Whispering Pines Tea Company

And one more top-secret release for Steepster people only :)

About the Tea
Silver Moonlight White tea is a very unique autumn-picked white tea. It is minimally processed to preserve the purity of the leaf as well as a beautiful taste and aroma. First, the large leaves generally used to make pu’er are carefully picked and allowed to become lightly oxidized under the moonlight. The following day, they are brought into a shaded area and warm air is blown over the delicate leaves to dry them. Silver Moonlight has delicious sweet fruity notes generally found in white tea but also malty notes generally found in black tea. Notes of honeydew melon and raw eucalyptus honey take the stage as a velvety sweetness coats your mouth, similar to the fuzz on a peach. Light cinnamon spice and malt play background notes and the aftertaste is that of honey wheat bread with melted cinnamon butter! With a medium body and a strong, lingering aftertaste, this makes a great afternoon tea as well as a tea to sip while on hikes. This tea will develop a much deeper body over time, eventually tasting just like a black tea! Silver Moonlight is great iced, too!

Harvest
March 2013
This tea was dry-aged in Yunnan, China for one year

Notes
Honeydew Melon
Raw Eucalyptus Honey
Peaches
Hay
Cinnamon
Wheat
Butter
Honeysuckle

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1 tablespoon of leaves in 8 ounces of boiling water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 8 minutes

http://whisperingpinestea.com/silver-moonlight-white-tea.html

Hmm…another tea that has only been released to Steepster people so far… :D

About The Tea
Our Yunnan Silver Needle White Tea was harvested in early to mid-spring (2014) and carefully processed to preserve the purity of the leaf. With pure nearly-opened buds covered in down white hairs, this tea is as beautiful to look at as it is to taste! Yunnan Silver Needle opens with a velvety sweet body with base notes of honeysuckle and melon, complimented by light cinnamon and hay notes. The aftertaste is reminiscent of fresh-cut sweet basil leaves, and lingers on for minutes after the last sip. A fantastic silver needle!

Harvest
March 2014

Notes
Honeysuckle
Melon
Hay
Cinnamon
Fresh-cut basil leaves

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1 tablespoon of leaves in 8 ounces of 190ºF water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 8 minutes

http://whisperingpinestea.com/silver-needle.html

After some testing, and thanks to Veronica for pointing it out, I’m changing the recommended steeping temp of this tea to 205ºF. Everyone with this tea should try it that way and let me know what you think :)

I just slipped this into our sample section for those of you that want to try before buying. To buy it by the ounce, though, you’ll have to wait until the 1st! :)

http://whisperingpinestea.com/samples.html

Having a cup now since I love it so much. Always hits the spot with that salted caramel note :D

Enjoy!

I may or may not be posting these before they are released for Steepster people to get first dibs…Who knows… ;)

About the Tea
Ailaoshan Black Tea is one of the most breathtaking teas I have had the chance to indulge in. This tea is grown at over 2000 meters above sea level and shrouded in warm mist nearly year-round. It is harvested from tea bushes that have been cultivated on the edge of one of the most diverse subtropical ecosystems in the world — The Ailao Mountains (Ailaoshan) Nature Preserve. This nature preserve is home to at least 550 plant species and 460 animal species, including the black gibbon and bengal tiger.

Harvested in mid-spring of each year, Ailaoshan Black Tea is carefully processed and carries a warm aroma of toasted cocoa and caramelized plum. At first taste, a range of fruit notes can be identified amongst the delicious cocoa and caramel undertones. The most noticible fruit note is that of caramelized plum, followed shortly by a mix of black currant and longan fruit. A savory quality is experienced at mid-sip as well as in the aftertaste, and salted caramel with a hint of roasted fruit lingers on past the last sip. This is a truly memorable cup of tea and will please any connoisseur of rare and extraordinary black teas!

