Cloudwalker Teas Send Message

Ok. I’m not going to lie: I broke off 4g of this tea, put it into an 80ml 1980s red clay yixing teapot, heated my water to a fisheye boil, cooled to 96 degrees C and started steeping. I rinsed for ten seconds and poured off. Then steeped for 45 seconds. The first pour was incredibly dark red, tasted slightly green with that classic pu erh earthiness, and smelled of a fall day in the woods. Energy for such a young, sheng pu erh was mellow and relaxing. I kept resteeping this tea, 20+ times and it was still going strong when I stopped. I’ll probably use less leaf next time. All around, I liked this tea, and it’s only going to get better with age. There’s also quite a bit of tea here for the price as well.

Dark. Earthy. Very smooth pu erh. This time when I drank it though I tried to be present with the tea, as sometimes my mind starts to drift to mundane daily living if I don’t focus. This time I got a hint of the exotic, even a bit of spice, anise and cloves maybe? Just a hint mind you, but really added to the drinking experience. Energy left me wired as usual for the day!

The old tasting notes for this tea stand: smooth, clean and ending on a sweet note. The energy is a potent mix of yin/yang. So I was already a very happy camper this morning after waking up tired. I’ve also been trying a new methodology to enhance the chi experience from tea: following good tea with a rare form of internal kung fu I learned while in Taiwan. Conclusion so far? Really enhances the energy experience of the tea!

This is a tea we will be adding to the Cloudwalker family of teas. A shou pu erh from the 90s, this tea is buttery smooth on the palate leaving a lasting hui gan and the flavours are light and hint of hazelnut. There is almost no aroma to the infusion, but the chi packs an instant punch that will wake you up, regardless how tired.

It’s been awhile since I had this tea and it’s always a pleasant surprise. Takgoti’s recent review reminded me to try it again. I had never really been able to pull out the white grape flavour, but I definitely know what others mean now. The aroma is so honey/apricot sweet and the flavour matches. Energy is potent, and followed with a pu erh, particularly so. An excellent tea, to be sure.

So I tried a slightly younger version of this tea today. Still 1980s, but a looser leaf cake. I wasn’t sure if I should add a new tea since it’s not easily available, and I have to special order it from Taiwan. Anyway, this one has less spice, more sweetness and the hui gan is looooong lasting. The chi is more mellow, and dare I say, more refined? The drinking longevity of this tea is still pretty incredible, I have to say. I think I went to 8 steepings before the leaves even started to look exhausted. I really like these sheng cakes…

Earthy, woodsy, and with a hint of spice, this tea goes down smooth and leaves a lasting hui gan in my mouth, a velvety mouth-feel long after consumption. This is probably the darkest, earthiest pu erh that Cloudwalker Teas carries. Lasting, yang energy as well lights the inner spirit on fire and leaves it blazing through the day.

There’s just something about drinking a tea right from the cake it’s been aging in. I broke off several chunks of this tea this morning, popped them into my purple sand yixing pot dedicated to such purposes and promptly steeped up repeated infusions of this fine elixir. The energy of this tea is awesome. I’ll be pumped all day at this rate. My thoughts on flavour stand: there’s a hint of smoke though this time that’s coming out a bit more, and nuts, and the pu erh maltiness is a bit more pronounced than in the past. Great way to start the day.

Drank this tea this morning by accident, thought I was pouring some other leaves into my little teapot in the bleary-eyed semi-darkness of the morning hours. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this was the tea that I tasted! Such a soothing energy. Calming. Unlike most pu erh, it has a bit of a floral hint to the aroma and flavour, while retaining some traditional pu erh malty darkness.

Ok. So I went back to the Fall 2009 version of this tea: awesome. The aroma wafted between honeycomb and crocuses and the flavour was similarly sweet and nectarlike. Energy is light and uplifting: effervescent. This is a sublime tea. It reminds me, each time that I drink it, of my first truly fresh oolong experiences when I was living in Taiwan.

I have to say though, that although the Spring 2010 version is tasty, it doesn’t quite live up to the standard of Fall 2009. Can’t wait till Fall 2010 arrives!