Whispering Pines Tea Company

This is my first tea from Whispering Pines. They nailed the name of this tea. It reminds you of everything lovely about the Fall. It’s weird to be drinking it in the Spring. Haha.

If you love cloves, this is your tea. The taste of the cloves is overpowering for the first few sips, but then it mellows quite nicely. I actually enjoyed this cup more and more as it cooled.

It’s almost like an apple cider, without the apples. Which sounds odd, but it works.

My husband had the second steep and he enjoyed it. This tea calls for 1tbsp per cup. So be careful when measuring.

I drank this so quickly that I didn’t even have the time to really notice the individual tastes. I’ll need to try this again soon. Very smooth and enjoyable!

This is one of the most complex tea’s I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. Trying to put into words what a cup is like is trying to describe a day in the woods, so many elements come together to make that memory it’s not easy to tease out highlights. If you’ve read Whispering Pines description you know they were aiming for that sort of experience, and they certainly have achieved it here. It’s a spicy tea. The cloves are a bit heavy at the front, but once your pallet grows accustomed to such a strong flavor in a white tea you begin to find the other notes that round out the experience. The cedar is particularly interesting as I don’t think I’ve ever tasted cedar before, only smelled it. Here the cedar does a good job of grounding the tea and bringing you back around to the white tea base. I find the cinnamon gets lost in the cloves, but as you move through the cup that clears up.

While not something I’d drink daily, this is definitely a tea I want to keep in my cupboard for cold nights and warm memories!

I was skeptical about this tea, mint tea’s are often very loud and obnoxious about their minty’ness, but against all odds I love it! A mint chocolate chip tea without any chocolate? Yes, emphatically yes. The balance between the flavors in this is is remarkable, the mint never shouts, the chocolate is always there but never overly sweet, and the black tea itself comes through which is a nice treat in a dessert tea.

If you find it a tad too minty I found the second steep to a little subtler with a tad more chocolate coming through, not sure if I’d go to a third one but I’m thinking about it :)

I’m starting today with the newly redesigned Autumn Foxtrot, waiting on spring teas to arrive…exciting! :)

Also, HAPPY EARTH DAY! Did you know that Whispering Pines Tea Company plants a tree for every ounce of tea we sell? Well, today we are doubling that amount for the sake of our Earth!

Today only, every ounce of tea sold will plant TWO trees!

Read more about our project here: http://whisperingpinestea.com/a-tree-for-a-tea

I spent a lot of time redesigning this tea…as the memory that inspired it is one of my favorites. Read the story below :)

It was a misty evening in the autumn of 2007, just after a light fall rain. Flocks of cedar waxwings flew by the entrance to my favorite forest in Glen Arbor, Michigan. As I entered the forest, a warm breeze blew from the depths of the woods, allowing me to catch the indescribable aroma of moist earth layered with fallen berries and leaves, trampled down upon by the resident deer, bobcat and foxes. As I walked on the trail, catching glimpses of the setting sun through the pine, cedar, oak, and ash tree canopy, I spotted some movement behind one of the fallen, decomposing trees. I crouched down and snuck up behind the tree. When I slowly poked my head out, I stood ten feet from the most beautiful red fox I had ever seen. The fox playfully trotted away and hid behind another tree. We played hide and seek like this for a good five or ten minutes before the fox spotted some dinner and took off.

Autumn Foxtrot begins with the warm and sweet aroma of wet moss, cedar leaves, and old campfire wood. At first taste you can note a thick honey sweetness with lingering blackberry notes, remniscent of the moss-covered logs beneath wild berry bushes on the forest floor. An aftertaste of cooling cedar leaves lingers on with the damp forest notes of aged pu’er, perfectly embodying the humid forest after an autumn rain. In the second infusion you will find deeper wood and berry notes with warm lingering clove and smooth, fresh mineral notes comparable to cool mountain spring water. Infusion number three is filled with pure sweet cedar woven into an unbelievably smooth body, with stronger clove and berry notes playing in the background. This beautiful blend is an etereal manifestation of humid, deep autumn forests and the wildlife that resides beneath the canopy.

Note that the loose puerh in this blend was harvested in 2007, the same year as the memory that inspired it!