Harvest
March 2014

Notes
Toasted Cocoa
Caramelized Plum
Black Currant
Longan Fruit
Salted Caramel

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1/2 tablespoon of leaves in 8 ounces of boiling water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 8 minutes

http://whisperingpinestea.com/ailaoshan-black.html

Brenden sent me a sample of this tea…almost gone from his stock now…and I hope he gets more!!! This is one of the best black tea’s I’ve ever tasted!
I shared some with my teahouse assistant manager friend Joe.
Don’t under brew (Joe saw the timing and almost didn’t follow the instructions, thought it was too long).
When Brenden noted 3 minutes steep time it was for a good reason. This tea is multi-layered, deep, full and nuanced like fine wine.
Morphing…the flavor changes often as the tea slowlycools.
Milk chocolate, cocoa puffs cereal, butternut squash, dry papaya or mango. Sunshine…jam.
At first sip…“OH WOW”, from both Joe and I. Total surprise and delight.
Like I said…this tea is almost gone. I ordered some more for myself.
Hope there’s more to come in the future.

The way I purchase tea on a budget is this:
I have my inexpensive but very good quality (tasting) tea…and I do some home blending with dry herbs and spices.
Puerh is a bargan! Believe me, it’s possible to find a puerh you’ll like with a little help from someone who guides you.
Then, my more expensive tea’s are treats that I indulge in several times a week.
Yes, I treat myself…and delight in every sip!
BTW, if you go to Whispering Pines Website just to look around, check out the video on the back page of Brenden doing his slackline sport. He’s on YouTube also.
He just won a competition in Germany!!!
Don’t we have a bunch of creative genius’s here on Steepster!

Love you all…

Woot! Finally got my Whispering Pines order (darn borders…) So this of course is the first tea I tried. Dammit though, I oversteeped it while watching Person of Interest. Bah!

Regardless, this smells so strongly of chocolate out of the bag I looked around to see if I’d left some chocolate out accidentally. Nope, it’s from the tea! Amazing. Steeped (for 11 minutes, bah!) it’s still very chocolately with zero astringency, although I can still tell it would be much more delicate, light, yet full and rich had I done this justice. It smells amazing still even as it sits here, and I hope the scent floats out throughout the house.

You know how when you were a kid and you were playing outside in the snow, and you never wanted to stop.
But, suddenly just as your fingers were starting to get cold and your snow clothes soggy, Your Mom magically knew and called you with the delightful phrase “Come inside now and get some cocoa!”
You would come in, cheeks all pink, fingers and toes tingling with cold, and watch as your Mother spooned that magical powder into your mug and set it in front of you, with that perfect final touch of one giant marshmallow bobbing on top?
Well, when you open the bag of this tea and stick your nose deep into the dry leaves, thats the smell you get.
Warm, chocolaty, malt powder goodness.
When you taste it,it goes away from that smell, oh, you still get some chocolate, but now its more rich and plumy and nutty.
Very smooth too.
I could see a non tea drinker being very intrigued by this tea, between the smell and the smooth and slightly sweet taste.
This tea, simply put, is delightful.
Another one hit straight out of the park, Whispering Pines Tea!

Shared a pot of this with my Hubby yesterday.
This was another lovely sample that Brenden slipped in with my order.
Always a hit in this household.
Since LS is one of the only teas Hubby really enjoys, I usually save it to be drunk with him, on a slow Sunday morning.
Which is what we did yesterday!
Delicious, smoky yet sweet.
One of those teas that you wrap both hands around the mug and bury your face deep into the steam.
Its a like a hug in a tea cup.
Although, with this tea, its a little less like a hug from your Grandma and more like a hug from a big burly logger.
But, thats okay, because I am down with that.

Another great tea from Whispering Pines! This tea is the base for the Golden Orchid that I love so much, and while Golden Orchid is still the winner for me, North Winds is a close second.

The dark chocolate hits me first, but finishes with a lovely honey & chocolate aftertaste.

I am on my second steep, and it’s just as lovely as the first.

Yesterday I tried and reviewed Whispering Pines North Wind tea, which is the base of Golden Orchid, so I was very excited to see how they built on such a strong foundation. Golden Orchid is every bit as good as North Wind, and perhaps not better but simply a different tea to suit a different day. It just so happened that yesterday was cold and rainy, lending itself well to North Wind, and today is beautiful and sunny like Golden Orchid. Both are good days though! It’s very impressive how the vanilla added to Golden Orchid does not drown the delicious black tea of North Wind, but rather it adds dimension.

