Whispering Pines Tea Company

Second cup of the day. I followed KS’s advice and brewed this one for only 15 seconds. It has turned out a sort of dark ruby, and the flavour is much, much lighter. It’s still got the distinctive damp, mossy, earthy notes, but there’s less horse. I consider this a good thing.

I still don’t think I can be persuaded to try many more pu’erhs. I might have to accept that they’re just not for me — or at least, not at the moment. They’re certainly a unique drinking experience, though!

I should probably also say that this is a sipdown. I have been saving my last one-cup servings up for a mega sipdown session while I’m off work next week, but I figured I’d probably lose my nerve with this one if I didn’t just get on with it. I have less tea to choose from at work, so I pretty much have to drink whatever I’ve got with me. It gets me past my tea inhibitions sometimes! Anyway — say yay for one less in the cupboard!

I’m pretty scared of pu’erh in general, but as my throat is still sore this morning I decided I could probably risk giving this one a go. If I don’t like it, at least I can hope I missed some of the finer nuances! This is the first plain pu-erh I’ve ever tried, so I’m a little apprehensive. I haven’t been overawed with the flavoured versions I’ve tried so far — in general, the base is just too much for me.

Anyway, I put aside my reservations and gave this one 2 minutes in boiling water. I stopped at two because of the colour the liquor had already turned — black, basically — and because the smell coming of it was fairly pungent. I might have lost my nerve if I’d gone the extra minute.

First sip was actually okay. I tried not to focus on the scent so much, because that inevitably puts me off. It does remind me of mucking out stables when I used to keep a horse as a teenager. Fortunately, there’s not too much of that present in the taste, although there’s a tinge of it in the initial flavour. Mostly, I get a musty, damp flavour with a certain something that reminds me of wet, freshly turned earth. It does put me in mind of caves or a forest after a rain shower. It’s more palatable than I thought it would be, although I suspect this kind of tea will never be a favourite. It’s just too pungent for my tastes. I will admit to enjoying this as a morning cup, though. The strength alone helped to wake me up! Definitely a valuable experience to have had, even if it’s only really cemented the fact that my journey into pu-erh will probably end soon.

Butiki Taste Testing Traveling Tea Box – Tea #2
I loved seeing a Whispering Pines tea in the teabox, but it didn’t look like this one had much love on Steepster. A Yunnan from WP without much love? What?

Steep #1 // a few minutes after boiling // 3 min
I did use more than a teaspoon for this cup accidentally, maybe that made the difference of me LOVING it. It doesn’t really seem like a Yunnan to me though, especially with all this smoke. Closer to a Lapsang Souchong than a Keemun even. This is a very dark cup – dark burgundy in color, so I’m not sure where the “light” flavor is coming from. It has enough bite to it, but it doesn’t seem like I overdid the leaves.

Steep #2 // a few minutes after boiling // 3 min
Another really nice cup – it doesn’t have the oversteeped leaves flavor. Maybe everyone just needed to use more leaves? But that would be more smoke than many people want to handle. Not too much smoke for me though!

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

I think this is the first white tea that’s made me do a double take at my mug. It’s so wonderfully summery, full of hay and honeysuckle notes with a hint of apricot right at the end. The tea has a sort of fuzzy feeling to it which I didn’t think I would like, but it works here. This is also a very refreshing tea. I’d love to try it iced. This, iced on a hot summer’s day, would be perfect. I don’t currently have a white tea in my cupboard, but I’ll likely pick up some of this with my next WPT order.

From the Tea and Cards TTB: The aroma here is not very strong. Very light cocoa notes with a bit of caramel are emanating from my cup. As I sip it, I can’t help but to think that although I am enjoying it, there is no defining characteristics that really shine through. It has a pleasant malt taste, with a slight fruity quality but it stops there. I like it, but I don’t love it and I doubt I would every crave it, as it has nothing unique.

Well hello good Steepster people!

So I needed warmth…what better tea than this beautiful golden Dian Hong?

First, the look. I mean, have you had a close look at those buds? PURE GOLD!!

So soft and fury, I want to pet them ( ok, I admit…I did pet them…I am a first class TeaGeekette after all, why hide in shame?)

The brew is all glitters and gold, a beautiful sunny light in the glass pitcher.

I forget how good this is…I rarely have it cause, well, I just have so many teas!!

It qualifies for my “pudding-like” tea list, cause of how sweet and thick it feels in my mouth. Unlike any other Yunnan I have had.

The sweetness reminds me of barley sugar candies. I also get cocoa and sweet potato notes.

It’s very fragrant, I find a certain floral quality to it.

