Whispering Pines Tea Company

I really want to go camping…

Method: 1.5 tsp @ 208 degrees for 3 minutes in 8 oz., French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma: Smoke, Ginger Ale, and Cream Ale. Not ginger or cream. Specifically ginger ale and cream ale. Crazy!

Brewing Aroma: The smoke calmed way down. I can smell the black tea and a very subtle sweetness.

Flavor: Smoke & Spice, with a hint of sweetness. I didn’t get any chocolate from the scents or flavors, but I still enjoyed this tea very much. The smoke wasn’t out of control, though it definitely feels like making s’mores at a campfire. There was a nice zing to this. I would have sworn it was ginger, instead of cinnamon, but I guess I would be wrong. I saw that another Steepsterite mentioned oversteeping. I’ll try that next!

Had this one this morning, and it is so good. So rich and chocolate pastry like. Not bitter or astringent at all. I added milk and a little raw cane sugar.

Got this one from Courtney and it is both mineraly/raisiny/plummy and also cocoa/chocolatey. It is a quite nice black. I was able to enjoy this one without milk this morning, though I would like to see how it is with.

Quite enjoyable.

This is a very pleasant, well-balanced chai! The mint leaves a cool and refreshing feel in my mouth after sipping. The malt chocolate notes of the base tea are a nice complement to the mint and spices. It’s really good. I’ve noticed that the Fujian black tea base doesn’t retain as much of its flavor with a re-steep, which is a bit disappointing. The second steep is much more mellow; the base tea brings some light bread-like flavors, and the mint steps back to allow more of the cinnamon and spice to come forward. It’s significantly lighter but still delicious. I’m so glad I included this in my last order. Brenden knows how to do chai right! ;)

I’m pretty sure this tea tastes different to me every time I drink it. I remember drinking it and tasting smoke one time, and another I remember orange. Now I’m getting a vaguely pastry flavor. I’m not sure if that’s something that should be expected of this tea, or if it’s just getting old at this point. I didn’t see anyone else mention pastry as one of the flavors for this, and I have had it for a while now.

Oh. My. God.

Let me tell you about how I instantly fell in love with this tea. This is my first very smoky tea, and I was a bit “ish” about it when I realized that my cup smelled like beef jerky. BUT, when I took that first sip, I was SO surprised. There are some very obvious cocoa notes that appear just before the smoke, and it just works. The contrast between the flavours is what really makes this stand out, I would most definitely buy this.

Thank you Miss B

It was hooooot in here today folks!

I had cold brewed a 3 litre pitcher of this baby and it’s almost gone.

Best cinnaNOM treat ever… (Yes, Sarsonator, we call it cinnaNOM ’round here!!)

There’s a such a smooth cinnamon balance in this blend. You also get a nice earthy fruitiness from the elderberries. It taste so naturally sweet, and a little roasty and chocolaty, probably from the chicory.

What makes it such a lovely cold brew is the lemon balm. It just adds that little je ne sais quoi that makes it perfect. So good!!

Also, I know it’s getting late…but I’m listening to the Black Keys’s new album full blast, and it makes me happy :-)

Thank you friend who gave me an iTunes gift card a little while ago ;-)

Because Sarsonator can’t help talking about how delicious cinnamon is, I’ve decided to drink one of my favourite cinnaNOM tea…. (Sarsonator looooves cinnaNOM!)

Yes, this is a delicious blend, full of nominess. Lenommy, cinnanommy, choconommy.

Yes, that’s a lot of nommy and me like a lot.

Ok, before I start, I’d like to warn you that what I’m about to say does NOT affect the quality nor the freshness of this blend…It is only based on my sensitivity to certain scents.

Please forgive me Brenden but this dry blend…it smells like feet! Well, feet sprinkled with cinnamon and and other goodies.

Yes, I have been known to identify stinky feet in tea…sometimes it’s in the smell, but it’s obviously worse when it’s in the taste!

Luckily, in doesn’t transfer to the taste at all in this blend, phew!

Elder Grove is all cinnamon chocolate lemon drizzled. Just the right amount of sweet and citrusy notes.

Another blend that feels so earthy and organic.

It’s very relaxing, perfect infusion of the evening…

Thank you Brenden for this generous sample. (And sorry for the feet comparison!)

