Cha Qi (茶气) is… well, there’s not really a definition for what it is. But one thing's for sure — if you’ve experienced it, you’ll know it. And you won’t forget it.
Cha Qi lives in teas that...
groove poetic verses through the back of your tongue and riddle your spine with glee, give you the feeling of a taste that unapologetically forces a grin upon your face and brings down warmth from up above you, down to the soles of your feet.
This Qi unconsumed resembles bottled up passion expressing itself in liquid form while enchanting all tactile sensations.
Yet there is an original meaning.
Qi (气) in Chinese is the life force behind all things. It is the energy. The breath. Qi is in everyone and everything.
And although Qi is energy, it is not quite the energetic feeling we get when we drink tea.
Cha Qi expresses itself with us becoming one with the tea.
What do we need to experience Cha Qi?
Start with some good quality loose leaf tea. The tea must be alive. It must have a spirit. Which is hard to say about the tea dust that is put into tea bags and sold as “tea”.
Meditate together with your tea. Allow for the time to experience it. To get to know it better. Allow for the tea to speak to you and reveal itself. Slowly, step by step. It is the same as when we meditate. The longer you meditate the more will get revealed to you.
All good teas will have Qi. But this doesn’t mean that everyone will experience it the same, or experience it at all. Cha Qi goes as far as your personal experience with it. It will interact with everyone differently because we all have our own life rhythms. So if someone tells you the Qi of a certain tea is insane, it is not always the case that you will have the same experience.
You will find that the majority of tea drinkers use Cha Qi specifically when referring to an exceptional Pu-erh. One reason for this is Pu-erh’s ability to smoothly slide through your whole body, enveloping it with its warming energy. Uplifting, yet at the same time deeply grounding and soothing.
Well, enough from us. The only way to know is to experience!
For a deeper exploration of the subject, check out our more in-depth article on Cha Qi
