Cloudwalker Teas

I tried this tea after my 20 Year Old oolong from my own store: what a pairing. The combined energy of the two teas left me mute and seeing energy fields. The tea itself is dark and nutty with a depth of flavour unlike any of my other pu erh. The aroma is reminiscent of that smell just after kicking into the air a pile of freshly raked oak leaves.

Good grief. This tea is smoooooooth. If you’re into pu erh, which I am, this is surely one of the best sheng, aged, wet-stored pu erh I’ve had. The liquor is smooth on the palate, leaving a lasting hui gan (returning sweetness in the back of the throat); it is almost sweet forward on the tongue, but with that infamous hint of dark forest floor. The aroma hints at the flavour, but with a just detectable foreign spice. Upon smelling the first cup I was immediately hit with the chi of this tea and sounds of the world faded away as I drifted deeper into meditation with each sip.

I drink this when I’m looking for something closer to the more complete fermentation of a black tea, while still wanting a hint of the pu erh earthiness: Dian Hong always delivers. The aroma is indeed sweet smelling for a pu erh and the flavour speak of hints of chicory and perhaps black licorice. Energy is light and breezy.

I highly recommend this tea for those interested in trying pu erh, but have traditionally not liked it. This is a good tea; trust me.

This tea. Wow. Upon the first whiff of the perfectly formed, dry, luminescent green leaves I knew I had something special. A sample was sent to me by a friend in Taiwan, but no note as to what it was so my first taste was completely blind. It wasn’t until afterwards that I discovered just how special this tea is. The first steep was fast, less than fifteen seconds and I needed very little leaf in the pot to get a really nice aroma and flavour to naturally show. The scent was of apple blossoms in springtime, just as they open, when they are at their freshest and this smell lingered seemingly forever. Then the flavour: crisp and incredibly clean. This tea left my mouth feeling silky smooth with a lovely returning sweetness on the tongue and in the back of my throat. The flavours were reminiscent of green apples blended perfectly with honey and a hint of cinnamon. I was able to re-steep at least 8 times, but I lost count so don’t quote me on that. It presented well after innumerable steeps.

And the energy. The greatest quality I look for in any new tea I try: it left me speechless and a little dumb-founded. This tea presents the energy of a well aged pu erh, and it’s fresh! I’m very used to high energy fresh oolongs from Formosa, but this one was explosive and left me seeing stars. The energy was probably enhanced a little because I used a fresh-oolong, well seasoned yixing, red clay pot from the late Ching dynasty to drink it (a pot made with clay from the lost clay process), but having also consumed it through a gaiwan, I know it presents almost as well without the yixing.

I have since learned that this tea has year after year been graded the highest grade oolong in Formosa and is grown with the strictest of organic standards. I will probably never have the chance to try it again beyond the small sample I have left as the waiting list to procure any is apparently ten years or more, but I will forever be indebted to my partner for finangling this small sample to try.

I had this tea for the first time when I was living in Taiwan and visiting with the tea master from whom I procured it. I knew upon the first whiff of the dry leaves that it was special and unique. It stands alone in the oolong family of teas proudly with its smokey sweetness and very smooth finish. The energy of this tea is incredible, very uplifting and calming at the same time. An excellent Tibettan tea for sure!

I started my oolong experience with this tea today and it was a great beginning. Along with the tea description I wrote above, it leaves a crisp, clean feeling in the mouth, suggestive of particularly high grade formosa oolong.

I drank this tea again today (three oolongs in one day, I know, I know, so much tea, but I couldn’t resist). Oriental Beauty is certainly one of our customer favourites and rightly so, it has a uniquely floral aroma and the flavour is reminiscent of citrus and honey. Chi energy is strong, especially when I drink it after other strong chi teas.

I drank this tea today after a particularly nice cliff tea of unknown heritage. I was fortunate to find another 25g! I will savour it over time for sure… Amazing drinking longevity. I steeped this tea about 10 times and it just kept going. What I said in my previous review still stands. It sure packs a wallop of a chi punch.

I had some of this tea tonight. Amazing. Of the Wu Yi cliff teas it is certainly my favourite. I am fortunate to have a small stock of “mother tree” Bai Ji Guan leftover from my supplier in Taiwan. I haven’t procured more for my company because it wasn’t popular enough and is too expensive. But it is definitely one of the best teas we have carried for aroma (apricot and honey), flavour (apricot, almost sweet, and clean) and chi (a powerful wallop). All around, an excellent tea. If our company grows, perhaps I will consider stocking it once again…

We’ve been looking for some time at Cloudwalker to find another pu erh tea in pressed form that will be affordable to our clients but still meet our very high expectations for the teas we sell. This one is a gem. I’ve had it several times now, but this last time I really got the leaf quantity, and steep time just right. I steeped it a little longer and used a little more leaf than I usually do with pu erh and the dark red/brown liquor that resulted showed I’d done the right thing. This tea is sublime. The aroma hints of a walk in the woods on a fall day and the flavour is sweet with a hint of the sheng green bitter, but just a hint mind. And the energy. I felt it blasting through every chi blockage in my body. After drinking the Da Yu Lin this tea’s energy was particularly potent! In one word, I’ve already said it: sublime.

