Whispering Pines Tea Company

It’s 3am and my back pain has been keeping me awake. Despite painkillers and my heating pad I just can’t sleep and I need liquid comfort. I dragged myself out of bed and to my little tea making station in the bathroom(yeah it sounds weird but I don’t like to go downstairs at night, so I keep a few select teas and a cheapy electric kettle in my bathroom.)

I can’t really write a decent review because I’m way out of it but this is exactly what it needs to be tonight. Liquid comfort. It’s smooth and rich. And teay(yes spellcheck that is what I meant to type). See what I mean about being out of it?

Sometimes this tea is good to sip but it also stands up to being gulped. It seems like not a lot of teas are truly lovely when being gulped down by the mouthful but The Jabberwocky doesn’t lose it’s charm.

Ok, my cup is almost empty so I should try and close my eyes again. I am feeling a bit better. Vicodin or tea? Probably both.

The first sample I’m trying from the puerh plus TTB.

1st off if this box has taught be anything it’s that I can’t say no to a tea that smells like chocolate. I grabbed samples of all three teas where I whiffed some cocaoy goodness. This being the only tea that contained actual cocoa was unsurprisingly the best smelling of all of them. So much so that when I added hot water the room started to smell like I was making brownies.

This tea brings out all the cocoa and the puerh adds a good dark base that keeps it from tasting watery. I brewed this in a gaiwan and through 10 steeps the nibs were present in every cup from the first light colored one to the later dark cups. The aroma cannot be talked about only experienced. The puerh did not get in the way of the chocolate which might happen with western style brewing. I may have ate all the nibs out of the tea when I was finished.

One note with this tea. It contains cocoa butter in the nibs which will slowly come out of the tea leaving a slight sheen on the top. Because of this you’ll want to make sure to use glazed teaware and give everything a good wash afterwards to keep from contaminating your next tea.

This is really a tie-in review to my other Whispering Pines black tea reviews. I found the black tea base of this tea to be, similar to the ailaoshan black, a bit on the pesto-y side of flavor. Very floral, a little nutty, a bit sharp for my taste. I also found this years “batch” of cocoa amore to be a bit more along these lines as well, so I think it is likely just the qualities of the tea changing a bit. I like it a lot, but Having had it multiple times now, it’s a tad cloying for an everyday tea. I brewed this one a long time, but I tend to do that with black tea :) The Vanilla is AMAZING, such good quality, aromatic, and flavorful, very pleasant overall. Not as chocolatey as I was expecting, but the cocoa amore seemed less chocolatey as well. I highly recommend if the above is to your liking.

This was one of the teas I served last night at my book club and paired it with a Midnight Dark Chocolate cake I made. Dear. Lord. It was so amazing. All of those creamy, cocoa, vanilla notes came through and was just perfection. I may have made a moaning sound when I drank it because it went so well with that cake. Just perfection. Rating up, up, upped!

Cocoa Amore… The tea that I have probably pined over the longest. I remember first joining Steepster and seeing it up there at the top of the rankings and thinking, “Now that sounds like my kind of tea.” Sadly, it was out of stock every time I went to look for it or make an order. Even this time, I went to order it, and shortly after is when Whispering Pines had the Great Tea Flood of 2016. But, Brenden came through and was able to get it shipped out a few weeks after some recovery time.

My first thoughts upon smelling the bag of this is chocolate covered cherry cordial. Heavier on the cocoa/chocolate smell with the cherry being underneath. Very intoxicating.

I brewed Western style, per the suggestions, and I was very happy with what came out. I may have had a lighter hand on the tea but it still had a really nice cocoa flavor with a light cherry underneath. I think if I pushed the leafing a little more that these flavors would be a bit more pronounced.

I was only able to do two steeps (again, the light handedness of the leafing) but they were both very enjoyable. I am really happy that I finally have this tea in my possession. I just want to bathe in the scent of the leaves and Tahitian vanilla.

