Whispering Pines Tea Company

Sipdown 37/371!

Thank you for sending me this, MissB!
One of the very few smokey teas I enjoy, which is a huge compliment. This was the tea I reached for every time I fancied something smokey, which isn’t very often. It’s surprisingly delicate, but not weak. The smoke doesn’t overpower the base but rather works with it to create a seamless, delicious malty, smokey, chocolatey tea which I could happily drink all afternoon. I don’t get any citrus notes from this tea as others have mentioned, but I like it just how it is. Unfortunately, this is the end of the road for December and I for a very long time. I won’t be buying any more tea for the foreseeable future, but when I do I will definitely consider adding this to my list. It wasn’t one I drank frequently, but I thoroughly enjoyed it when I did.

The dry leaves smell fantastic, like chocolate almost. It was a real shock to me to be greeted with such a wonderful chocolate-y scent. The wet leaves are like somewhat nutty kind of, I think.

For this review, I did a few rounds of gongfu!

First infusion was awesome. So, so creamy mouthfeel!! I really enjoyed this one immediately. The chocolate flavoring comes through in the tea, along with that characteristic malty taste. I thought the smell was a bit neutral, but the taste is great. Very, very cocoa-y. I enjoyed this immensely. RATE: 8/10

Second infusion came out quite a bit darker, which might have been my fault. The smell was a bit stronger than the first time around too, it reminded me back to that chocolate leaf scent. The taste is less chocolate this time, more neutralized. I think I oversteeped this one a little, as it had a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but that didn’t take away from the overall experience. It was pretty good, if not a little neutral. Actually, thinking about it, the cocoa flavor from before now comes through as a more bitter cocoa, like dark chocolate. Very interesting. Second infusion was overall pretty good. RATE: 6.5/10

Third and final infusion tonight ended the experience with roasted cocoa notes, very yum. The bitterness from before has gone away and a more neutral roasty flavor has replaced it. Also, the color! Beautiful! Very reddened, so nice. That malt comes back too, but not as strong as in the first infusion (it was almost absent in the second one). This infusion’s flavor is very complex, and I am not sure how to describe it. Definitely very “tea”. RATE: 7.5/10

Overall, this tea was awesome! I love it. It was so tasty, and dynamic between infusions. Very interesting overall, and I will most likely buy more of it once I get done with what I’ve got. Very, very good.

Sipdown also from August.
Bye to this delicious tea.

Also sipped down this fall: Georgia Natela’s Gold Standard Black Tea – What-Cha
Drink (Don’t Eat) Grapefruit Sugar Scrub Tea – 52 Teas
Lone Tree – Mandala tea
Black Beauty – Gong Fu Tea
Dragon’s Well – Gong Fu Tea
Phoenix Pearl – zen tea
Nepal Silver Oolong – What-Cha

Dry – malty chocolate. Steeped- super malty and chocolate. Smooth. 2nd and 3rd resteep – more of very good taste. Very good tea. Never gets astringent. Hold its flavor well.

This is a good tea but not worth the price tag. I’ve had many yunnans for half this price that were comparable or even better.

Finally got to try this yestrday and it went for 6 hours at work which was great. The first thing that anyone should notice while steeping this is how highly balled up this tea is. For at least 8 steeps this stayed in its shell before opening.
This is the coffee ewuivlitant of tea for sure. Wonderful roasted notes with as deep flavor as you like. Steep it 20, 45, 90, 300…. how ever many seconds you want and you will taste the difference. While this is a premium roasted tgy, I will say the one downfall is that it caused me to pee more often than normal. Considering I drink a lot and daily, it is something I notice.

Cocoa Amore is great. I could not justify buying it for myself, so I asked for an ounce of it as a present. My main complaint about most teas of this kind is that people describe them as tasting like cherries, by which they usually mean the combination of chocolate and almond flavors are evocative of “the idea of cherries” or “cherry cordials” which do not actually taste like cherries. There is a fruitiness certainly, but cherry is a very specific taste, and I have not picked it up in this at all. I would maybe buy it again, but it is so ridiculously expensive that it is really hard to justify such an exorbitant expense. I brew it probably with more tea, and for a longer time than you’re supposed to, I sometimes add a little milk but not always, though I do always add a touch of sweetener as it brings out the maltiness. The results are always pretty satisfactory, and I would recommend it if you feel like paying for it.

I am naming today Sample Sunday for myself. Even though I have a new Liquid Proust order I want to dig into, I feel the need to clear out some of the samples and small amounts of tea that I’ve accumulated either through purchases from fellow Steepsterites or with past orders as they are getting older and cluttering my tea space.

First up Whispering Pines that I believe TeaNTeas was kind enough to give me a taste of when she told some of her stash.

