Whispering Pines Tea Company

Gongfu brewed in a shiboridashi . This is a lighter shou puerh which is smooth with forest notes. As in it is nowhere close to what most people would call earthy but has just enough to give it a subtle complexity. Personally I enjoy the cake version of this tea more than the loose leaf version. It is hard to place what exactly is different so I wonder if it is a matter of the loose tea being kept in a bag vs the cake which was exposed to air through the paper wrapper & cloth bag the whole time.

Gongfu brewed, Moonlight Sonata has a smooth sweet taste that is a cross between being floral and fruity. It also does very well with numerous infusions. All in all it makes an excellent light evening tea to drink at night.

From the Sheng Olympics 2015.

Very unusual visually. There are bright orange bits that I’ve never seen in a non-flavored tea. Looking at the website, I discovered that they are flower petals. The tea has an unusual vegetative taste that came to taste like peppermint. It wasn’t unpleasant but didn’t really excite me. Part of the problem may have been that I thought I was drinking an unflavored tea. Not a lot of cha qi, but i did notice a bit of effect.

Gongfu brewed in a shiboridashi. This is a lighter shou puerh which is smooth with forest notes. As in it is nowhere close to what most people would call earthy but has just enough to give it a subtle complexity.

Tea 5 from my 2016 Dark Matter

I don’t know that I love it, but as far as shou goes, this is the best one I’ve had. Thick and comparatively sweet. I’m pretty sure I like my shou brewed inky black, as I have enjoyed those infusions on this one more. That being said I’m still just not a fan. Too earthy/minerally. I quit on this one early because there are so many teas and life is too short to drink tea you don’t love.✌

If you are a shou-head, this one is probably pretty good.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEUz0uMj_fZ/?taken-by=pyramid_king_brandon

Whiteantlers, I see why you like this Western.

I tried Gong Fu for 15 sec, but it was kinda flat. Muscatel with a bit of that black tea malt thick with tannin and bitter like dark chocolate, but flat. The teas complexity wasn’t being fully realized. I had to push out the sophistication.

Well, it was not quite as complex as I anticipated. It was, however, close to wine for a tea. At first, it was pretty similar to a darker red wine, maybe a Merlot or Chateau (I do NOT know my wines-I just turned 21 a week ago) with some of the same type of muscatel cherry and oak wood quality. Later brews out of five got smoother and closer to cocoa. Creamier texture later, but that’s about it in terms of infamous bean’s profile. I did get salty hints and maybe caramel, which a lot of you can ignore as sensualist imaginings.

Translating my verbiage into sane English, this was a malty black tea close to a dark red wine with its own nuances to a straightforward profile. It is a pretty good black tea, but I actually prefer some of Whispering Pines other selections like the Wild Grey…which surprised me. That one personally had more of the elusive “chocolate” note that I really enjoy.

I am so glad I tried it. Yet another accomplished tasting note.

I’ve been waiting to try this for so long. Thank you Whiteantlers!

And I need to try it again. I did it western, and it was quite pleasant. Longhan fruit, salt, and malt were what I tasted. I need to do it again Gong Fu before I judge it.

Whiteantlers spoiled me again, and I got her package on my 21st birthday. Fortuna smiles upon me :).

I quite enjoyed this green tea. It was like a jasmine green with a pine smell and aftertaste. The rest of the tea was actually a little bit more complex, shifting between different green tones, florals, and some nuttier tones. I would recommend it and probably want to own some, but there are jasmine teas that are just as good for different reasons and for lower prices.

Trying a target accomplished.

Gongfu brewed this tea is very unique as it is the first chocolate puerh which I can honestly say is really good. The light bodied puerh base blends nicely with the raw Cocoa Nibs with a smooth chocolate flavor that matches the “gongfu curve” of the puerh nicely. Along with the puerh stuffed mandarin oranges, this is the only other flavored puerh that I find good enough to reorder.

Bye delicious tea. Sipdown. Still love it for the gentle and smooth bergamot flavor.

9Apr- broke in the new gaiwan with this tea. I threw it, so the shapes not quite right. It’s slightly bigger than my other one at about 175 ml. I may need a bigger teacup.