I was still in the mood for a smokey tea today, so I brought out my favorite. This is easily one of my top ten of all time teas. There’s a good amount of pine smoke, but also delicious cocoa notes mixed with malt and a flavor I always think of as baked grapefruit. It’s so good. The flavors play off of each other in the best of ways. It’s a great breakfast tea, but I’ve also reached for it in the afternoon when I’m looking for that break in the day to rest and regroup. This isn’t a tea I ever rush through. It’s too delicious for that.

Tea of the morning. I over brewed this, (probably a 6 or 7 minute steep) and the result was a cup full of chocolate and smokey flavors. I’m a fan. It was full of body while having no astringency or bitterness. Again, I’m a fan. I won’t over steep this every time because I enjoy all the other flavors this tea has to offer, but on the days I get distracted and let this sit a bit too long I certainly won’t hesitate to sip and enjoy. You know… ‘cause I’m a fan.

I have been traveling a lot over the past few months, but I’m home now with no plans to travel (for work at least) in the near future. Yay! To celebrate I spent the morning relaxing and drinking tea. Again, yay!

This tea is one of my favorites, and even though it’s called December I love it as a summer/ warm weather tea. It’s smokey and sweet with a woodsy pine note. Oh, it’s soooo good. I can’t wait until we’re back to cookouts and bbq to go with my tea. I’m all about the smokey flavors right now. It could be 100° outside an I’d still make a cup of this and enjoy.

Tea of the morning. I’m not moving very fast today, and I’m more than happy to sit here reading tasting notes while sipping on this lovely. The beginning of the sip is sweet and malty with the sweetness having a nice fruitiness to it. I also taste a deep cocoa note as well as honey. The smokey flavor comes at the end of the sip. So good and a really nice way to enjoy a Friday morning.

So it’s not cold cold here yet, but the weather’s heading in that direction. It makes me want to curl up with a blanket, a huge stack of books, my cat, and endless cups of tea. If I could hibernate that’s how I’d do it. Alas, I’m forced to go out and interact with the world even when the temperature drops.

Thankfully I had this tea to get me going. The cocoa and honey-sweet notes are really heightened by the smoke. It’s soooo good, and it continues to be one of my favorite breakfast teas. I think this tea would be stellar with a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits. It could easily hold its own next to other big flavors. I can say with certainty that it’s yummy with a bagel and cream cheese.

I woke up to a chilly house this morning. For the first time in months I found myself putting on my slippers and grabbing my warmest robe before heading to the kitchen. I decided this would be a good tea to help chase the chills away. I found the cocoa note mixed with the light smokiness really pleasing today. I want to say it’s comforting, but it’s also peppy and invigorating. I guess a good tea can be all of the above. :)

This tea has quickly become one of my favorite breakfast teas. I love the way it smells while steeping. It reminds me of a morning campfire with its smokey notes but there’s also something a little bright and clean about the fragrance. The taste is chocolate, smoke, sweet with a hit of citrus right at the end. It’s a grand way to start the morning, and as fall weather starts peeking in I’m finding myself enjoying this tea even more.

Tea of the morning. This is incredibly cocoa-y today. The cocoa note is nice and dark, and then there is a bright, high citrus note followed by a touch of smoke and some honey-like sweetness at the end of the sip. Mercy all, this is some good tea. I also like that this tea has a lot of body with zero astringency. This is easily one of my favorite teas to begin the day with.

Quick side note, this is the only hot tea that my cat is curious about. Every time I make it she wants to plant her kitty nose in my mug. While I agree with her that this tea smells great it’s odd to me that she only does that with this particular tea. Now iced tea she loves. If we leave a glass of tea on the table we have to cover it so she won’t drink it!

Tea of the morning. This is a really good breakfast tea. It’s smokey, malty, and sweet with a good amount of strength and body. Definitely something that’ll get me going in the morning. I also think this tea would be awesome served with bacon and eggs. [Note to self: try that out later this week.] The sweetness in the tea reminds be a little of baked grapefruit, but that could just be my brain being stuck in breakfast mode.

I can see why this tea is called December. It is a comforting, welcome home type tea. Something that would warm body and soul after being out in the cold for a while. I can see myself really enjoying this one in a different way once the cold weather sets in, but for now this is going next to my other breakfast teas so I can enjoy December all summer.

Scheherazade’s Super Sipdown Week! #25

The last of my sipdowns, which I finished yesterday evening. Unlike ML’s Organic Hojicha, this is a green tea I can confidently say I like. It’s grassy and slightly vegetal, but fresh and mild all the same. It reminds me of some of the better Mao Feng greens I’ve tried (maybe not surprisingly?), but the leaf here is more beautiful! A sad sipdown.

