Whispering Pines Tea Company

I thought I tried this one before. Anyway.

There are so many teas in my backlog. Most of them, I need to add to steepster myself. Cheers to trailblazing!

I hesitated on this one for a while since I was not quite sure how I felt on Jasmine Blacks. They tend to be too malty for me personally, but I given how smooth the Golden Snail is, I’d give it a try. I have only brewed it very lightly via western with 3-5 grams in 8-12 oz, but my initial times tend to be between two and three minutes, and then I add 30-45 seconds, and then minutes afterwards. I have gotten between 4-6 solid cups followed by fainter ones. I can see this as an easy Gong Fu tea, but I’ve been working a lot online (TEACHING), and have needed French press to power me through sessions.

First of all, this is a very well balanced tea, and naturally extremely creamy, sweet, and dense with jasmine flavor. The body is viscous, but not overwhelming thick or malty. Like other reviews, I could still taste the sweet potato and cherry malt underneath the jasmine. The cocoa nib notes a little bit more subdued, but they are there. Middle brews give me caramel notes, and later ones lean to honeysuckle from the black tea rather than the jasmine. The first and second steep remind me of buttercream frosting due to its voluptuous sweetness. Sometimes it reminds me of cantaloup, but I point that to the sensation when my buds go from Jasmine to black tea.

When I bought it, I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to buy more Lorien, or more of this one. I wanted the Nepal Gold, but it was sold out right when I went to go through checkout. So I doubled on Lorien because Jasmine Whites are my favorite, and if White Lotus was any indicator of Brenden’s tastes, Lorien would be really good because he topped it above Lotus. So I got less of this one…though I wanted to add more. Curse expenses and my propensity to diversify my Dragon’s Horde of Tea!

So, after trying both, I like both equally, but I prefer the Jasmine to tea ratio on this one’s taste. Lorien can be perfumy if you ever brew it like I did the first time, and I like that this jasmine is not nearly as vegetal, but better yet, not super malty or astringent if you brew it lighter. I like that I can taste both tea and jasmine, and this is the perfect pick me up tea. I used it before work this morning to power through parent phone calls (I HATE talking on the phone), and sustained me through my meeting.

Only complaints:
1. Expense (WHICH IS ALWAYS THE CASE, BUT I SUPPORT BRENDEN AND HOLY CRAP DOES THIS ONE HAVE A HIGH DEMAND)

2. Longevity. Lorien’s main advantage over this one is that it yields more cups than this one. It can start to get week around cup 4-5 whereas my other teas tend to get weak at 6-7 western. It’s honestly a nitpick that depends on my leaf ratio.

3. Strength. This is easy to avoid and not a complaint from me, but I can see some people not liking this one because of the florals. It’s balanced enough to win people over and jade them to other Jasmine teas, but if you up the leaf too much, the Jasmine could get to your stomach. It’s more forgiving than most black teas, but it’s still a black tea, and can get astringent if it is over done.

I personally did not entirely picture Alice when I drank it unlike the Jabberwocky, Rivendell, or Lorien, but after reading the notes I can see it depending on how I picture it. When Alice drinks tea at the Mad Tea Party, I always imagine something more British like a breakfast tea, but then thrown in with something whimsical. The jasmine is more otherworldly than whimsical for me. But when I picture her with the caterpillar or with the flowers, this blonde tea makes more sense (ironic because I picture her more as a Brunette in the books over the blonde in the series). This little Geek rant has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the tea though, and Alice is one of the best blends that Whispering Pines has had. I like it more than Earl Gold, but that’s personal preference.

Sipdown 31

Sipped through a pouch of this at work. Really easy to drink and unfussy.

Sipdown 44

Went through this bag pretty quickly at work. Easy to drink and really tasty- raisins, brown sugar, and honey.

Sipdown 167-2021

Nothing to add, just logging the sipdown.

Another tea I brought to work. This just brings me so much joy. It’s easy to drink, and difficult to ruin. So, makes for a perfect work brew.

Sipdown 6-2021
Such a delightful tea, and I enjoyed every cup that I drank. I have a Whispering Pines order coming, so I’m excited to explore some new flavors. I will miss this, though.

