Cloudwalker Teas Send Message

Mmmmmm… I started with Da Yu Lin oolong this morning and then transitioned to this tea with a bit of Rainbow pu erh on top because it has larger leaves and tends to hold down the smaller particles of this tea, but the energy and flavour matches well. I nearly went into a trance after all the tea this morning and just made it to work on time (though my shirt was a little wrinkled since I didn’t have time to iron it). But here I sit at 9PM and still full of energy!

Opened up a sealed can of this tea this morning. I love opening a fresh tea for the first time from its vacuum sealed package: the smell out of the bag is so fresh and green and floral. The leaves brewed up to a luminescent yellow-green, the aroma was sweet and honeylike, and the flavour had a hint of astringency but was mostly clean and clear. It left that really smooth feeling in the mouth and a returning hui gan on the breath.

Mmm Mmm good. Cloudwalker Teas is now stocking this tea and it is available on our website. I had some this evening as a pick-me-up before going out to meet some friends. Dark, earthy with a hint of sheng bitter, the taste is all pu erh, and because it is a compressed cake, it’s pretty good value for money. There’s a lot of tea in one of these mushrooms. The energy is lasting as well. Really good stuff.

I’ve been reacquainting myself with this tea the past few days. Like any good pesticide free pu erh, this one is clear and clean on the tongue. It leaves a lasting hui gan (returning sweetness) in the back of the throat and the tongue feeling particularly silky smooth post-swallow. The flavour is earthy, but lighter than many other aged, sheng pu erh. The aroma is much the same. The energy is lasting for this tea and often leaves me “spacey” for a few hours after drinking. That said, I’ve never required less sleep, been more focused and more productive than I have the past two weeks. The morning pu erh experiment has been going very well. Today was the first day in two weeks that I had coffee in the afternoon and that was only necessary because I happened to be reading an exceedingly boring document at work. Other than that, I have not once felt inclined to nap in the afternoon (especially positive since this would NOT be conducive to the ol’ 9-5).

I should mention here that I used only about 2g of leaf in a 150cc gong fu yi xing pot, and infused longer than I normally do, reducing the number of steepings I could get out of this tea. This was a positive thing however because it meant less time in the morning committed to the tea and I woke up late, so I didn’t waste any tea. But this has turned out to be an excellent way to start the day.

Drank this tea again this morning. 3g of leaf in a 100cc gong fu yi xing pot. I lost count of the number of steepings after about 9 I think. This tea has real drinking longevity. The colour was an intense burgundy. I’m a big fan. Spice, smoke, almonds are all flavours and aromas to describe this tea. And very potent energy.

I drank some of this tea this morning. You know that feeling you get from coffee after about 15-20 mins? It picks you up until you crash later in the morning. Tea like this one is so energy rich that it actually keeps me going all day. I think one of the nicest aspects of this tea is that it comes from “the wild” so I know it’s pesticide free (which comes out in the flavour since it is clean tasting and not bitter). I’m wide awake now and ready to face the world; who wouldn’t be after a tea like this…

This is the tea I started with this morning: love the spicey smoke. It’s very different from some of my other sheng, wet-stored, aged pu erh and the edges are a little less smooth, but I like the wildness of it. There’s a hint of citrus there too. I used one of hte first teapots I ever purchased from Yixing to brew this, one that has seen a lot of use over the years and is very ‘raised.’ I was on cloud nine before 7AM. I’m still there I might add, largely because I continued the pu erh journey with Joy from my store which I logged previously. Two very chi potent, powerful teas.

I’ve really been drinking the pu erh this morning. I started with a really spicey cake pu erh from the tea master’s shop super early. This guy is so blissed out that my partner and I used to call him the “tea dude.” He’s timeless. He could be anywhere from 35 to 65 years old, but it’s hard to say without asking him (which might be construed as rude). Anyway, that’s not the tea I’m rating here anyway. Joy: my thoughts on taste, aroma and chi remain unchanged. I am always amazed at the drinking longevity of this tea however. I’ve already steeped it three times this morning with no noticeable loss of concentration in the tea soup. Yesterday I had this tea in the morning as well and managed to brew it four times before the leaves started to produce lesser concentrations. And I continued to brew it into a ninth brew, which was still flavourful and aromatic. I should mention that I did this with a mug, hot water and one of those tea guru mug strainers, not my traditional gong fu sitting, which is preferable but not always possible. I should also mention that the energy has me floating toward the sky and highly focused.

Drank this tea again this morning. Never ceases to amaze. I think it is the darkest and strongest smelling of the aged, wet-stored, sheng pu erh that I have. It also has the greatest depth and longest lasting flavour. The smoothness on my tongue lasts for at least an hour after drinking (even if I eat something after drinking!). An excellent pu erh tea. The energy lies more in the yang category, and very potent.

Had this tea again this morning. All this pu erh is definitely having a cumulative effect. I am sleeping less, I have more energy throughout the day and I can focus more intently on one project at a time. Perhaps this is the cumulative effect of the chi energy? I haven’t changed anything else in my lifestyle, so it has to be the tea coupled with meditation in the morning. Anyway, my tasting notes haven’t really changed from the previous posting the other day. Same steep times/temperatures in the gong fu style; the only difference is that this morning I shared it with my mom, who thoroughly enjoys having tea with me like this. Earthy, woodsy, loaded with chi: my kind of tea.