So tea…I think this may be the first earl grey I’ve ever really liked. Most earl greys I find to be too harsh. The bergamot is usually coarse and overpowering. This was light in both the bergamot and the base tea.

175 ml gaiwan, 205F, 6g ish
Leaf smells of bergamot, a clean citrus smell.
10s- tastes of sweet and gentle bergamot. 20, 35s, & 50s- sweet, gentle citrus, sweet potato, honey that lingers. Little bit of malt on later steeps. Steeped it 5 more times.
Perfectly scented/flavored. Really good. 93

Steeped Western style.

I didn’t realize the base tea is oolong until after it arrived. I was skeptical, since I would never imagined oolong and spices being infused together.

This is one well-done ‘chai’ blend. It has common ingredients – ginger, cardamom, cinnamon – and not-so-common: allspice, tellicherry back peppercorn (these peppercorns are mighty interesting to behold). For me, the ginger and peppercorns stand out the most. A biting, peppery taste. The ginger tastes so fresh that it seems like it was just cut. The oolong, from Indonesia, is complex and reminds of me a rolled bug-bitten oolong. It offers a thick, smooth textures, and, most importantly, a blend of fruits. Nicely sweet. Strawberries, peaches, apricots…apples. I suppose apples comes to mind because of the power of suggestion from the website’s description! But it really does taste apple-y. It’s a bit like mulled cider, but not as fruit-filled.

This blend is very autumn. Every ingredient works so well together. I was confused when I drank the last it in the office today (4/6/16). It’s early April, not mid-October! I love autumn…

This is for the Spring 2016 harvest, generously provided in sample size with my recent order.

Holy cats, this is an awesome tea. This reminds me of all I adore in golden tippy teas. The malt, the cocoa, the cream. This one has a smooth, rich, buttery feeling to it. A truly exceptional harvest with what had to be some masterful processing. Second steep was not as mind blowing, but I did steep the first cup for at least 4 minutes, Western style.

Gorgeous.

Thanks OMGsrsly for letting me try this. I’ve been curious for a while but it always seems to be sold out or out of season when I go to look at it.

I had enough loose leaf for about five different sessions and they were somewhat varied in the tasting and aroma notes despite the same parameters. All the cups where pretty awesome in their own way, although the smooth, almost creamy jasmine note wasn’t consistent. Sometimes I got more vegetal chestnuts, which while good isn’t as much of a draw for me as the well balanced jasmine cups (2/5).

Give me that smooth, balanced cream of jasmine in a cup and I won’t need to rip apart the neighbor’s well tended garden for flower butter, nectar of the gods.

Sipdown! I’ve had a reasonably bad cold since Thursday evening, so I’ve mostly been drinking comforting teas that I’m familiar with. There’s no point trying something new when I can’t taste it, after all. I’ve enjoyed this one, both with and without milk. It’s super smooth, with prominent chai spices and delicious creamy vanilla caramel. I’ll miss this one.

1 tsp, 2.5 minutes, boiling water. No additions.

Not the last of my unopened Whispering Pines teas, but one of the final few. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, because vanilla makes most things amazing and I kinda love it. I followed the recommended parameters for my first cup, although I added a splash of milk just because it brewed up pretty dark and that’s the way I operate (particularly when it comes to chai). I was pleased to see that the base of this one is Bi Luo Chun. I had a bag of plain Golden Snail from Whispering Pines a little while back, and it was one of my favourite black teas for a good while. It still is, but in memory alone for the time being – too much tea, too little time and all that. Anyway, it was good to see it here.

To taste, it’s pretty amazing. The Golden Snail is smooth and malty, with delicious baked bread and dark chocolate notes – it puts me in mind of a warm pain au chocolat! The spices are perfectly balanced, providing a spicy undertone without being overpowering. I can taste cinnamon and ginger primarily, with lighter notes of cardamom and just a hint of clove. The spiciness lingers well in the aftertaste, providing a tingle on my tongue and a spark of warmth at the back of my throat. The vanilla isn’t quite as prominent as I thought it might be, and in some ways that’s a good thing. It emerges mostly in the mid-sip, and adds a creamy sweetness that pairs well with the malt and chocolate notes of the base tea. It’s not too sweet or intense, though, so it remains well balanced and the proliferation of quite powerful flavours play nicely together. I’m really enjoying how smooth this one is, and how well put together. It’s truly a joy to drink.

