Cloudwalker Teas

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.

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.

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 tea could easily fool me into thinking it was flavoured. When I opened the pouch I was hit with the aromas of berries and dried fruit. The tea itself is practically bursting with flavour, with a juicy peach or apricot flavour standing out most prominently but there’s also a bit of a wine-like undercurrent. So good!

Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss! This pu-erh is very mellow. It’s smooth with an earthiness flavor to it. Some slight floral notes as well. Glad I got the chance to try it!!

I recently bought a yixing teapot as an early Christmas gift to myself. ;) With the intention getting to know that sort of teaware, and to drink much more oolong!

So far I am pleased with the initial results, because whenever I brewed this tea in my gaiwan, I think the tannins were a bit too bold. So while I enjoyed the flavours, it always seemed a bit unfriendly. But with the new tea vessel, I don’t have that problem anymore. It gave me a much more soft and balanced experience.

Anyhow, the tea description is spot on. Besides the familiar flavours I expected, it’s a very mouth watering tea. I find it easy to relax and daydream while I sip. Yesterday, when I also had this, the flavour lingered throughout the day. So overall I think this is a very memorable and easy tea to like.

125ml yixing teapot, 2 tsps, 4 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)

With the name “Organic Oolong” I didn’t really know what to expect. So the aroma of the freshly brewed tea was a pleasant surprise. Notes of honey, roasted oolong and that kind of cinnamon raisin bread scent really stick out.

The liquor goes down pretty light, but the honey flavour sticks in my mouth. It’s refreshing but leaves a rich texture.

Tea review based on 6 short steeps.

Finished the evening off with some raspberries and 6 short infusions of Oriental Beauty. A sweet treat (both the tea and the fruit) to end my weekend.

So far I’m really enjoying this tea, but I think it tastes a bit too “rich” and sweet for regular consumption. This sample size I got is working just well for special occasions.

Never tried Oriental Beauty before, but it’s impressed me from the first sip. It’s so sweet, the honey flavour really weighs down in my mouth like real honey. And then I notice the nice floral notes, and familiar oolong body.

If I had to compare this to anything else, it would be single malt scotch. No seriously, it’s very heavy, rich, and complex on the palate. The general flavour can’t compare, but the feeling I get while drinking it is very similar (minus the harsh feeling of alcohol going down).

Wow! This is really good! The spice notes are profound. A deep sweetness with a contrast of a somewhat sour note, and the spice mingling with those flavors is really quite fantastic!

I like this one a lot!

As it stands, this one is a tweener and will undoubtedly improve with more age. The flavors are still quite sharp and are only beginning to develop. I did use this tea as an opportunity to introduce a friend to puer because it displays properties of both young and aged sheng.

I would definitely recommended this cake to someone who will continue to properly age it. The price is right and the flavors are there.

The lively aroma of dark moss and shitake broth translates seamlessly into the flavor of the initial infusions carrying a light mouthfeel and slight dryness on the tongue albeit with no bitterness. The brothy savory notes cling to the back of the tongue and a light musty sweetness covers the rest of the mouth.

This one is pleasant and not very commanding. The price is very good for someone looking for a good everyday pressed sheng puer.

This one starts with a delicate and mild aroma of sweet tobacco and dank moss. There is an immediately elegant sweetness to the over all light flavor to the liquor but with added notes of cedar and the incense of floral resins. The age does provide an element of austerity to the cup which, for me, really brings the flavors home. Brewing with hotter water brings out a typical aged “tang” and highlights the cedar and heavier wood notes.

The finish is slightly dry on the tongue and carries a cooling mouthfeel with a particularly interesting hui gan of eucalyptus and lavender.

Later infusions develop into more subtle interplays of lavender and sweet, mild incense. This one stays pleasantly heavy on the tongue yet light on the palate.

I cannot believe it took me so long to try this. As with most pu-erh teas, I was very hesitant to try it, because, well, even though I am acquiring a taste for pu-erh, it still scares me a bit.

But this is really good. If this was the first pu-erh I had ever tried, I would not have been so afraid of it for so long! This is something I could envision myself drinking on a daily basis, it’s so good. Now, I don’t believe I’ve ever said that about another pu-erh that I’ve tried, but I’m saying it about this one! It’s that good.

this is another nice offering from Cloudwalker. Of the samples I tried, I prefer the bold Cinnabar over this one as the flavor is a bit mild. It is not vegetative/toasty/floral but as the other reviewers noted: this tea has a tangy/tingly very mild grape juice flavor (if I squint my eyes or taste buds)….Others also noted woodsy flavor and even seaweed. I could even note those as well. A laid back oolong for multiple steepings throughout the evening. I am at the 5th steeping and although this is mild, I can still get a noticeable flavor)

What a wonderful oolong! I am backlogging as I had this one as my last tea of 2010 on New Year’s Eve and was a perfect selection. I noted honey and spicy, yes spicy flavors. This was juicy w/a discernable tickle on the tongue. This is one oolong that I would recommend and am looking forward to trying the rest of my Cloudwalker teas. No roasted flavors , no vegetative, no florals.

