Whispering Pines Tea Company

This tea was super interesting! Smelled very strongly of stone fruits out of the pouch, but I didn’t get a hint of that in the flavor. The initial flavor is very charcoal-forward, but became much more chocolatey as it cooled.

Extremely charcoal, roasty flavors. Strong minerality and wet rock notes.

Sipdown 81-2021
Very sad to have finished this off. It is so perfectly floral, and tastes like a cup of lilacs. I was happy to see that Cocoa Amore just got restocked on the Whispering Pines site, so I stocked up on some more of that!

I only have a couple more cups of this left, and I’m going to be incredibly sad when I run out. The lilac is still dominating the cup, with notes of fresh steamed greens rounding the floral notes out. I hope it comes back at some point.

I haven’t had a cup of this in awhile, and was worried that some of the freshness that I loved may have dissipated. Luckily, I was quite wrong. It’s still incredibly green and fresh tasting, and the lilac flavor is even more distinct. So buttery and floral. Absolutely lovely.

Just finished up my first 1oz bag of this beauty, and I can’t get enough. The fresh vegetal flavor has developed into this insanely gorgeous floral bouquet. I have to agree with previous reviewer, Linda, this tea smells like lilacs. I too have never experienced this flavor in tea form before, but it’s magnificent. I can’t get enough of this.

I was watching some tea vlogs this morning, and one talked about using tea leaves in cooking. I haven’t really experimented with using tea in savory dishes (outside of tea eggs and Busmese tea salad), and was suddenly very struck with the urge to experiment. Having already enjoyed a pot of this Spring Jade Tieguanyin from Whispering Pines and finding it very vegetal and savory, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to experiment. I cooked up some garlic rice, made a quick sauce, poached an egg, and flash fried the tea leaves in some sesame oil. Turned out delicious! A super quick meal that I’d be happy to eat more often. I love being able to use the remaining tea leaves, rather than just tossing them. Next time, I’ll be adding some fresh veggies as well.

I was excited about the prospect of a really dark tea with some chocolatey notes from the cocoa nibs, but I’m just getting musty/fishiness. I did 2 rinses, but I’m still getting a mustiness, and no chocolate notes at all. I’ll have to revisit this at another time.

Sipdown 131-2021

Sad to see this tea go. It’s an absolutely delicious Taiwanese black tea. So easy to drink and very forgiving with steep times.

Still working on sipping this down. Still delicious.

I started brewing this as I jumped on a Zoom call at work today, and the incredible aroma of this tea was quite distracting. Sweet potatoes and raw sugar. So incredibly decadent.

Recently placed a relatively small Whispering Pines order. I needed more straight black teas, and this flavor profile is one of my favorites.
My first time trying this, we had a rocky start. But, subsequent cups had the sweet potato and brown sugar flavor that I favor in a black tea.
The mouthfeel is exceptionally thick and silky.
Such a lovely drinking experience.

This time around is much, much better. 200F, 2min. Tastes like crystallized sugar and sweet potatoes

Summer 2019. Just received this in my Whispering Pines order, and I’m not really getting any of the natural sweetness and honey flavor that I was anticipating. I’m getting more of a savory, rye bread note. It’s not bad by any means, just not what I was expecting. I’ll have to try this again in the next few days with a different brewing method to see if that makes a difference.