Deng Shihai, known as the "First Person of Pu-erh Tea", describes it in his book "Pu-erh Tea": "Tea energy is extremely important in the appreciation of Pu-erh tea and is also one of its main characteristics. The sun-dried, large-leaf old arbor Pu-erh tea produced in Yunnan's great tea mountains has rich and potent components within the tea leaves. After being made into finished tea and undergoing long-term storage and aging, the polysaccharides and organic germanium in the tea undergo certain chemical reactions and can dissolve in water during brewing.
After drinking the tea soup of aged Pu-erh tea, organic germanium enters the drinker's body, achieving a qi-tonifying effect. Throughout history, millions have drunk tea, but how many have truly experienced the wonderful state of tea energy? Firstly, few truly understand how to taste tea energy, and secondly, good tea with strong energy is hard to come by."
It is said that tea has "Three Energies".
First: "Earth Energy (Di Qi)", which is the fundamental taste of the tea, the characteristic of the place where it is grown.
Second: "Tea Energy (Cha Qi)", which is the energy possessed by the tea. Tea energy is like alcohol potency; a wine with strong potency must be an authentic aged wine, and tea with strong energy must be authentic aged tea. Non-authentic tea lacks sufficient energy and will not uplift. However, "tea energy" is different from "tea taste"; "tea energy" is an abstract, intangible feeling that needs to be felt with the body and heart, while "tea taste" is a specific taste sensation.
Third: "Human Energy (Ren Qi)", which is the energy field formed by the people sharing this pot of tea. Every place has different "human energy" because the people are different. Therefore, the same pot of tea brings different experiences, feelings, stories, histories, and见证 (witnesses/evidence) to different people.
Some say: The so-called tea energy is the qi of the tea entering the human body and running through the meridians. If a certain intensity is reached, it prompts slight sweating from the pores and gradually gathers in the bones, becoming a clear current that nourishes the muscles and bones of the entire body. Thus, one feels the bones and muscles becoming clear and收敛 (astringent/contracting), and the skin gradually feeling refreshed and transformed. If more tea energy is added at this point, this clear收敛 and refreshing transformation gradually becomes more apparent, converging into a warm and surging force, potentially surging within the body, ultimately immersing one in a floating and comfortable state of mind, feeling ethereal and immortal.
The experience of tea energy is best conducted during the Shen hour (3 pm to 5 pm) on sunny days. This time is actually between meals, during conversation, when the climate is neither cold nor hot, and one is neither hungry nor full. The passages for drinking are clear, and consumption and storage are balanced. Drinking tea at this time provides the most objective experience and aligns best with health preservation principles. Tea energy is released with heat, so it should be drunk hot, at a temperature that is not scalding, and at an appropriate strength.
The more natural the tea, the more upright its energy. Those who can truly experience the tea energy itself must have body meridians that are completely unobstructed. Such a body is like a transparent tunnel, "still and unmoving, yet feeling and thus connecting".
Related links: Golden Flower Pu-erh, Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea