Whispering Pines Tea Company

Still blissfully in love with this one. It’s a sweet, smokey, spicy chai. So good. Even though I try lots of other chais I keep coming back to this one. I’m liking the longan fruit note more and more. It adds a light note that keeps the tea from being too dark and heavy. Such a great blend. This is another tea I’m guilty of hoarding, but now that autumn is here I’m sure I’ll drink my way through it fairly quickly.

I had this tea earlier today. I finished my chores before the kids finished theirs, so while I was waiting for them I thought I’d relax with a lovely mug of this. My past notes on this have raved about the base tea (wonderful!) and the spice blend (spot on!). I don’t have anything new to say. This is one of my happy teas, and drinking it today made me smile.

Wow, Brenden went and upped his game. He said months ago that he switched the base tea to a higher grade lapsang. It adds longan fruit and stronger honey notes. It. Is. Amazing. I really didn’t think it was possible for me to like this tea more, but I do. Holy frickin’ yum!

The spice blend continues to impress me. It’s well balanced lending to the smoothness of the tea. The smoke flavor is strong but not harsh. In fact, it’s sweet and does a great job of blending with the spices. I keep coming back to the base tea – it’s so good! If this wasn’t already one of my favorite teas it would be now.

…and my daughter just came in and stole my cup. Time to go resteep. ;)

Tea of the morning. I was having a hard time waking up, so I chose a tea that I knew I would love and would help my poor brain start to function.

I do love this chai. While this was steeping the honey scent was really pronounced. That combined with the smell of the spices was soooo nice. It was like a mini aroma therapy session. And of course the taste was outstanding. Spicy, sweet, bold, smooth. Seriously delicious chai.

I spent the better part of my evening running my kids from place to place and then setting up for a bridal shower I’m helping with this weekend. I brought this tea along for moral support, and it did its job beautifully. Tonight it was a bit less sweet and a bit more spicy. Loved it. I didn’t add milk to my cup this time, and I think it let the spices come to the front a little more. So very good.

Tea of the morning. A few cups of this delicious chai and then I’m off to play outside. It looks like we are finally going to have a sunny, mostly warm day here, and I plan to do as much outside as possible! I think I might even take my third steep of this outside and sit on my porch. Yay spring!!!

If you haven’t tried this tea yet you need to! This is such a yummy chai. Well balanced and full of flavor. Don’t be afraid of the smoke if you aren’t a big smokey tea fan. It really is added with care and a light hand so that it enhances rather than overpowers the great chai flavors.

It’s late, and I shouldn’t be drinking caffeine, but I really wanted this. It’s such a great chai, and it makes me happy. And really, who couldn’t do with a little more happy?

Still loving the blend of spices in this one. It’s spicy and sweet, and it’s well balanced against the base tea. Yummy stuff.

You know that feeling when you meet someone for the first time and you hit it off right away? You have lots and lots to talk about, and even the moments of silence are easy instead of that uncomfortable dead air that leaves you grasping for something to say. Meetings like that, for me at least, are rare and special, and I treasure the handful of people I have met that way. It’s the same way with certain teas. Every once in a while you have a moment when you take the first sip and think, “Oh, this is the ____ (chai, earl grey, milk oolong, etc.) I’ve been looking for”. For me this is that chai.

Probably my favorite thing about this tea is the blend of spices because it is done so well. No one spice drowns out the others, and while the spices have strength and boldness, they don’t mask the smooth, sweet flavor of the tea or the smoke-y note. I also like that the smoke is much more subtle than I was expecting and is used as a way of enhancing the flavor of the spices than just being one other flavor in a chai. That’s not to say that the smoke isn’t there. It definitely is, but it doesn’t over power the tea. I’ve had a few smoke-y chais that ended up tasting like smoke and clove or smoke and cinnamon. Thankfully, that is not this tea. Lastly, the black tea base is good. Really good. There is a sweetness that took me a while to place, but I think it reminds me of wildflower honey. More than anything the overall blend is beautifully done and after two resteeps I can say I adore this tea even more.