I tried the Spring ‘09 harvest of this tea today and I have to say that although it is not as fresh or crisp tasting as the Spring ’10 harvest, it is still packed with energy. Still crisp and floral tasting, it leaves that clean feeling in the mouth like after you’ve been to the dentist. It also has incredible scents of a warm sunny summer day in the apple orchard. Again, aromas are not as pronounced as the Spring ’10, but an excellent tea none-the-less.

I drank this tea this morning. Sublime. When I lifted the smelling cup to my nose I held it there for nearly a minute as the aromas transitioned from honey to apricot to plum to a distant wildflower field. Flavour also left a maltiness in my mouth and a lasting hui gan (returning sweetness on the tongue). Energy: potent. Very potent. This morning it was tough to go to work. I’ve had this tea before after first drinking a pu erh and the energy is overpowering, and when following a good pu erh like Bliss or Rainbow, I was left in a deep meditation for a couple of hours.

I tried this tea after a long hiatus. It practically jumped off the shelf at me this morning when I was deciding what to have before breakfast. I heated my water, prepared my yixing teapot which has been seasoned for aged oolongs, got out my gong fu cups and promptly forgot about the world with the first several inhales and sips of this tea. I really do enjoy oolongs, they all have such a rich depth of flavour and aroma. The sweet, honey notes were well pronounced in this one, especially in aroma and the taste was velvety smooth with a hint of roast as it went down. And the energy was potent. Somehow 30 mins disappeared and I nearly missed my bus. I still had to iron a shirt and pack my lunch but caught the bus in the nick of time. What an excellent tea! Except now I’m all spacey at work. Hopefully no-one notices…

I drank this tea this morning after I woke up in the traditional gong fu sitting. I was nearly late for work as a consequence. I blissed out for about half an hour before quickly cleaning up and getting ready to go! Dark, earthy and wit a hint of spice, I really like the depth of energy to this tea. Awesome. First steep 30 seconds, increased by 10 seconds per steep thereafter. I think I ended up getting 10 steeps out of it in the end!

I just drank this tea for the first time in a long time… As a shop owner, I suffer from having too many choices sometimes and as a consequence some very good teas go untried for too long. Even though I didn’t drink this tea in my traditional gong fu method, by only filling my mug half full I was still able to appreciate the incredible aromas: apricot and honey mostly. The flavour is light, roasted oolong with a hint of anise and the energy is quite deep when I permit myself to close my eyes. An excellent tea to be sure.

I have got to stop pairing such energy potent teas. I’ll never sleep tonight at this rate. It was a crummy day at work (online tea companies don’t pay my bills, as awesome as that would be so I took a full-time job as well) so I decided on an intense tea session. Started with the 20 year old oolong, one of Cloudwalker Teas more popular teas. I have to pretty much agree with my previous post, except to add that if you’re feeling down and in the dumps, this tea will pick your energy right up and flip the negativity the other way. I’ve always been amazed at this. I think the energy of this tea paired with the gong fu ceremony and meditation really is good for the soul. So there: a soulful tea of complex flavours and aromas.

Sweet mother. I just drank this tea again after drinking a 1988 oolong (courtesy of Cloudwalker Teas of course). I floated off into never never land and suddenly it was two hours later. Good stuff. I blended it with a pu erh called Joy which has a similar energy/taste/aroma but helps to keep the bits in the pot since Great Ocean is quite broken up and Joy has larger leaves. Oh, flavours, aromas (sometimes I forget these when the chi is so potent). Earthy, dark, hint of spice, cinnamon maybe? Aroma matched the taste. As with most pu erhs: hot, hot, hot. And for steep time, 30 seconds at first, increasing by “felt” increments from there ensuring the colour stays dark red and the taste remains strong. I do like a strong cup of good aged, sheng, wet-stored pu erh…

The nutty clove with smoke is unmistakable, and makes this tea particularly interesting to drink. The nutty flavours really make it buttery smooth as it washes across the palate. The scent matches the flavour with a touch of nutmeg. I really, really like this tea. So good. Energy is calming. I started drinking in a particularly foul frame of mind and by the end of the session I was calmer, more at peace and not even thinking about whatever I was in such a bad mood about before I started drinking it. And THAT is why I drink tea. For aged sheng, wet-stored pu erh I usually steep it for thirty seconds at first and then adjust accordingly. For this one I increased by about 15 second intervals with each consecutive steep and I’m fairly certain I got between 8 and 10 steeps out of it in my tiny early republic Yixing teapot.