Finishing off the last I have of this so that I can write a review for the SororiTea Sisters blog.

The more I taste this Pu-Erh, the more I like it. It has a delightful sweetness to it that reminds me of burnt sugar.

While it has been a journey of acquiring a taste for Pu-erh, I have quite enjoyed the journey. This is one of the more memorable Pu-erh teas that I’ve encountered.

I held off on trying this for a while now. Pu-erh teas scare me. But, I had such a nice experience earlier today with a Yunnan Tuocha that I thought I’d be adventurous and try another Pu-erh today.

This is a pleasant Pu-Erh. Sweet with a rugged earthiness. Smooth mouthfeel.

The aroma is a delicious must of an ancient basement carved out of rough earth and sanctified with old incense. There is a warm monkish simplicity to the liquor and a civilized sweetness that belies the wild nature of the leaf.

This is an excellent everyday aged sheng especially for the price.

The Final Sipdown: Day

Oh? Sorry. I’ve been so caught up in TFS that I’ve forgotten I have other teas to log.

Mark, the fellow behind Cloudwalker Teas, sent me a few samples of tea to log about a week ago. I’m getting around to it a bit late, but here we are at one of three.

When I was little, I was obsessed with white grape juice. No clue why, but it had a flavor that I craved and whenever I had options, it was my poison of choice. I think my mom didn’t really mind because white grape juice doesn’t lend itself to staining. Now, I don’t find myself drinking it nearly as much as I used to. I don’t know if something about the way it’s made has changed, or simply my tastebuds have shifted, but I find it too sweet and the aftertaste strange.

This tea propels me back to my memories of white grape juice. Which really, at this point, is more of a diffused haze; the essence of white grape. It doesn’t possess the sharp sweetness that fruit juices typically do, but I prefer it this way. In fact, it is rounded off by a soft saltiness – a quality that is more apparent to me in the first steep than the second [because yes, I’m on a second steep]. At times, I get a sweetly whispering nectary flavor that reminds me oh-so-much of honeysuckle. In others, I sense an almost yeastiness half makes me think of bread and half of a soft pretzel. All of this is underpinned by the fresh, juicy notes of white grape and that comes rushing through in the finish and aftertaste.

There is a sophistication about this tea that makes me feel as though I should be drinking it out of a flute, but sipping it out of my little bodum mug it seems to be doing just fine.

Finding myself on steep number three now with the flavor holding up just fine has cemented in my mind that I will, in fact, be purchasing some of this to keep on my shelf. Having apparently grown myself out of my white grape juice phase, this is filling the white grape shaped hole in my soul.

Light, springy, satisfying, and delicious.

Shu?(+)

I’m not gong to lie, I was expecting something quite different than what appears in the cup. Maybe it was the lofty title or maybe the fantastic tradition behind the processing that caused me to have a delusion of grandeur toward this tea. Please don’t get me wrong, it is by no means a bad or even average tea. It’s just not what I expected, that’s all. That’s probably my fault.

Anyway, it is very reminiscent of a mild cooked puerh or aged sheng. The mouthfeel is very smooth and the flavor profile is mild, earthy and warm. It slides in nicely with some of the better dark puerh I’ve had, in fact after the third steep I blended it with some near spent Menghai Orange-in-Orange and the result is affirming to the quality of both teas.

And as an update I’ve found a very interesting dimension to the flavor profile of this tea. Underneath the aforementioned similarity to better puerh is the thick and earthy tone of grilled mushroom. Portabella, to be exact. It adds a meatiness to the liquor and more depth than I had realized. As the seller notes, a dedicated Yixing pot would most likely coax the best possible flavors out of the brew. This, more so than any other tea I’ve had, would seem to benefit most from such nurturing because the best flavors to be found in this tea are also the most subtle. An Yixing would enable the flavors to compound and concentrate wonderfully, I’m sure, though I wouldn’t go so far as to derive notions of immortality from them.

There is only one path to perfect eternity, my friends.

Begins with a briny-sweet aroma and dark vegetal depth that translate into scintillating, oceanic flavors in the cup. The mouthfeel is wonderfully round and hui gan is sweet as nectar with notes of white grape and seaweed. The age adds swarthiness and structure and there is a noticeable warm, euphoric energy once imbibed.

Hypnotic and elegant, a nautilus of tea.

Right now I’m going to echo the sentiments of some others who have tasted this tea, including the seller: “luminescence and viscosity”, “acts quickly to engulf the palate”, “buttery-smooth”, “sumptuous”. These are all very true.

This is probably the richest Bai Hao I’ve tasted with prevalent notes of honey, vanilla, creme and almond. There are faint elements of hay and persimmon and the hui gan gives this a sticky quality that I like.