The aroma is really good and comforting cuz it smells like Sugar/Honey Smacks cereal, mmmmm memories :)
The flavor is really nice its nutty, toasty and sweet with a slight citrus note to it, taste like a good genmaicha to me.
Check out my Blog post on this tea :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2014/04/genmaicha-by-whispering-pines.html

My tea-taster appears to be back to normal. After my first cup yesterday everything was just tasting bitter and bad. I gave up on tea for the rest of the day. This tea surprised me a little. It is assam-y in all the good ways. The aroma is very malty. On tasting, it is not quite as malty as the smell led me to believe, but it is there and this also has a nice sweetness to it. Very easy to drink. I was expecting it to be a little more “brisk” than I normally like, but it walks right up to the edge of that and stays politely on the yummy side with little astringency. I think of it as bright. This would be a perfect afternoon tea.

This was another North Winds morning. Fudgy and perfect. I’m blazing through my most recent order of this and will likely have to re-stock on Monday. The Hobbit convinced me to gong fu this one and wow – it’s really good.

It is still ass-freezing cold here in Central Texas. I don’t know how y’all who live where it’s cold a LOT stand it. I am enjoying a cup of the re-formulated North Winds. I have to say, The Haiku Hobbit knows what he’s doing. I love this even more than “old” NW and I loved that a lot. Chocolatey-bready sweet goodness for me to nom on.

Just read Brenden’s note about getting to go home to Michigan and it inspired me to make a big ole cup of this. I thought it was gonna be a sipdown, but it looks like I have one more big cup left to enjoy. I love this tea MUCH!

So Brenden, in your honor, here’s some Johnny Horton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkrfvjrr1Yk

Oh yeah – this tea. What a luscious blend. There is light cocoa and a little malt and a bit of a bright sweetness that is very pleasing. Nice and round with a tiny bit of tingle on the tip of my tongue at the end. This is a bright and happy morning tea to be up with ridiculously early for Easter. It’s smooth and has an entirely different groove from a lot of the black teas I love most. This blend reminds me Sam Cooke – but not Sam Cooke alone – specifically the blend of Sam Cooke’s voice with Lou Rawls on this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRGRKMWEe-c&feature=kp

I really like this tea and dealing with Brenden is a pleasure.

This makes an awesome iced tea. That is all.

Yum. Yum, yum, yum. I love Whispering Pines’ Mint Chocolate Chip, and this tea has all of the great flavors of that tea combined with the amazing blend of spices they add to their chai. Then there is a malty, bready note that makes my eyes roll back in my head. Seriously good stuff. The only possible bad thing is that this is a sample. And I’m not supposed to buy tea until May. I’m not going to make it until May. :)

Brenden sent this as a sample in my order, which is rather uncanny, since I’d almost ordered it, but had to take it out for budget concerns. :) I was very happily surprised!

I ended up steeping this four times throughout the course of the day… and it really says something about a tea that I’m willing to go back to it that many times in one day. Usually at some point I say to myself, “Eh, I’ve had that already, let’s shake it up.” Not this time! It was very malty and bready and had some light hints of honey, just barely. Sadly, through all the steeps, I just wasn’t getting the chocolate notes. Maybe next time? I suppose I should try it once without sugar, too… I forgot to, in my hurry that morning.

Had this tea this morning, in a travel mug with milk and sugar. The smell is wonderfully light and fresh for a black tea, with some lovely toasty maltiness. It tastes like… rye bread, with honey, maybe some hints of maple syrup, and heavy cream… it’s making me think of bread pudding, minus the cinnamon. Highly delicious, a very good choice for breakfast! :)

my second tea from whispering pines! and i had no idea that breaking into it tonight would come along with another celebration as i sipped…..

i hate waiting for grades; classes are done- I WANT MY MARKS! …..please. but profs get busy, sadly it isn’t a immediate thing. i was just starting into this chocolatey assam-esque tea when the message came that the final grade for the class that had me working my butt off all semester had been posted.

i could see the grades, but the student numbers had been scrambled! i was supposed to write for a code…… was i getting extra marks for this? gimmethecodegimmethecodegimmethecode.

there was a lone 87.3. highest in the class by 6%. mine. Mine. MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there were two others that were close, just a hair under 1% off. my team was 3……. this was us, i was sure. that 87.3 was MINE. i took a real beating this semester….it’s a long story. short story? that number was MINE.

gimmethecode.

