This is a 200-gram experimental cake made from a well-balanced blend of shu and hei cha/liu bao. The raw materials for shu were collected in the spring of 2023 in Simao, and the hei cha is from 2016, sourced from Yuzhou farmers. The name "Walden" is a reference to the book of the same name by Henry David Thoreau, where the author simply and harmoniously describes his experience of living outside civilization by Walden Pond in Massachusetts.
The flavor profile includes dark chocolate, cream, wood, nuts, menthol, forest berries, and fruity notes. There’s no dampness or earthiness in the taste. If you didn’t know about the blend and the production year, it might seem like you’re drinking a noble lao shu :) In the aftertaste, there’s sweetness and spicy motifs. For two people, we take 8−10 grams and get a liter of a saturated drink.
The state induced by this tea is interesting :) Shu noticeably invigorates and fills the body with energy, while hei cha, on the contrary, slows down and relaxes, reminiscent of the calming effect of gaba oolong. In the end, I feel a state of alert calmness — no tearing and throwing, but dreaming and acting — yes :) Words are finite. Try to just immerse yourself in this tea, like Toro immersed himself in the forest: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." — Thoreau, "Walden" (1854).