Another new try this morning. I’m trying to work through my smaller quantities of tea in order to reduce my cupboard — it’s fairly crazily out of control at the moment. It also gives me the chance to try some new teas, which is nice, as I’ve become a little jaded with drinking the same teas over and over again. I’m sure I’ll appreciate them more after a refresher!

Anyway, the tea. I followed the parameters for this one, and gave 1tsp of leaf 1.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The leaves are very fine and string-like, and (at least dry) are fairly curly. Wet, they unfurl and become uniformly straight, with some unfolding into complete leaves with stem! The scent is very vegetal, like freshly cooked green beans with maybe a touch of butter.

Brewed, the liquor is a medium yellow-green shade. The flavour is quite intensely nutty, with an almost mossy edge. Wet leaves is what it really reminds me of, I think! It’s relatively sweet, particularly in the initial sip, and there’s a tiny note of citrus. It’s very lightly astringent. It doesn’t taste nearly as vegetal as it smells, although there is an element of buttery green beans, or maybe asparagus. Mostly, it reminds me of walking through a young forest in spring, after a light rain fall. It’s a very fresh, light flavour. I can see this one holding up well, so I may resteep it later. A delicious green!

Second steep was much, much lighter in flavour. It’s still mildly vegetal, but I’ve lost most of the notes I picked up earlier — there’s not very much nuttiness, no forest…it’s pleasant, but I liked the full strength initial steep more. The second steep could be my friend when I’m looking for a milder green, though, so I’ll bear it in mind for the future.

Scheherazade’s Super Sipdown Week! #14

I like how unusual this one is. It brews up a treacle-y black, it taste of christmas, it’s a herbal, but like no herbal I’ve ever experienced before. I appreciate that I drank this one hopelessly out of its ideal season, but I still love it. One I’ll look to restock come winter, when I need a delicious, cinnamon warmer.

This was a sample with my first Whispering Pines order. The dry leaf smells strongly of cinnamon, and actually reminds me of christmas cake. I know it’s summer, and this is another tea that’s hopelessly inappropriate for the season, but I have a sore throat (STILL), so I’m more or less pleasing myself.

I used about 2tsp of this (the packet says 1/2 tbsp, but I don’t have a tablespoon measure with me so I’m guessing a bit!). I’ll have enough for another cup left if I use this quantity of leaf, so hopefully I have the right idea. I’m using a pretty big cup to boot.

I gave this the recommended 5 minutes in boiling water. When I returned to retrieve it, the whole of our office kitchen smelt of cinnamon, and the liquor was a surprising dark brown. Somehow, I wasn’t expecting that!

This is an interesting tea — probably the most interesting I’ve tried in a while. The flavours are pretty complex — the first sip reminded me strongly of chai, but it’s actually quite different in style even though some of the flavours are the same. Cinnamon is the main flavour, followed by elderberry. There are other spices kicking around in the background, I think, but I’m finding it hard to identify them individually. A swirl of spicy heat finishes each sip, although it soon fades. At that point, the bitter-sweet, slightly tart elderberry returns. It’s a pleasant combination, although admittedly not one I’ve come across before. It would make a wonderful winter tea to sip before bed curled up by a fire! Although the ambiance is off at the moment, it IS making my throat feel better, so it’s a definite win with me. One I’d consider repurchasing come winter.

Scheherazade’s Super Sipdown Week! #15

This is the first tieguanyin I’ve tried, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last. The mix of floral and green flavours is wonderful, and it’s nice to have an oolong you can’t ruin with boiling water!

Another first for today — I’ve never tried a Tieguanyin before! I figured that while I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone, I might as well stay there for a while. I had serious reservations about putting oolong in boiling water, but I did it anyway. It still feels odd to do that, but it makes sense to trust those with more experience. I gave this two minutes.

The resulting liquor is medium yellow-green, and smells quite toasty. To taste, it’s very buttery and very smooth. There’s a strong nuttiness — chestnut is probably fairly spot-on — and a wash of floral flavour towards the end of the sip. The oolong is slightly grassy — I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not a green! It’s quite a heavy tea in terms of flavour, but it’s so smooth that it doesn’t really become an issue. It’s not over-cloying, and I’m glad for that. The flavours dance across the palate, and the floral edge lingers momentarity — it’s like walking through a summer garden. Based on this experience, Tigguanyin is something I’d like to learn more about, and would seek out again. I think I may be coming around to green oolongs more than I ever thought I would!