My tea master friend in Taiwan sent me this tea to try some time ago. I’ve been saving it. As I knew it was particularly special already I waited until I had enough time to sit and properly enjoy it, i.e. this fine Saturday morning. I heated my water to a fisheye boil, started up my Lin Ceramic stove and poured the hot water into my Lin kettle and placed it on the stove to keep it hot. I then prepared all of my tea making utensils, chose a tiny, 80 year old, yixing purple clay teapot which I have used for plenty of pu erh over the years, and sat down on my yoga mat in front of my gong fu set for a good tea session. I put enough leaf in to completely cover the bottom of the pot. I poured off the first rinse of liquor (standard practice really), then settled in to pour the perfect cup of Great Ocean tea.

Let me say that this tea comes by its name honestly. After the first sniff and sip I was gone, floating away to never never land (or into an ocean oblivion). The energy of this tea was overwhelming. It rolled through me like an electric charge, leaving me completely blissed out and high as a kite. Every so often I would become aware that I had paused in mid sip, with the cup raised to my lips and had no idea for how long I’d been sitting like that. I should mention that the duration of this tea session was over an hour and a half.

It was hard to concentrate on the other aspects I usually look at when evaluating a tea, however, here they are as best I can remember. The aromas. This tea is indeed complex. Aromas were spicy, bringing memories of cinnamon and oranges with a hint of walnut. Also just a faint waft of jungle floor plant matter. The flavour was full and very robust. The spices and nuts blended together in an incredible mouthful that left a very smooth, clean finish that was almost sweet.

All around, one of the best damn teas I’ve probably ever had.

I drank this tea after a particularly smooth 30 year old wet stored pu erh. Needless to say, I was already feeling pretty frisky.

I haven’t had this particular tea in some time and forgot how complex its aromas are. After the first steep, I could smell a hint of charcoal smoke as it poured from teapot into tea pitcher, then as I raised the smelling cup to my nose for the first time… nothing… for just enough time to be confused before an explosion of nectarine, apricot, honey and wildflowers assailed my nostrils. The transition between each distinct aroma took a total of about 60 seconds, I think (didn’t have a stopwatch on hand). Then the flavours, a balanced fruit sweetness with a hint of nut, macadamia perhaps? As I continued drinking this tea, and it the steepings seemed to go on forever, I gradually slipped away from reality. The energy, though light, packs a pretty potent punch. If you’re looking to accomplish anything for the rest of the afternoon, forget it.

All around a well-balanced tea. Now to firmly plant my feet back on planet earth…

Definitely intoxicating, in every sense of the word. This tea had naturally occuring aromas and flavours that overpowered the senses. Poured from an Yixing teapot at near boiling water I nearly couldn’t put my smelling cup down. The aromas were like a rainbow wafting between honeycomb, plum blossom, and spring flowers and back again and they seemed to linger forever. The flavours were sweet with extremely long lasting hui gan. It wasn’t until hours later and after I’d eaten some pizza that the flavours finally started to leave my tongue. This tea may not last long on Cloudwalker’s main page because it is so fine. As for the chi, it quite literally cleanses the mind of all extraneous thoughts and allows a zen calm to fill the body and spirit and left me in a state of total relaxation. This may very well be one of the best teas I’ve ever had (and I’m usually a pu erh kind of guy). Expensive but worth every single dime.

Wow. I just drank this tea again, it truly is unfortunate that I can no longer procure any as it’s extinct in Asia. I would love to be able to share this tea with others. But I think I have only about 10g left. Sigh.

The review: I tend to steep this tea a little longer than most after rinsing, thirty seconds generally and increase by a half-minute with each following steeping. This tea is absolutely best appreciated through the gong fu method. The aroma opens from strong spring flowers into a very sweet apricot that lingers in the cup for nearly a minute and a half, gradually fading to honey. The flavour is similar, sweet, smooth and the hui gan exceptionally long lasting on the tongue. After drinking two other high grade teas, the chi energy in this one left my head spinning. It brought a whole new level to the meaning “tea drunk” or “high on tea”. Wow. I stared into space for nearly thirty minutes once finished this tea. I think I’m still a little high…

This wild pu erh has a smoother, milder flavour than many pu erh’s I’ve tried. Earth, certainly with a hint of nut, perhaps almond? The aroma reminds me of walking in the woods on a spring day, pungent but not overly so, and fresh. It leaves a very pleasant hui gan (returning sweetness) on the back of my tongue. After rinsing, my initial steep was a little longer than I do for most pu erh at roughly 20 seconds, adding fifteen seconds to each progressive steeping to draw out the full breadth of aromas and flavours.

This is a very uniquely flavoured tea from the first through fifth steeping. The aroma is reminiscent of honeycomb with a hint of citrus and the flavour is deep, with that same hint of citrus on the sides of tongue. Energy is also very strong.