I plan on stocking both North Wind and Golden Orchid to my tea cupboard, some days that wonderful base may be called for and some days something a little extra. Either way these two blends are among the best I have tasted!

Brendan! BRENDAN! YOU MUST MAKE THIS TEA ALWAYS! Please never discontinue it! This tea is AMAZEBALLS. It is currently out of stock, so I HOPE (beg) Brendan to restock it!

I am going to make a bold statement. I think this might be the best tea non-dessert tea I have ever tried. I will add the disclaimer that I am still a Noob to the world of loose tea (I have only been drinking loose tea for two months) but in my quest to find a good breakfast tea, this is definitely the winner. Hands down.

This would, for sure, be a tea i took with me to a desert island.

I am on my second steep and it is just as flavorful as the first. The tasting note from Whispering Pines suggests that you could get up to 8 resteeps out of this. I love it so much, I might just try it. If I do I will come back and edit my note.

I brewed this tea on Friday for an afternoon meeting that I knew would drag on and on…I steeped two cups for the meeting and steeped it a third time once I got back to my office.

I am not normally a fan of mint-flavored things, but my husband loves this one, so I took a sample to work to give it a shot. I’m glad I did! This tea is LOVELY.

1st steep – Heavy on the mint, light on the chocolate/expresso flavor. Not my favorite steep, just because the flavors were SO strong…but still highly enjoyable
2nd steep – Flavor party in my mouth! The mint calmed down and the chocolate/expresso flavor picked up to blend together for a lovely cup of mint-chocolate goodness. This was my favorite steep.
3rd steep- Just a slightly more subtle version of the 2nd steep. All the flavors were still joining the party, but the had relaxed somewhat.

I didn’t try for a fourth, just because I had reached my mint limit for the day, but I think I probably could have had a decent cup of tea if I had tried!

In my latest WP order, Brenden slipped in a sample of this tea.
Apparently, it has been reformulated since my last order.
Sometimes, even though I am what folks around here call a " young gal", I channel my inner old person and grumble a little when something has been messed with.
“What was wrong with it before?” I mumble in my best crotchety voice.
But, Brenden is usually spot on when it comes to tea, so I didn’t get too crotchety just yet.
The first difference I noticed was the dry leaf had a definite sweetness to it.
There was still the smoky-ness, of course, but there was a new little honeyed sweetness.
Now, the other Campfire Blend had a sweetness too, more like a tobacco and plum note, this teas sweetness is more honey and floral.
Which I think compliments the smoky notes well.
I had my old tin out and have been smelling both
Right away, when I smell the old blend, I think of camping out in the autumn.
With this new blend?
Well, its camping out in the summertime.
You are in the woods on a warm summer’s eve and got a nice big toasty campfire going and somewhere upwind is some wild honeysuckle blooming.
The whole tea feels a little brighter and well balanced.
Smoky, sweet, a little spice.
Was there anything wrong with the old blend.
No.
But, this new blend is very nice and certainly worth a re-try if you have not as of yet.
I would happily keep this in my tea cupboard and drink it regularly.
Its very good at soothing crotchety throats as well;)

This was a sample I rec’d from my first Whispering Pines order, and the only pure tea in the batch! I got sucked in by all the interesting blends, and can’t wait to try them out! Thank you for letting me try this!

But this is such a beautiful Yunnan tea. I had to drink it first. I love the golden and black leaves – it’s so pretty. And this tea is really wonderful. I was surprised that it only has a few reviews, but the when I looked it up on the site I saw it was $11.75/oz. I guess that might explain it. It does taste quite fancy though.

I get cocoa and honey, and a little malt. It’s rich and complex and not at all bitter, even though I steeped it for 5 minutes by mistake! Like a lot of the Yunnan teas I’ve had, this one is quite smooth too. I get a little bit of fruitiness at the end of each sip, but I can’t quite place my finger on it!