Backlog 29 July 2016

Notes taken while playing video games.

Dry leaf: A nice golden black hue to the leaf. Smells malty and sweet.

Wet leaf: Reminds me of baked bread/dark beer. Has a slight dark chocolate note. Very rich caramel note after the third steep. Slightly bitter after the fifth steep; however, it remains rich and tasty. Dry mouthfeel.

awesome tea.

Yum, 2nd steep is even better than the first! Great work Whispering Pines!

A cup of malty good liquor. I’m drinking the second half of the sample in my Gaiwan, and I must say that it’s pretty good stuff. I noted a few days ago that it released a lot of caffeine through my veins and kept me energized for the 50 students at Summer Camp.

However, this tea is wonderful. I enjoy the nutty-malty-chocolaty undertones to the brew; which fortunately will allow me stay up later tonight on the account that it’s Friday, and that I don’t need to be anywhere tomorrow morning.

On a side note: I had recently experienced a mishap to my electric water kettle, and had to purchase a second one—although much more fancy than the last—which allows me to brew to the precise temperature needed for each tea. Plus, it was a fairly priced pot that I was discounted due to the frequent stops that I make at the local shop. The owner even gave a few samples to try that he thought I’d like; which was thoughtful.

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Sample Generously Provided by Whispering Pines Tea Company

I’ve had this one before but this time around it’s hitting a sweet spot. Maybe this harvest is more to my taste than the one in the past. Maybe I haven’t had a Chinese black tea in my cupboard for a long time and now I’m latching on to the first one I try. Who knows.

One of my cups had delicious spicy-fruity aroma that reminds me of Verdant’s old Vanilla Citrus Spice blend (the batches that didn’t taste like dirt; orange, ginger, and cinnamon notes apparent). The taste throughout the various sessions were often starchy-sweet (banana, sweet potato), meaty-starch nut (chestnut), syrupy or jam-sweet (plum, marmalade, molasses.. possibly caramel? I didn’t get that much caramel except maybe to finish). Aftertaste is partially salty, partially sweet musky tobacco.

All in all, this is a pretty filling cup, with a lot happening! I’m glad I had the opportunity to give this tea a second chance.

Steep Count: 2

(2018 Spring Harvest)

I generously received this sample as a part of my WP order.

Unflavoured black tea currently resides in the “unfavoured” pile, along with sheng puerh, flavoured green tea, and honeybush. That’s not to say I dislike those guys, or that I don’t have all-time favourites residing in those categories, but they do get a low priority stamp when I’m trying to decide what to steep next.

This Ailaoshan black is smooth, has some great flavours, and I can easily drink a whole pot serving, as opposed to a single mug steep and/or a gongfu session. Still, drinking through my black teas right now is a bit of a chore. My most voluminous teas are currently (mostly Chinese) black and rooibos blends, and I’m done with all them for now.

Maybe my tastes will change in the winter. Maybe I need to mix up the black tea section with a little darjeeling. Oh, hum.

This tea has flowers that you can watch open while you steep it. That’s really fun — and an inkling of what’s to come.

This is a super foresty and earthy blend. At first sip, I didn’t care for it. I was like “am I eating dandelions out of my front yard? Am I a rabbit?” (No. But I am a philistine.)

But as it’s cooled, I really like the deeper notes in here. It’s a claylike*, round taste that I appreciate.

*Disclaimer: I don’t eat a lot of clay, but it’s what I imagine clay would taste like. And, oddly, “clay” is a flavor you can pick below. So I am not the only person that’s like “it’s, you know, a pottery-in-progress kind of taste.”

As I approach the bottom of the cup, I’m really coming around. This isn’t something I would have picked out, but I’m glad I tried it.

I’m going to take this home and try steeping it before bed sometime. I think it would be a nice evening tea. As, I suppose, one would expect from something called “Moonlight Sonata.”

My excellent friend mtchyg sent me a giant bag of samples, so strap in and feel the G’s, kids. We’re going on a ride.