So basically this is crazy delicious and I will be drinking insane amounts of it for the foreseeable future because it’s just that good.

to me this is similar to Gong Fu from Zhi Tea…durability seems similar as well,which isn’t so great…pretty tasty though…

Anyone else think roasted mate smells like stale cigarettes? No, just me? Okay.

The tulsi and peppermint pretty much make this blend for me. They add a sensational cooling element in my mouth, and just taste fresh and scream ‘WAKE UP’. They are also the primary flavors (yay!) The mate adds a roasty element, kind of earthy and a little ashy, and then hangs around for the aftertaste.

For a roasted mate blend, this is pretty awesome. For a cup of tea for me I could probably pass. Luckily, Fiance is a bit of mate fiend

Thanks for the chance to try, though KallieBoo!

This tea is beautiful. I got the package today and I was at work, so I spent a couple hours just periodically smelling it and hoping it would taste as good as it smelled… it took me right back to summers camping in the sierra nevada with my family, where I’d sometimes nibble on pine needles just… because.

I expected the taste to be a little more aggressive — pine needles have a bite to them, after all — but instead it’s just fresh and crisp and pretty subtle. It does not disappoint, though. I’ll be enjoying several more (tiny) pots of it tonight…

I asked for a sample of this tea from MissB because the description was so intriguing. I do end up a little confused since the ingredients list is only “black tea”. Based on the flavors within I am assuming it is an unflavored blend of various black teas, but I would love to know what they were. It’s honestly the type of thing that keeps me from ordering such a tea because I don’t really know what’s in it. “Black tea” is not a thing; every black tea is a varietal, and while it may not mean much to some of your customers, it means quite a lot to others. Even just saying “China” versus “India” or “Sri Lanka” can communicate a lot more information (for instance, I generally stay away from Indian teas).

Anyway, with that rant over, this is a lovely tea. Very chocolatey… it reminds me a bit of a Fengqing black dragon pearl, though not pearled, obviously. There are bright fruity notes and I do think they come across as a tart, fresh cherry. There is a bit of hay and the robustness of malt. Very smooth, very tasty. Thanks for the sample, MissB!

Sipdown! This is a really interesting tea, and I’ve never had another herbal like it. The fruit flavor alternately tastes like apples or berries, and it’s earthy and a little bit spicy from the cinnamon. It reminds me a little bit of baked apples, and it’s really comforting on cold days or days when I’m feeling off. I’d definitely get it again.

Okay, here is my official promise that I will not make any new tea for myself that contains caffeine tonight. I will be resteeping that dragonwell because I’m curious how it’ll hold up, but otherwise it’s all herbal/rooibos for me. I haven’t been sleeping well lately and caffeine at 10 pm can’t help (although I don’t think that’s the cause, I just don’t think it helps).

Dry, this smells woody, piney, and a little spicy. As it brews it smells like baked apples! Not what I expected at all. I overleafed this a bit to make sure I got everything in the cup. Considering what’s in it I’m shocked to report that it tastes a little like mulled apple cider! There is a piney flavor to it, but it really does remind me of cinnamon apples in some form.

ETA: As this cools it completely changes. Now that it’s room-temperature it’s piney, wintery, but still a touch appley. I’ve never had anything quite like it!

Not much to say about this one since it’s discontinued. But KallieBoo! sent this my way but it’s not my cup of tea. Maybe it wasn’t anyone elses’s either – hence the discontinued. but i’m glad i tried it :)

backlog from yesterday – thanks again to dexter for letting me try this one. On the whole, this wasn’t a bad cup of tea, but i’m glad that this is one that i don’t feel the need to order from WP. There was a bitterness there that i didn’t love. still not a bad cup..just not one i need to keep around.

Final Count yesterday: 114

thank you KallieBoo!

I didn’t have good luck with this tea today. There was something funny about the tea, but i’m not sure if the tea was contaminated or i just goofed it up. oh well. I’ll eventually get round to placing an order with WP and maybe ill try it again. thanks for sending this my way!