Not as damp and earthy as one might expect, but a little “mossy” and yeasty.

Full of beautiful nuances and complexity, this tea screams for gongfu brewing. And it’s so forgiving, you can’t mess it up, it never gets astringent or bitter.

I had a lovely session earlier…another wonderful tea from Whispering Pines :-)

Here are some pics:

http://instagram.com/p/vuBJInQh24/

http://instagram.com/p/vuCET1wh9q/

http://instagram.com/p/vuFp_3Qh4f/

This came as a generous sample from Whispering Pines, thank you!

I already own an Imperial Dian Hong Yunnan from a another company. As I compared the looks, the buds in this one are curlier, more furry and golden in colour. I mean, this is 24 karat gold, really.

The brew is a brassy golden colour. It has a deep floral sweet aroma.

You can feel its density in the mouth, it’s almost gelatinous, pudding like.

The taste is chocolaty and earthy, very sweet with no astringency.

I read that there are mushroom notes in this. I can’t really identify that, but maybe that translates into some mossy and dampness notes to me.

I’m not a “re-steeper” when I brew Western style, but I will re-steep exceptional quality teas such as this one, and I’m glad I did cause the second infusion is almost as good and flavourful as the first.

This was a real treat, thank you so much for this opportunity Brenden!

From the Tea and Cards TTB: Oh wow, the beautiful honey and malt notes of this tea are haunting me. I love the floaty cocoa notes and the texture of this. I found the dry leaf aroma to be quite underwhelming in comparison to the taste. I guess that’s a good thing though. Better that than the other way around

Backlog:

A really enjoyable cup for breakfast. The first cup was robust and richly flavored. A medium astringency to it, with notes of cedar and malt and hints of smoke.

The second infusion was amazing. I got the Eucalyptus that was promised in the description! I don’t always take black teas out for a second infusion, because I find the second cup to rarely be worth the effort, but this tea – this second infusion is remarkable. Definitely take this one through at least 2 infusions!

A very unique but enjoyable breakfast blend. I like it.

There is a very slight, subtle smokiness here. It’s extremely subtle, more like a campfire from a distance. There is a light richness to this cup otherwise, some maltiness, and a hint of vanilla. It’s really a well done tea, but not for me.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

This tea is outstanding. I knew it would be given that North Winds is the base, but I’m still impressed with the layers of flavor here. The sip starts out mildly fruity and then morphs into dark chocolate and sweet vanilla with a bit of a crusty bread note. Every now and then there is a hint of cocoa. It’s not bitter but a deeper chocolate note than the dark chocolate. It’s so good, and even though there are all of these heavy flavors the body of the tea manages to stay light which I find charming. As the tea cools I get another hint of the fruity, cherry like note. Love, love, love it.

Super smoky chai. I had this a few weeks back when I was still fighting off the worst cold of my life, and even then I could taste every really clearly — which surprised me. I ran out of my free sample (thank you so much!) before I could get home again to grab some marshmallow leaf and add it, to see if this could be more of a s’more chai than just a smokey one.

Our newest limited availability tea! :)

Expertly roasted in-house in very small, select batches, our House Tieguanyin is one of our most prized offerings. This tea begins its journey in the tea fields of Anxi, in the Fujian province of China, where it is picked in the springtime and processed completely by hand by skilled tea masters. After the long and masterful process of processing the tea, it is exported. Its next stop is at our headquarters, where we carefully select a small batch for additional processing.

Our slow-roasting technique is done in-house by Brenden, the owner of Whispering Pines. By using low heat and basing the roast level mostly on the aroma, he is able to produce a traditional-style tieguanyin with absolutely perfect flavor balance. At first, the aroma of the tea morphs into melting butter before filling the room with popcorn, toasted rice, and finally the sweet aroma of salted kettle corn and oven-fresh wheat bread. The heat is slowly reduced at this point and the tea is covered until cool.

The taste of our first batch of House Tieguanyin opens up with a smooth, juicy body with brilliant light floral notes and the signature mineral notes symbolistic of the best Chinese oolongs. The middle and end of the sip carries the thick and warm sweetness of caramelized bananas and the finish is long-lasting with notes of salted kettle corn and oak!

A truly beautiful roast of an already perfect tea, our first batch of House Tieguanyin won’t be around for long!

Due to our extremely limited batches, we have decided to limit the purchase of our House Tieguanyin to one ounce per customer per order.

http://whisperingpinestea.com/house-tgy.html

Sipdown! I can’t decide if I’ll restock this one or not. This was is malty and smooth, which are some of my favourite qualities. The LB/Bailin mix is interesting for sure.