I picked Jabberwocky first because I hear the world of Whispering Pines, plus I liked the name. It’s a mix of Harvest Fujian, Ailaoshan and Wild Arbor Yunnan black teas, according to Oolong Owl.

I know what it is made of, because I couldn’t believe how flavorful it was. I had to look it up. This is just straight tea — not tea pus a zillion other types of hazzurah thrown in, which is what I usually drink. It’s got great flavors. Citrus and woodsy and a little bit sweet.

There’s also a rich note, hiding near the bottom, of a sort of chocolate/pu-erh/earth note. I’m not quite sure it’s there. It’s like the Loch Ness monster, where I think I spot it, but then it slides underneath my radar.

I had no idea that “plain” tea could be so good.

Is this a whole new world? Am I going to have to sing about it on a flying carpet? I’m already chasing down Pokemon in the real world, so I might as well fully grasp the nostalgia while it’s hot.

From a swap with Zennen. Thank you!

This one is unusual. It’s quite mild with a single teaspoon, so I think I might use two next time. It uses some ingredients you don’t see every day, which I do appreciate. I could definitely taste the ceder and the oolong, but I think I would be able to pick up on more flavors if I brewed it stronger.

This tea is really well done. I’m not a huge Earl Grey fan. Not that I have a distaste for it but I never look for or order it. I received some of this as a sample in an order. I decided to give it a try this morning and I’m really glad that I did.

This is a perfectly blended Earl Grey style of tea. Not too heavy on the bergamot and it blends really well with the Dian Hong. The bergamot itself tastes like a high quality version. There are also notes of malt and maybe a honey like flavor. It is very smooth. I would be very likely to order this from now on.

Okay, this review finally catches me up on my reviews. I will undoubtedly have more reviews to post by the middle of the week, but I can relax for now. This was the last of the Whispering Pines white teas I ordered a couple months ago. It compares favorably to the others, but unfortunately I am not a huge silver needle fan. That may be why I put this one off for awhile.

I prepared this tea using the three step Western infusion outlined on the Whispering Pines website. I steeped 1 tablespoon of this tea in 190 F water for 3 minutes. The initial 3 minute infusion was followed by two subsequent infusions at 5 and 8 minutes respectively.

First Infusion: Delicate aromas of pine, raisin, minerals, honeysuckle, cinnamon, and eucalyptus were evident. In the mouth, I detected subtle, smooth notes of pine, raisin, honeysuckle, eucalyptus, cinnamon, hay, and butter underscored by a trace of minerals.

Second Infusion: Slightly stronger aromas of raisins, dates, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and honeysuckle were evident on the nose. I also detected a scent somewhat reminiscent of powdered sugar that I did not pick up on the first infusion. In the mouth, I picked up distinct notes of butter, cream, cinnamon, powdered sugar, honeysuckle, raisin, dates, hay, pine, fresh basil, eucalyptus, and minerals.

Third Infusion: Mild aromas of minerals, fresh basil, eucalyptus, pine, and cinnamon were present on the nose. Gentle, integrated notes of cream, butter, minerals, hay, basil, honeysuckle, pine, eucalyptus, and cinnamon were detected in the mouth.

Overall, I think this is pretty good for a silver needle. In truth, I am not a huge fan of this particular type of tea as I tend to prefer more robust flavors, but this is by far the most interesting silver needle I have tried so far. I found it interesting that the scents and flavors I was picking up were rather different from those detailed by others. I was initially expecting a very sweet tea, which this one kind of is, but I also found it to be somewhat earthy and herbal. Maybe it’s just my palate or maybe it’s the most recent harvest. Who knows?

Enjoying the last half of the sample that Brenden gave me… Oh my god it is still so, so good. Light, smooth, creamy, sweet. I am so pumped for it to be released later this year so I can buy a full cake of this stuff. Quite possibly, no hyperbole, one of the best ripes I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking.

Oh man, release day for this can’t come soon enough.