I wanted to try another of my Whispering Pines teas but I am going to re-steep this first!
(175) The other half is going to Sil so she can try it too!

I wish I could remember how this compares to other Dian Hong teas, but I do know this one is great.

This is truly an excellent tea, the shear amount of flavor contained in this simple blend of two teas is remarkable! Kudos to Whispering Pines for bringing these two teas together to make some very special! I’m generally wary of blends, and it seemed unrealistic to expect so many different notes from straight black tea, but this meeting between two great black teas in inspired. Whispering Pines does a much better job describing the rich and complex flavor of this tea than I ever could, just let me add that they are dead on!

This was one of my tea samples from Whispering Pines, so far my husband and I have loved every one of the samples we have tried, but I am sad to say, this one is just not for me. I am not going to assign a rating, because I feel like it is probably an amazing tea. It’s just not the tea for me.

Kudos to Whispering Pines for nailing the scent and taste though. It smells and tastes exactly like a campfire. If that sounds appealing to you then let me know and I would happy to send it along in a swap.

This is a wonderful tea, so smooth and fresh i feel as though I visited the fields in Anxi where it was grown! It starts off quite strong but mellows out as you move through the cup allowing you to explore the complex flavor. Buttery is a great way to describe it, I went through several steeps without realizing it because it was just so smooth. Successive steeps also mellow the flavor a bit, but it stays strong through at least 4 steeps in my experience. Kudos to Whispering Teas for providing so much info about the tea that helps give a little context as to what’s behind the cup, for me the story of the tea is a very important part of the overall experience! This is definitely going to become a regular for me!

So, after my last blood test came back with more positive than negative, my doctor (who literally has the largest cup of coffee on his desk constantly that it could be considered a bucket) finally gave me the green light on drinking tea and eating fairly normal food again.
I started back into the tea world drinking genmaicha.
It just appealed to me.
While I was out of the tea world, I drank lukewarm water(and pretended it was tea) and ate pretty much only liquids, wore my husbands sweat shirts and binge watched Primeval and crocheted a weird blanket without a pattern, and wore lots of loud perfumes. (Don’t worry, People I trade tea with, the tea and perfumes are kept on complete opposite ends of the house and never “visit” eachother;)
I think the loud perfumes made me feel somehow more brave.
So, anyway, now that I can drink tea again I made a small tea purchase and bought some of this from Whispering Pines.

The dry leaf smells nutty and almost a bit chocolately.
The tea itself smells just slightly nutty then all I get is a nice green tea aroma.
I am not getting that big, bold popcorny, ricecake odor that most of the genmaicha’s I have tried have.
It smells more muted, gentler. Not so roasty toasty.
The taste is much like the smell, a gentler genmaicha.
The green tea itself is really the star with this tea and not so much the rice.
Its there, just more in the background.
That being said, the green tea used here, is very nice quality, I believe.
No bitterness at all, a very nice bright green tea.
If you don’t like popcorn theater notes mixed with your green tea, or want to start into genmaicha gently then this is the tea for you.
If you like a major popcorn and ricecake taste to your genmaicha than this tea might leave you wanting.

I am coming back to add to my original review of this tea. After my original note, I decided to go for a fourth and fifth steep based on the recommendation from Whispering Pines website, and am I ever glad I did!

Surprisingly little flavor was lost in the 4th and 5th steep! I thoroughly enjoyed them! I was slightly tempted to try for a 6th just to see if I could, but I wanted to leave the tea on a high note for the day.

Highly recommend!

This tea is LOVELY. I have been drinking it all day, I am on my fourth steep, and I am still in love with it. Each steep has been slightly different, but highly enjoyable.

The first steep was very spicy…almost like hot apple cider, but the apple flavor was more pie-like, as opposed to fruity. This was my least-favorite steep…the remaining steeps were absolutely lovely.

Second and third steeps were my favorite. The flavors came together for a delicious cup of apple-smoothness. The “Pie” flavor was milder with each steep, which I enjoyed.

I look forward to enjoying this when the weather is cooler. This blend is currently out of stock, so I hope Whispering Pines restocks it in the fall.