I enjoyed my experience with Whispering Pines, so I’ll keep an eye on the website to see if enough teas stand out to me to place another order in the future.

[Comparison Fujian & LB]

In comparing, I see how different the Fujian is. It’s still by far the closest to LB I’ve ever experienced, but there is a hint of Bailin, which I’ve found in the Ailaoshan as well from Whispering Pines.

I thought I would steep some of this up since I was measuring some out to share with whatshesaid anyway. The steeped scent reminded me, pretty near perfectly, of Premium Taiwanese Assam, however the taste is much more akin to Bailin. Very tasty, either way!

It’s a bit lighter than PTA and has that Bailin taste I enjoy. This one may be a keeper.

cavocorax sent this one my way and i was glad. I sort of went off trying mint chocolate chip black teas because i really love stacy’s herbal version. Sadly, this one wasn’t a win for me. it’s a nice enough mint chocolate chip, but it’s not strong or enticing enough for me to pick it up in favour of the herbal version. still though, decent cup of mint chocolate chip tea :)

Upping my rating yet again because this is chocolatey perfection.

PERFECTION.

Wow, did this tea get better? I’ve had it once or twice since my order came in a couple of weeks ago, and somehow it seemed…lacking. Maybe it was because I wasn’t in the right mood, maybe it was because I had different expectations. (It does seem different from the old version but it’s not just the vanilla bean.)

Oh! I just realized, the last few times I brewed I forgot about drinking it until it was lukewarm. It could be an issue of temperature…I’ll take note of that. It’s much better when it’s still hot.

The dry and wet leaves smell absolutely decadent, like cocoa and sweet sparkling vanilla. The tea liquor has an aroma of chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and cherries. Mouth-watering delicious. The taste is very similar, too! It tastes like dark chocolate! Thick, rich, wonderful dark chocolate. I for one think that the darker the chocolate, the better, so this is heaven. It’s so smooth too. Mmmmm. The vanilla bean adds an element of sweetness and smooths out the tea base. Makes it velvety soft, creamy. It’s like a liquid chocolate dessert. I’m noticing fruitiness but it’s not quite cherry. I was thinking plum, then I second-guessed myself and read the tasting note. I guess it is plum! Neat. It’s not very strong, it’s just a subtle hint beneath the chocolate and vanilla. After sipping there’s a slight nutty aftertaste and caramel sweetness. The notes of cocoa carry through. Oh my, my, my. This is so good and I can’t get over how SMOOTH and RICH and VELVETY it is! It’s a keeper. I was unsure, but I’m convinced now. AND it’s good for resteeping. I am so on board.

Upped my rating.

(From the UTTB.)

Backlog from a few days ago! Jotted down notes but never posted them. I need to stop doing that. I’ve been on Steepster for almost a year and I’ve only written 50 tasting notes, what’s up with that? I want to get to at least 100 before end of summer! I’m getting there, slowly and surely…but I digress. (:

First sip of this tea was fruity, then it morphed into something thick and malty and chocolatey sweet! Exactly like the way it smelled. It was like chocolate graham crackers. And it was very distinctly NUTTY and RICEY for me. I’ve seen very few other people comment on those flavors, so maybe I’m crazy?! It reminded me of Verdant’s LBCG so MUCH. It tasted like it had puffed rice in it. All of the sudden it had me thinking of Cocoa Pebbles and Cocoa Krispies cereal, transporting me right back into my childhood.

The second steep was smoother with less astringency, not that there was really any to begin with. A caramel-vanilla sweetness peeked in. Less fruitiness and a thinner texture. It doesn’t coat the mouth as much. The predominant flavors for me were rich chocolate and toasted rice. It was an absolutely decadent cup. Like dessert, but not. BETTER! I was going to add this one to my next WP order and trying it beforehand only affirmed it for me.

My Whispering Pines order arrived yesterday which means that this lovely is back in my cup today. The rest of my order is actually a Christmas present, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out once I had this back in the house. Thankfully I bought a whopping four ounces, so two of those ounces are back in the tin where they belong. The other two will wait under the tree for me. :)

The tea… it’s full of chocolate notes as well as cherry, malt, and honey. Once the tea cools there’s a deeper molasses flavor. There’s also the taste of multigrain bread which is so good when combined with all of the other flavors going on in this cup. The tea is moderately thick, smooth, and not astringent. It resteeps very well with more bread like flavors coming out in the second and third steep. Delicious!

Finishing off my last bit of this chocolate-cherry-molasses-malty goodness today. It’s as delicious as always, and, while sipdowns of my favorite teas usually make me sad, I know I’ll be ordering more of this as soon as November rolls around.