I’m currently working on finishing a 50g bag of this up, as I just placed another small Whispering Pines order. I reduced my original rating just a bit. I’m still really enjoying it, but it’s just not something I need to keep on hand.
There’s a bit of a floral aroma. Flavor is really dimensional- chocolate, pumpernickel bread, jammy stonefruit, and white florals.

So good! Rich and chocolatey, quite easy to drink.

Good morning :) I realized today I hadn’t made a bacon and eggs breakfast since moving from the city. I flipped my egg and it flopped under the range grate. What the heck? At least the smokey bacon covered up the smell of burning albumin on the grate. I ate the egg anyway.

Been a while since a song pairing.
The Diamonds — Little Darlin’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysVLzXWnTzA
The share timer function on youtube isn’t working for me. 1:38 is where it starts.

This group came up at work Saturday after one of my older coworkers received a phone call Friday from Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers to chat about the pandemic.

Needed a sweet tea to pair with a salty, savory breakfast. You wouldn’t think mushrooms would be the solution but these are candy cap mushrooms. Pure maple syrup without the sugar. The aroma is so dense and penetrating, I had to store the swap from ashmanra (thank you!) in a mason jar. No added flavorings to create what smells like a maple syrup soaked buckwheat pancake. As for the taste, I honestly don’t think I could paint a better picture than Brenden (the owner of Whispering Pines) did in his description for this tea. It’s more a malty and mineral cleansing taste perfect for cutting the bacon grease. The aroma gives an impression of strength in sweetness but it’s actually lightly sweet. Cocoa-vanilla hangs out up by my sinuses. Notice the cherry on the swallow after it cools down a bit.

This is how you do a maple-flavored tea.

Hope y’all are doing ok today. Two of my friends are ill, one in Ohio and one in Seattle.

Have another song, why not.
Red Hot Chili Peppers — Tear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OzjUuB3WHo

It’s been incredibly hot here, and I just got done with a nice rich black tea, so I wanted something light and fresh. I don’t have many green teas in my stash, as I don’t really reach for the anymore, so decided to try to take a whirl with this one again. Unfortunately, it’s just as mild as before. I tried higher temperatures and increasing the dry leaf, but it just lacks flavor for me. This one will be retiring to the trade pile.

I’m finding this tea extremely weak, no matter how I brew it. It has a pleasant hay flavor and no bitterness, but the flavor is just far too mild. I’m going to try another session, using more leaf and some higher temperatures, to see what that yields.

This smells incredibly chocolatey, to the point where I had to check if there was something added to it. Flavor-wise, it’s not nearly as chocolatey (which was a bit of a disappointment). There’s an underlying bitterness that’s coming through no matter how I steep it.

On a side note- this coronavirus situation has become quite scary. My store has closed for at least 2 weeks (I’m very lucky to still be getting a paycheck during the closure), and my boyfriend’s show was already on hiatus. So, we’ve been staying home with our cats. I’m picking up a foster cat today as well. I’ve been drinking lots of tea as a distraction.

It’s quite rainy out (a rarity for Los Angeles), which has been making me crave black teas. I generally like more malty/chocolate forward black teas, and for some reason I was expecting that from this. However, I got quite the opposite. Very bready, with some mild floral notes. I’m finding it to be a bit astringent, with a particular acidic feeling in the throat. It’s okay, not something I’d really want again.

Apparently my tastes have changed over the last 5 years (when I rated it a 51), as I really love this tea now. The orchid is really present and the green base is vegetal and bright.

Cocoa Amore was recently restocked, so I grabbed 2oz and decided to try a couple of other teas I had had my eye on. Green teas used to be my favorite, but the more involved I’ve gotten with tea, the more I gravitate towards oolongs/blacks. I couldn’t resist the 50% off of the Whispering Pines greens, and decided on this one and Huangshan Mao Feng. The orchid in this comes off as a bit perfumey for me. The base is mild and pleasant, with notes of wet hay, artichoke, and edamame. The base notes aren’t really working with the orchid for me. The flavor is also quite mild.

In a word, delicious! Makes a smooth, easy-to-drink cup. Not too weak, not too strong, just right! The re-steep was just as good as the initial cup. Really enjoyed this one. Offered my Mom a cup of this as well and she also loved it so it’s double approved!

Another dark chocolatey tea today.