At Cloudwalker Specialty Teas we believe what you drink becomes part of you.  That is why we offer only the best, high "chi" energy teas with crisp, clean flavours and excellent aromas.  There are several reasons we can make these claims for all of our tea.  Our tea is all hand-selected by a tea master for the reasons named previously, and he is not easily fooled.  When he looks for a good tea he consideres its aroma, flavour and chi energy, all of which must be of the highest quality.  This is one reason for avoiding teas which have been sprayed with pesticides and other unnecessary chemicals.  

For several thousand years, the Chinese have been growing and producing tea.  They have done so by traditional means, which exclude the use of unnatural pesticides.  Additionally, tea trees in China and Taiwan are most often grown at higher altitudes where pests are not the challenge they are at lower altitudes, making pesticide use unnecessary.   Perhaps the most telling and influential of the arguments is this: to spray a chemical on a tea leaf would change not only the flavour and scent of the ultimate finished beverage, but it would mutate the chi energy of the tea, dramatically reducing its desirability and health benefits. True and appreciative tea culture in China would not accept a "non-organic" tea because the flavour and chi would be so extraordinarily different, and not positively so. That said, some modern tea producers in China have used pesticides.  Hand selected by a tea master in Taiwan who views pesticides as "pollutants to the body," rest assured you shall find no pesticides here.  He and Cloudwalker offer only pesticide free teas so the positive chi and antioxidant benefits of the tea aren’t contradicted.  

Also, the energy of the tea is very influenced by how it is picked, processessed, packaged and stored.  Therefore, we attempt to choose teas that have been hand picked, processed and packaged to maximize the influence of positive human energy on the already high quality leaves.  Positive energy comes about only when the person coming into contact with the leaves enjoys what it is they are doing (i.e. tea production!) and this means fair treatment for their work. The native people of Yunnan province in China have traditionally harvested pu erh tea for centuries; they live simply but are paid fairly for their labour. Their compensation has also increased and their economic conditions are better than ever before with the worldwide rise in the average price of pu erh. As far as Taiwanese teas are concerned, the teas are produced by individual farms and by individual families who guard their harvesting and processing techniques against outsiders.

Tea in China and Taiwan is considered a sacred if not sentient substance; the way it is handled and who handles it are all equally important. Sometimes virgins are even employed for certain high grade teas because it is believed that the energy of the tea will remain pure. Good tea is not guaranteed simply by the mountain or the tree upon which it was produced; the people the tea comes into contact with at every stage are all important. In Chinese one doesn't say “to age tea” but rather to “preserve tea” with the implication being that we protect it.  Who you buy your tea from is as important as what tea you are buying. For more information, please contact us: info@cloudwalkerteas.com