About

This is a reference for Japanese tea — the leaf, the implements, the way (chadō), the aesthetic it grew from, and the practice of making a bowl. It is for anyone who wants to understand tea: its history, its terms, and how it is actually done.

What it is

A place to read about Japanese tea carefully. Where we can, we name the sources we drew from, and where the tradition is uncertain or contested, we say so rather than smoothing it over.

Who writes it

We do, because we like tea and the tea ceremony and wanted a clear place to learn about both. We are not claiming to be tea masters; the aim is to get the tradition right and to keep learning it.

What it is not

It is not a spiritual text. Tea has a real relationship to Zen, and we cover that as history and practice — the ordinary attention of doing one thing at a time, described in those terms.

If you find an error, it matters to us. Tell us, and we will fix it.