This tea is an unreleased sampling that Brenden gave me to try out. I don’t have/can’t remember much of the information about this tea so, Brenden, you’ll have to update it correctly :)

*Update, Brenden just told me it isn’t to be released until October of 2017 so… you’ll just have to PINE for it until then. (See what I did there? It may be the tea drunk talking)

He gave me an 11g chunk and I split it into an even two serving sizes of a little over 5g each.

With the leaves resting in a preheated gaiwan, the smell coming off of them was a really nice classic puerh scent but with almost a hint of vanilla wafting up. I gave it a ten second rinse.

1st steep, 12 seconds- The scent coming off of the liquor is, again, a soft and semi sweet puerh. Not really basement or heavy loam but an airy scent that is reminiscent of the smell you get when you take a walk in the woods right around mid October. The scent of the leaves falling and dying but not quite rotted leaf pile that sometimes gets described with puerh. I am actually taken aback by how smooth and drinkable this steep is. I keep sipping it and asking myself, “Is it really this smooth or am I just being a fan boy of Whispering Pines Tea?” But, I honestly do believe that this has a drinkability factor that is off the charts. It isn’t that the flavor is super complicated as of now. It isn’t. But it IS tasty. And it IS creamy and smooth. And I COULD chug this all day long.

Second steep, 15 seconds- I’m getting a little bit of a wet wood scent off of the leaves after this steep. Not heavy, mind you. The flavor on this steep is a little heavier on the soil/leaf mould but just as smooth. I find myself taking a sip and than before I can set my cup down, raising it back to my mouth for another sip. Oh man. This is good. Like, one of the best shou’s I’ve ever had good. Now, full transparency, I’ve had less than 20 different puerhs. But this… Mmmm. It is probably one of the only puerhs that I just want to gulp down because it is so good.

3rd steep, 12 seconds. Scaled the time back by a few seconds for the 3rd steep as the leaves are starting to really be penetrated by the water and release more color and flavor. I guess I haven’t really been describing the color. It has been a consistent dark hickory for the first two steeps. This one, however, is pretty dark. Almost like a cola that had a few ice cubes melt into it. Not the complete black but maybe like a dark chocolate caramel color. I was right to back off on the time by a few seconds. The flavor is intensified. There is a little loam coming in on this steep. Still smooth though! And, pssst, the tea drunk feeling is starting to sink in. A little fuzzy head feeling, loose-y goose-y, singing along to Pandora. This’ll work, ya’ll.

4th steep, 15 seconds- The liquor is still very dark. The flavor is still fairly consistent. It is a little heavier on the leaf pile flavor but in the best, smoothest way possible. You’ll need to forgive me. As much as I would love to be a word smith, I sometimes fall short on descriptions when the tea tends to be so consistent. What I can add is that while the flavor intensity has ramped up, I don’t get a lot of aftertaste. In this instance, I think that is a good thing. Sometimes when I have had a puerh, especially one with more of that basement fermentation going on, there tends to be a bit of an aftertaste that isn’t all together pleasant. This doesn’t have that. If anything, after my cup is empty, I find myself brewing as quickly as possible to get the flavor into my mouth again.

5th steep, 20 seconds- The liquid seems to have lightened up by a shade on this steep. It is still dark but now it is more of a walnut brown. Another way to put it is that I can see the sides of my cup about 1/4 of an inch down into the tea rather than just staring into a black abyss. The flavor intensity has leveled out a little as well. This is the first steep where I felt it was slightly watery. I’ll step up the steep time.

6th steep, 30 seconds. The color is about the same as last steep but I’m not getting watery anymore. Alright guys… I’m going to wrap this up.. I’m probably the most tea buzzed I’ve ever been and I’ve got stuff.. and things.. to do. I’ll still be sipping on this though. Or chugging.

Summary: This is a homerun. Keep this tea in mind because I feel like it is really going to be a hit when it is released. Bravo, Brenden.