-check email…. wasn’t there yet. sip tea.
-rinse
-sip tea
-repeat
-the code was in…..

second time with this prof…. highest mark in the class. he isn’t easy. he poked fun at me this semester about having no life! but he sent me a beautiful letter of congratulations….

this is an excellent celebratory tea. not malty to me, which suits me fine. a dark chocolate assam. lovely and rich…. i used some turbinado sugar and a bit of cream. i don’t miss dessert! very nice.

just waiting for one more grade =0)

I can’t describe the individual flavor notes from this tea just yet, but overall, it’s very smooth and rich with deep flavors. It’s storming rain outside, and this tea seems like the perfect drink to counteract the weather. All I need is a good book and down blanket and this tea to cuddle up and avoid the rain.

I had the Campfire Blend with a little added maple syrup and it was omg so good.
I reminded me of the outdoors so much I had to step outside and to enjoy a cup.
I got so much cedar and piney notes with earthy sweet notes and of course wonderful smokey notes, the maple sweetness really enhanced the cedar and smokiness.
Oh this is so good :)
The only thing missing now is a campfire and some colder weather, still a great outdoor tea.

This is the latest Campfire Blend and I think it is wonderful :)
The earlier campfire blend was very good outdoor tea perfect for sitting by the fire, The new mix tho is even better I consider it a “wilderness” tea.
The smokey lapsang in here is very smooth yet full flavored, the cedar replacing the orange peel and the added chicory really turned this version around for me, it adds just the right touch and make for a really nice balance in the flavors.
Smoke and Cedar/Pine is the main notes I get from this one with minor sweet earthy almost mint like notes.
This is a great remake of Campfire Blend i hope the Cedar stay around for awhile.

Also, I’m not sure if it can be oversteeped but I know it can handle a pretty long hot steep and make a very bold exciting tea thats just all smokey sweet cedar goodness, try it really strong you may like it that way.

this is from my first whispering pines tea order… first tea from my first order! i held out trying this blend until today for A REASON!!!!!

the semester is OVER! insert soaring freedom music of your choice….. but only for three weeks, lol.

must admit, it was quite awesome- i changed my status on FB re the exam and who should inquire about how it went down? Brenden… the owner of whispering pines, lol.

saving this as my celebratory tea was a good call. dry it smells like vanilla chocolate ice cream. malt, but not the bitey kind. the base is a very deep chocolate- not a cacao, certainly not a milk. very smooth. vanilla is the first taste and surprisingly honey is the last!

superb. a gorgeous tea. brenden says it resteeps brilliantly…. i’m off to do that now =0)

Seriously amazing! This is beautiful green tea with the most gorgeous pine flavor, it seriously tastes like a winter hike in an alpine forest. I may have to hoard this stash as whispering pines tea company is currently out of stock and I don’t know if I could handle being out! In fact, Im busy steeping a second infusion as we speak :)

Best tea of the morning, by far. I oversteeped it though when the mailman showed up, so I expected it to be horribly bitter. Surprisingly, it’s only a touch bitter, and I’m getting primarily jasmine with a sweeter nut. Zero pine, which surprised me. Even with the oversteep though, this is an excellent tea.

I decided to have this as my evening wind-down tea. I steeped it according to the package directions and added 1.5 teaspoons of sugar. I probably should have tried it unsweetened first , but oh well. Next time!

This tea is REALLY sweet. Definitely should have tried it unsweetened. There’s a lovely harmony going on among all the flavors, similar to what happens in a baked good: the ingredients get real friendly with one another, until they just mush into each other and become a new flavor entirely. That, and the fact that it’s really very sweet, makes this tea taste like a Hubig’s apple pie. For those of you not familiar with Hubig’s, they make individual size fruit pies, kind of like a turnover except with pie crust instead of puff pastry, deep fry them, and douse them in glaze. You don’t really want to know how many calories are in one of those things. ;) Anyway, I’m completely captivated by the bakey apple flavors going on here, and the cinnamon plays a perfectly in tune second fiddle. The oolong adds some nice honey and nut notes. Delicious!