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Wowzers! This tea sure was delicious! This is hands down the best black tea that I’ve had up to this point. It just makes me feel all warm and cozy on the inside. Like many others state about this tea, it reminded me of baked bread and sweet potatoes. A year ago I would have been disconcerted if someone told me that their tea tasted like bread and potatoes. Now I’m like “mmmm bread-tea om nom nom”

I definitely plan on attaining more of the delicious nectars that are Whispering Pine teas!

Due to the fact that I generally don’t get home any earlier than about 7pm (11pm some days), I was in dire need of some non-caffeinated tea to drink before sleeping. This was my first tea from Whispering Pines, and I generally don’t drink blends. So this was unknown territory for me! Fortunately, it was a highly awesome experience! This tea was minty and sweet, but not overwhelming. It was comforting and refreshing! After enjoying this tea, I had no issues sleeping. I also credit this tea for curing my sour stomach which I had had all day, which immediately disappeared after drinking my cup. YAY MAGICAL TEA!!!

This was a tasty white tea! The majority of my tea drinking these days is done with my Mandala Tea thermos. I work full time, and I then immediately go to class after, which results in a lot of to-go tea drinking. Thus, I treasure teas that I can steep multiple times for long durations in my thermos. This tea definitely makes the cut! It was fruity and mellow, which is very relaxing. 2 thumbs up!

I received a sample of this tea with my Phatty Cake II from Mandala Tea a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my Phatty Cake II, hence why I waited to try this tea out.

Side not to this review: I have been under a lot of stress due to work, graduate school, and financial stuff. To top it off, my quality of sleep has been steadily decreasing, which only exacerbates the stress. The only things that have been keeping me sane are my wonderful girlfriend (who I am slowly getting hooked to tea!), and my new-found love of tea (which includes the amazing community of people that make up the tea world) .

Due to these factors, I woke up this morning feeling groggy, and achy. I needed something good and strong to kickstart my day, thus I decided to try out this tea sample. This ripe pu’er tasted very earthy, which I love, and slightly creamy. It was strong at first, but not as strong as I had hoped. However, this tea was interesting because it gradually got stronger and stronger in the following steepings (which were about 10-15 seconds each). It reminded me of hiking a mountain. It started off light, gradually became stronger, richer, and more intense, then smoothed out and I noticed more of the creaminess. All in all, this tea did an awesome job of waking me up, and brightened up my mood substantially. Super tasty stuff!!! Now that I’ve tried and loved a few different ripe pu’er teas, I need to try out some raw pu’er. I have been super intrigued by the Heart of the Old Tree from Mandala Tea, and I am hoping to get some soon!

I simply have to start this off by saying that this tea is awesome! I know I say that about most of the teas I drink, but this one was ESPECIALLY GREAT!! I received a sample of this tea along with my tea thermos from Mandala Tea. When I smelled the dry leaves, my first reaction was “Dried apricots!”. I brewed this up in my tea thermos, and drank it on my way to work (about 30 minutes of sipping). It tasted slightly woodsy (maybe nutty) and fruity (apricots, I think). This tea didn’t get the slightest hint of bitterness, and it retained its sweetness for the entire length of this long steep. Most of the green teas that I have made in my tea thermos are incredibly bitter for the first steep, then become less bitter in the following brews. This tea was amazing from the get go! I made 3 thermos-fulls and they were all as tasty as the last. I think that this tea shall be my go-to tea for my thermos!

I received this tea yesterday, along with my Mandala Tea Thermos. I decided to test them both out today while I was out running errands. I drank the first steeping over the course of about an hour. It smelled strongly of seaweed, which I found appealing (my girlfriend is Japanese and we eat lots of seaweed). It tasted grassy and subtly sweet, almost as if there was a teensy bit of honey in it. It was great!

The second time I filled up the thermos, I also drank it over the course of about an hour while driving about. My goodness, it sure was sweet this time around! And equally as creamy! It still held on to that seaweed/grassy flavor, but it was deliciously sweet and creamy as well. I found the second steeping to be quite a treat! I am now taking a break from my errands, but I am about to fill the tea up for a third time and head back out. I have high hopes that this tea shall remain super-tasty. Needless to say, I don’t think these leaves are going to last long in my cupboard….

Hoo boy, this tea was strong! I steeped it over 10 times last night in a gaiwan, it was a great learning experience for me. This was my first shu pu’erh tea, so I was going in a little blind. When I took my first sip my first reaction was SUPER EARTHY. At first, the intensity of the earthy flavor was very overpowering and intense. Don’t get me wrong, it was highly enjoyable, I had simply never experienced this type of tea before. As the steepings moved forward, it mellowed out a bit and some new flavor began to peak out from behind the earthiness. The most evident flavor note to me tasted similar to a REALLY dark chocolate. It was a subtle bitterness similar to dark chocolate, yet the tea remained creamy and tasty. Overall, I truly enjoyed my first shu pu-erh experience, and I can’t wait to break some more of this tea out soon!

This tea has quickly become one of my favorite teas. Its a sweet, smoky tea which I find absolutely delicious. While drinking this tea, I can’t help but feel like I am sitting in a cabin on a cold winter day. It makes me feel all cozy inside! Teehee.