1 tsp, 3.5 minutes, boiling water. Splash of milk.

I decided to try this tea because it’s the base of the Sleeping Bear blend, which I greatly enjoyed. The leaves are dark green twists, and the dry aroma is very heady and fragrant, like a good quality green tea should have. After brewing, the tea liquor is very light and clear in color, and the leaves unfurl in interesting ways—it was kind of fascinating to watch them move around in the cup. The first cup is vegetal, slightly sweet, with a faint (and pleasant) astringency. It fits nicely in the spectrum of other Chinese green teas I have tried. The second steep becomes more buttery and smooth, with a plum-like sweetness, and reminds me of what (in addition to the pine needles) had made Sleeping Bear special in the first place. Overall, a solidly good green tea!

Warm and bready and vanilla sweet, but not super strong. Vanilla is definitely more of an undertone, but it is still there. I enjoy this a lot, but I probably won’t reach for it over other offerings from this company, or other vanilla teas I have supercharged by adding lots of extra vanilla. I like my vanilla to be more in your face.

Today, I realized that I had yet to review any of the teas I recently ordered from Whispering Pines and decided that I needed to start on them. Not really being in the mood for anything heavy, I decided to brew some Yabao. All in all, I think it makes a good choice for a mild afternoon sip.

The first infusion poured a slight grey-green. The nose revealed a clean aroma with subtle mineral and floral undertones with a slight fruitiness. In the mouth, I detected mild notes of minerals, wet stones, and dried fruit (raisin and fig) underscored by woody, mossy, and grassy flavors that were joined by a fleeting floral note on the finish.

The second infusion yielded a somewhat more colorful glass of tea. The nose revealed an aroma that was woodier, spicier, and grassier than the first infusion. The mineral aroma lingered, but was not nearly as obvious, while subtle aromas of dried fruit were now joined by cocoa. In the mouth, notes of pine needles, cedar, juniper berry, fig, raisin, and prune were underscored by mellow cocoa and wet moss with mineral notes popping up again on the finish.

The third infusion yielded a slightly greenish tea. Aromas of moss and grass were now underscored by subtle scents of wet wood, dried fruit, and pine needles. In the mouth, I picked up more pine, cedar, and juniper balanced by grass and wet moss with a touch of minerality on the fade.

In the end, I found this tea to be somewhat confounding, but I wouldn’t call it bad. That would be both untrue and unfair because, for what it is, it is quite good. It’s just hard for me to recommend this tea without reservations. As far as white teas go, this is very mild, clean, and subtle. At the same time, however, it is very earthy and woody. It is a tea that will challenge you to really ponder the aroma and taste sensations you experience and reach for new ways to describe them. I do not think it would make a great introduction to white tea, but I think that it could be a very pleasant sip for those who have experience with white teas and appreciate them. All in all, I like this tea, I just wouldn’t recommend that someone looking to get into white tea start here.

Dry leaf smells of green, like nature, and charcoal roast. The roast doesn’t come through to the taste of the tea at all. Steeps tasted like sweet water that was a little drying. Clean tasting.

Sipdown. Westren brewed this today. 3 steeps 3, 5, and 8 min. Overall notes of sweet potato and malt. Very consistent tea. 82

Gaiwaned this- I mostly got sweet potato as the overall note from this tea. It was present in every steep. It had some notes of a dark sugar and malt. Also, slightly savory.

Backlog. Sipdown.
Love this tea. It’s so consistently good. Cocoa, chocolate, fruity, and smooth. An eventual repurchase once I get my cupboard under control.

30Mar- dry leaf malty, fruity, hay? wood? I’ve made this both westren and in a gaiwan. Both ways got flavor notes of chocolate, cherry, malt, and cream/thick body. Also some honey. Very complex tasting tea. No astringency, especially as at one point I forgot to time it. I was able to get 4 steeps westren style and I don’t know how many steeps gaiwaning. I lost count.
It was so good, it just kept giving flavor. I drank this until my kettle was empty.