboration with local businesses. “To my surprise, these manufacturers were busy. A lot of them are still thriving.”

According to Vazquez, working locally enabled her to adjust her designs quickly and ensure quality. Still, it required patience and flexibility, as she was not their only client.

As a Chicana woman who owns a small business and works in design, Vazquez is also conscious of how cultural narratives are shaped and marketed. Matcha, once associated primarily with Japanese tea traditions, has become a staple of the global tea and wellness industry. Vazquez approaches that context carefully and with respect. 

“I’m not claiming ownership of matcha,” Vazquez said. “I’m participating in it, respectfully, from my own perspective. You can use the whisk for cocktails, protein and collagen powder.” Her whisk does not incorporate overt cultural symbolism; instead, its identity comes from how and where it is made, and it is easy to use. “It reflects L.A.,” she said. “It reflects the people who built it, the vision I had for the everyday hustle and grind to make it in this city.”

A small-scale launch and looking ahead

Vazquez released the whisk on January 15th, 2025. She’s been busy selling directly to customers at pop-up shops and online. “I didn’t expect to have this much fun showing people how easy it is to have a foamy Matcha latte,” said Vazquez. For now, Vazquez plans to continue producing her product and is looking to work with local businesses.

“If there are any local businesses, coffee or tea shops that want to collab, I am open to that,” Vazquez added. L.A. is shaped by waves of migration, displacement and reinvention, so her project offers a counterpoint to disposable design culture.

“People think they need to go overseas or somewhere else to make their products,” Vazquez added. “But everything I needed to make the Matcha Star was already here.”