Sipdown!! (185)

I think I am definitely the majority but I am not loving this one. I am getting woodiness from the rooibos and a bit of smoke so the campfire is definitely present. Unfortunately, I am searching but can’t find my s’more. There might be a bit of malt from the black base but it is not the creamy milk chocolate my s’mores have and it is lacking the marshmallow sweetness. I am grateful that I did not need to order a full 2 oz as I surely would have been disappointed. You never know unless you try though so thank you MissB for giving me the opportunity to try this one. If nothing else, you satisfied my curiosity and saved me some money :)

Delicious. I treat this the same way I steep/drink my Longjing – Pour water at correct temp into a tall glass, leave buds/leaves in, drink until 1/3 left and then add more water. Repeat until flavour is gone. Sometimes I even mix the two together; there is no bitterness that I can taste when doing this.
By itself:
The aroma is full of sweet pine. It reminds me of Whispering Pine’s Sleeping Bear.
The taste is what you’d expect from a white tea: light, delicate and a very gentle aftertaste of honey.
The buds dance around the tall glass going up and down throughout out the session.

I knew I had to get a tea with warming spices to cope with the dead of winter…southern California winter that is. Of course this tea is the perfect counterpart to winter or even fall. The smell upon opening the packet reminded me a lot of pecan or pumpkin pie. And the taste is actually very similar. It is sweet and spicy and…warm. A little difficult to describe. Elderberry is really a great flavor, I’m surprised it doesn’t get as much publicity as all the other berries because it’s really something. Elderberry has a really delicate and earthy sweetness that makes blueberry look almost like an aggressive sweetness. All in all, buy this tea and you won’t be disappointed!

Here’s another new tea arriving early next week, now available at 10% off for pre-order! :)

About the Tea
Our spring harvest Jade Tieguanyin from Anxi, China is a beautiful oolong that has been carefully hand-processed from start to finish! After hand picking the leaves, the long process begins by firing in a wok, steaming, rolling, and steaming again. This whole process is then repeated up to ten times! Due to this skilled processing, our Jade Tieguanyin has an extremely aromatic bouquet with notes of butter, chestnuts, and lightly floral characteristics.

The taste is unrivaled in the world of Tieguanyin as the flavor opens up with an intoxicating sweet buttery body! Smooth, nutty notes combine with the buttery body as the sweet, oceanic scent of the pacific coastline wafts out of your cup. It’s hard to believe that such a beautiful fresh taste can come from these tiny jade-colored leaves. Infuses more than 5 times!

Best enjoyed with your worries left behind!

Notes
Buttery
Oceanic
Chestnuts
Gardenias

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1 teaspoon of leaves
in 8 ounces of boiling water
for 2 minutes.

2nd infusion: 3 minutes
3rd infusion: 4 minutes

Ingredients
Oolong Tea

Caffeine Content
Medium-High

http://whisperingpinestea.com/jadetgy.html

Our Xin Yang Mao Jian is now available for pre-order at 10% off! It will be arriving early next week! :)

About the Tea
Xin Yang Mao Jian is a famous green tea produced in the Henan province of China. This tea is harvested in the early spring and is comprised of tiny, hand-twisted leaves. The leaves are so small that each ounce of Mao Jian has nearly 3,000 leaves! Mao Jian is harvested just before the monsoons, after long periods of fog, which leads to a very sweet, fresh flavor with notes of agave, citrus, and a lovely nuttiness. The aroma of Mao Jian is stunning, comparable to a summer morning walk through a deciduous forest! With a history dating back to around 800 BC, the processing of this tea has become absolutely perfected and will please any green tea lover. This is my favorite green tea!

Notes
Herbaceous
Agave
Citrus
Chestnut
Dark, Mossy Forest

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1/2 tablespoon of leaves
in 8 ounces of 180ºF water
for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

2nd infusion: 2 minutes
3rd infusion: 3 minutes

Ingredients
Chinese Green Tea

Caffeine Content
Low

http://whisperingpinestea.com/maojian.html

This is absolutely lovely! Thank-you Brenden. :-D