Welcome to 72 Seasons of Tea!
Join me in my practice of returning to what matters, through people, places, and pages.
With life interrupted, I write mostly about tea, Zen, Taoism, Zhuangzi, and Japanese learning — exploring the contemplative, linguistic, and aesthetic dimensions of nature, culture, and spirituality as ways of living more meaningfully and spaciously amid life's imperfections.
All subscribers will receive:
Access to the full archive since April 2024, including essays from my three series: Conversations Mostly from Kyoto, Zen-Taoist Living, and Poetry & Roots.
Paid subscribers will also receive:
My 2024-25 photo essay collection《茶禅人生 | My Encounter with Tea in Kyoto》 → click here for download link.
An early digital essay collection of《余白随筆 | Making Space for What Matters》by the end of 2026, with a limited print edition available for purchase later.
The warm satisfaction of supporting an independent writer.
If you enjoy my writings, please consider a paid subscription or donating a cup of tea.
I’m Peck Gee Chua.
Progress: Tea and Japanese Learning
2026: Learning to live with spaciousness amid old and new health challenges. Won first prize for the school-wide Japanese language speech contest.
2025-current: Now progressing into Japanese N3 intermediate intensive level after successfully completing the pre-intermediate level in five months.
2024-current: Studying an intermediate-level Taiwanese and Chinese tea course with Naoko Iwasaki at Chazen Sodo.
2024-25: Completed 18-week Chinese tea courses on tea, geography, history, technique, culture, and people with Vivian Zhang at Eastern Leaves.
2024-current: Started my journey into the Japanese way of tea with Dairik Amae.
Life before 2024
Lived in 14 cities, 7 countries
I used to live in 21 West End, Upper West Side of Manhattan. For the 11th time in 12 years, we have now moved to our latest house in Kyoto since May 2024. Ever since Manhattan, I have been moving East, inching closer to its edges.
From Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, and now Kyoto. Prior to New York, it was Washington DC, Dili, Jakarta, Minneapolis, Singapore, and various cities in Malaysia. These are not just cities I’ve traveled to but places I have had the privilege to have called home - albeit fleetingly.
I am a mother of two. And for the past decade, I have been an international consultant for early childhood development policy, primarily working with UNICEF at its HQ and two regional offices across Asia Pacific.
The unexpected surprises that I got thrown into along the way are perhaps the most defining moments in my life: miscarried our second unborn child; relocated from Kathmandu to Kuala Lumpur to escape air pollution, which led to my passion for the climate change and early childhood intersection; diagnosed with chronic health issues two years in a row.
Writing on Substack since 30 April 2024 has become the anchor I return to — to make sense of beauty in the broken places, and to what matters.
Publications: OpEds, Travel, Essays
White Spaciousness in the Heart: Kokoro no Yohaku 心の余白 (Kyoto Journal, Issue #110: Color and Kyoto, 2026)
Taoism and Tea: Applications of Eastern Philosophy in Times of Crisis (Co-authored with Yuxuan Francis Liu; Philosophy and Beyond Essay Contest, 2nd Prize, 2025)
Embracing the Unexpected: An essay on tea, zen and life (Musubi Academy, 13 June 2025).
Tea, Meditation and Inner Peace in Kyoto (The Straits Times, Singapore, June 2024). See full version here.
Consumed: The dangers of our mindless passion for work (The Loss & Damage Collaboration, April 2024). See ‘Less is More’ video by my tea meditation teacher
Why Sitting is the New Smoking: My sudden diabetes diagnosis (The Straits Times, Singapore, April 2024). See full version here.
Tiny Lungs, Hefty Price: Air pollution's unequal burden on young children (The Straits Times, Singapore, June 2023)
Fresh Air, Fun Play: Air pollution's initiatives in Asia to restore play in childhood (Play Rights Magazine, International Play Association, June 2023)
Raising Our Voices as Mothers: Our climate, our children's future (Capita, January 2023)
Policy Publications: Early Childhood and Climate Change
ECD Climate COP28 Brief - 3 pages (ARNEC, December 2023)
Air Pollution in Early Childhood Advocacy Brief - 10 pages (Vital Strategies & ARNEC, November 2023)
Early Childhood and Climate Change: Advocacy Brief (UNICEF EAPRO, January 2023)
Growing Steady and Strong: Early childhood regional guidance in East Asia and the Pacific (UNICEF EAPRO, December 2021)
Air Pollution and Early Childhood Development in Asia-Pacific (ARNEC Connections, December 2019)
Lit review: Early childhood care and education (ECCE) personnel in low- and middle-income countries (UNESCO, January 2015)