The leaf of this smells wonderful. It’s kind of sweet and hinting at cocoa possibly. The leaf itself is long and kind of curly. The first few sips leave me feeling a smooth feels in my mouth. This is not what I expected based on the name, I could add sweetener to see if I can find the flavor. However, it is quite pleasant with no additions. It is very comforting. I can’t really place any flavor other than smooth black tea. I feel lucky to have tried this.

Puerh Noob reporting! I got this lovely sample from Liquid Proust who included this as a surprise goodie from his 2016 Sheng Olympic.

This is very different from the shengs I’ve tried. Love the gorgeous leaf appearance and the sweet dill aroma of the dry leaves. Gave it a 3 sec rinse. Combined steeps 5/10 and then 10/15.

I was pleasantly surprised not to get that “sour” taste that I’ve come to expect from shengs. I quite like this! It’s got a very nice pine and dill flavor and the liquor has that silky smooth feel that I really like. Steeps 3/4 introduced a slight astringency that I’m sure will get stronger with later steeps. I’m interested in finding a way to bring out the pine.. it seems to be a flavor I crave! o.O I would keep brewing this but I started late in the evening and the 2 “cups” that I’ve just has just helped bring on that wonderful relaxed feeling .. so I think I shall pop off to bed and add to this review tomorrow evening. ;)

This is the first sheng that I want to buy more of! Thanks bunches LP! I would never have tried this one on my own… and it’s such a winner for me! :D

Really enjoyed this chai. Mellow and lightly spicy in terms of heat. The spices at the front of the sip were cardamom and allspice for me. Sage added depth. This tea is somehow grounding and comforting. Really lovely, and I can’t imagine adding sweetener or milk to it.

Finally after having this tea around for a few weeks and a cold that I could not fully shake I am recovered, so it is safe to open up the really good stuff. I’m brewing this tea gongfu in my small dark Tieguanyin yixing pot in the manner that works for my teaware and water.

The first thing that sands out to me about this tea is smoothness of the dark roast with a bit of lingering sweetness. While I personally would no call it as being like cocoa or caramel, I can also reasonably see where they are coming from. Beyond that I am not sure what else there is to say as I am one that generally tries to focus upon enjoying the tea as compared to trying to analyze it which in my opinion takes away some of the enjoyment in the moment. My final verdict on this tea is clearly a very good quality dark roast Tieguanyin, which are sadly becoming more rare as time goes on.

Sipdown of this precious. Haha, Golem. (A Lord of the Rings joke and I only watched The Hobbit…. ) I could have swore most of the leaves in the bottom of the bag were the tiny cedar pieces (and hopefully vanilla!), but the flavor is still AMAZING. Whoa. And I really need to search out some of the Anxi Ben Shan oolong base but it seems to be a rare one.

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #9
I just watched the third Hobbit movie the other day. :D Happy to see this one in the teabox to try! Oolong and Tahitian vanilla? sure! And boy is this an oolong fit for those elves. It’s like nectar of flowers… and fruit… and this lovely vanilla and this oolong is so smooth. The fruits sometimes seem like pear and peach and cherry. So so good & gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve tried an Anxi Ben Shan before… but I think I remember Ali Shan being very fruity and mostly pear. I’m not sure what these cedar leaves bring to the table, but nothing that doesn’t fit with this cup. I couldn’t think of a better name for this one either. I just love the creamy floral fruitiness of it.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 15 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 7 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Brewed this tea gongfu this afternoon. Who would have thought that roasted cedar would make such a good addition with a blend but Brenden has used it a few times successfully.

The cedar in this tea gives it that evergreen feel and taste. The chai flavours are nicely balanced. I pick up cinnamon and cardamom a bit more than the others. Thank goodness ginger is toned down since I am not a fan of ginger. Overall, it’s blended nicely so that it doesn’t overpower the buttery flavour of the oolong. I also pick up a hint of mint on the finish of the sip.

It’s a really nice tea to have on a cold day as the spices are really warming.

I spent almost 3 hours last night scrolling through the reviews of this tea. It was like I was mesmerized by how many fantastic reviews there are…That’s why I can’t forget to take my adderall haha. I went to go order some of this tea and…….they are out of stock. I’m practically in tears now. Oh well guess i’ll just have to wait to try this one

Finishing off the sample I had of this. Sometimes you just have stock piles of tea and some of the smaller bagged samples get lost in the clutter. This is what happened here. But boy am I so glad I found it/remembered it because, once again, this tea is fan-freaking-tastic.

I say this as someone who likes Earl’d teas well enough but doesn’t really purposefully buy them. This is absolutely one I would (will) buy. The base is high quality. It lends a depth of flavor that is not matched in most EG’s.

Gong fu style yielded about 5 good steeps. You could stretch it to a few more but the flavor starts to become weak past that.

