Tea & Stillness is a small site about Chinese tea culture and slow living, written for foreign readers who are curious but have no idea where to start. It began as a five-article test, and has since grown to eleven articles, still at a slow, deliberate pace.
What you will find here
Three threads run through the site. First, how to brew: simple methods, water temperature, and the mistakes beginners usually make. Second, what tea actually tastes like: the main tea families, in plain language, without charts to memorise. Third, tea and slow living: a short evening ritual, and why a cup of tea so often comes before words in Chinese hospitality.
Start with any of these:
- How to Brew Chinese Tea for Beginners
- Types of Chinese Tea — Green, Black, Oolong, Pu-erh: What Actually Tastes Different
- A 10-Minute Tea Ritual to Slow Down Your Evening
- Chinese Teaware for Beginners: What You Need, and What You Don't
- Why Tea Is Served First: Hospitality in Chinese Tea Culture
- How to Buy Loose-Leaf Tea Without Overpaying
- Gongfu vs Mug Brewing: Two Ways to Brew the Same Tea
- How to Store Tea So It Stays Fresh
- The Six Kinds of Chinese Tea, in Plain Language
- Pu-erh, in Plain Language: Sheng vs Shou
- White Tea for Beginners: What It Is and How to Brew It
- Yellow Tea for Beginners: What It Is and How to Brew It
What this site is not
It is not a shop, and it carries no ads or affiliate links for now. It is not medical advice: tea is discussed here as culture and everyday practice, not as a treatment for anything. And it is not a test of correctness. If a method in these articles does not suit your taste, adjusting it is not doing it wrong — it is how you learn what you like.
The writing will stay short, practical, and calm either way.