Yeah… so this is now by far my favorite Earl Grey style of tea.

Malty Golden Snails meets the citrus of bergamont oil? You wouldn’t think it (or maybe you would) but the match is amazing.

Thanks to Nicole for sending me this sample. Now I have to wait for it to come back in stock!

Trying this for the first time tonight. Wow is it a beautiful tea. Drinking this with my wife by the fire place this evening.

1st steep, 20 seconds: Wet leaves give off a strong dill scent. That is amazing! The color of the liquor is a golden orange. The flavor certainly has a slightly sweet dilly type flavor. So unique. And smooth too!

2nd steep, 10 seconds: The wet leaves give off the dill aroma. So fascinating. The liquor itself is a light tawny brown. The flavor seems to be less dilly and a bit more sweet. Wildflower sweet. Not cloying and not quite tart. A tangy sweetness.

3rd steep, 10 seconds: Strap in, baby. Dill is here to stay. And that is fine by me. I should mention this isn’t a dill pickle type of dill. This is more fresh picked dill from your garden. And even then, not overpowering but still definitely in the forefront. And in this steep, the sweetness seemed to finally be it’s equal, dancing along side it on my tongue.

4th steep, 15 seconds: This isn’t going to be too detailed probably from here on out. Why? This stuff is so smooth and delicious that I am drinking it faster than I can really think and type notes on it. The main thought I had from this round is that I would drink this all day long. No problem.

Well, I’m on my tenth steep of this (5 minutes) and it is still pretty flavorful. I might have to buy another cake of this.

i received this tea the other day. i open it up and i tell you the aromatics are great with the smell of the vanilla, white chocolate and i think cedar. i gong fu’d this and went about 8 infusions in, probably 2 too many, but it was still a good yield i thought. what i believe to be vanilla and cedar “dust” lines the inside of the bag and comes out fairly heavily as sediment, so use your strainer! im a big tolkien fan however i have yet to read the silmarillion or the lotr trilogy, terrible i know, but i dont mind since i have something to look forward to. ps. i’ve read the hobbit multiple times.. its a good ol book.

from what i remember the first infusion- to me, was one of the best (5 or so sec) it was light and floral and sweet in a natural sort of way. the second and third became more robust and unfortunately i lost some of that sweetness, but the tea in itself is so nice i was happy with what i got. to me it gives more natural sweetness (like a sweet water) than a floral sweetness.. i could be wrong on that, i must drink moar.

i used the recommended brewing tips provided by wp ( will have to mess with the stats.) i will try to flash brew this western style, and full infusion ws. im also coldbrewing the spent leaves to take everything out of this awesome tea.

i must add: i think there is a bit too much cedar in the mix for me.

Okay, yeah I really like this one and I’m too close to finishing it off. Western using 6 ounces, 2-3 grams of leaves, and following Brenden’s exact steeping instructions. So, so good. Curse my “budget”.

I’ve been having Earl Grey cravings and this really satisfied my need for one. It also turned out to be a uniquely light one.

When you drink it, there is no doubt that this is an Earl Grey and you would not notice a great difference between any other. But if you drink it carefully, there is actually a lot of subtle things going on with the taste.

The bergamot is the most immediate thing you smell from the dry leaves and the immediate thing you taste from the brew at three minutes at nice, boiling temperature. But as it goes down the throat, some tastes of malt, citrus, and cocoa roll in very slowly and nicely. The longer I steeped it, the more tea “chocolaty” it got in every steep. I followed Brenden’s recommendations precisely, but I also got more tastes as I let the leaves strain in my cup. There was a very slight butter and caramel note every once in a while, maybe closer to a very LIGHT sweet potato, but they were fairly subtle. The spices and honey are really the different tones of the citrus.

I can say that this was a light, but nicely balanced and almost oily Earl Grey. It’s lightness and subtlety make it unique to me. It kind of makes me curious what Earl Gold tastes like in comparison, if it is a chocolate orange as Amanda describes it. At least I have this chocolate orange for now.

This was actually one of the best blends that you can get for a decent price from Whispering Pines. Some of you might be under impressed because its lighter taste, but others might like it for the lightness as I did. And if you want to try Whispering Pines, this tea is a good start.

This is a black tea that requires attention. Very complex. In the first steep, I tasted prunes, caramel, what I imagine wet leaves to taste like, a subtle hint of pine at the back of the tongue and milk chocolate at the middle. It was dry at the end of the sip and sweetness lingered.

The second steep introduced pine gum at the front of the sip, but geez, I haven’t chewed pine gum since I was little so it could be my imagination. In the third steep the sharpness hit my tastebuds as dill!

I really enjoyed this tea. As I said, I will drink it when I can pay attention.