Whispering Pines Tea Company

Just here to confirm that I think this tea is quite delicious, and distinct enough from other blacks that it deserves recognition. Had it with my croissant this morning and it was a lovely pairing. I kind of like not having too too many teas in my cupboard at once—it really forces me to drink down what I do have, and to enjoy it while it’s still fresh. I have some more tea on the way through a friend who’s visiting her boyfriend in the states, and I think I’ll be done at least some of my stash by then.

That said, I am fantasizing so, so deeply about when next I’ll be able to enjoy WP’s TGY. This afternoon, maybe? and also all day Sunday?

Yaaah it’s Friday!

I had this with breakfast again this morning. This time, I made sure to get a nearly heaped table spoon and used just under boiling water for three minutes. The tea, as with many teas, only tasted better as it cooled, and I definitely got a nice balance between sweet and tart. The sugar and cream I added just took it all up a notch, and I think I’ve found the sweet spot. That said, I wish I didn’t need as much leaf for one cup. And while I generally enjoy the flavor profile, I don’t think I’ll be reordering this one, which is fine because there are still so many other wp teas I need to try (that, and I’ve started a recent love affair with WP’s Autumn Jade TGY, aaaahhhh). So my wallet can’t exactly heave a sigh of relief just yet. And I’ll certainly not have any trouble finishing off this pouch!

First let me say how amazing communicating with brendon regarding my order has been. Knowing I wanted a few different teas, he kept track of what I was looking for and messaged me when everything I wanted was in stock. And then helped me decide what to get to replace GO, which I unfortunately flat-out forgot to do. Anyway, I was really excited to try this tea, not only because of the rave reviews and romantic descriptions, but also because my cupboard is sorely lacking in black teas. Anyway, I think I did something wrong in the way I brewed it this morning, because I felt as though the tea was rather weak. I think I’ll use slightly less water next time (I used a davids tea heaped perfect teaspoon in about 10 oz of water). I am beginning to be able to identify the ways in which Chinese blacks differ from Indian blacks, which is kind of neat, and definitely picked up on the honey-raisin sweetness. I want to comment further, but honestly think I need to have another stab at it to get the full effect. So far I’m impressed and excited, though!
I am definitely getting a nice balance of tart and sweet and bready, which if I can coax more out of it would blow my mind.

Thanks to boychik for this sample! Without your generosity, I would not have known to pick this one up, and now I happily have an ounce all to myself. This tea is awesome. It steeps up with a pretty orange color. It’s roasty and incredibly juicy! The flavor notes are complex, with toasted coconut, peach, and citrus. It’s incredibly aromatic and has a lasting aftertaste. Yum!

I finally have a cake of this in my cupboard! Yes! I enjoyed the loose leaf and was waiting to get one of these and finally the timing was perfect. This Shou is so yummy! Absolutely no funk, but thick and inky, and so creamy! This is definitely a Shou that could be a “go-to” Shou for me. I had it the other night and I wasn’t even in the mood for Shou and it was awesome. Oh, and did I mention how adorable the wrapper and cloth bag are? Love it!

You could be forgiven for mistaking this for a flavored tea. The fruity, tropical notes are the first thing to hit your tongue. All of the flavor descriptors that Whispering Pines gives are present. There are pineapple, peach, and coconut tones complimented by a buttery body and subtle milkiness.

This tea has none of the floral or mineral taste that I’m used to with green oolongs. It’s all tropical fruit and cream. It took a few sips but my palette quickly acclimated to the unique taste of this tea. This is a very pleasant after dinner tea and fantastic iced.

I opened the bag and notes of milk chocolate hit my nose immediately. I brewed this gong fu and I get cacao, malt, dark chocolate. I also got a surprising sweetness to it that I have not gotten from any other black tea I have had. Pretty decent black.

Fluent in gibberish from quite a young age (my mother read Lewis Carroll, among many other great authors and poets, to us as children), I was greatly anticipating sipping this tea. The charming poem for which this tea is named is delightful, whimsical gibberish. This tea however, is no nonsense! I’m convinced this concoction could soothe even the snarliest of beasts. The aroma comforts with the scent fresh baked Tuscan bread drizzled in raw wildflower honey and melted, malty chocolate (or perhaps Prince William’s groom’s cake, made with McVities Rich tea biscuits and chocolate ). The flavor further subdues with plums, toffee and a rich warm mouth feel. The cooling, lingering aftertaste of eucalyptus may just lull one into a trance . . . . .

Not a morning person? Try this tea! It will certainly assuage the morning beast in you.

This morning was a busy one…I was under a lot of stress and had to run around for several hours.

When I got home, the only thing in my mind was…TEA!

If you’re like me, you try to match the right tea for the right moment. Sometimes it takes me forever to decide. Not today. I wanted comfort, and I knew exactly that good old Earl would take care of me.

I say “Good old Earl” but thats not accurate. This Earl is the next generation.

Yes people, TNG Earl!

What makes it so special? Well, first let’s talk about the base tea found in earl grey teas in general. There isn’t much to talk about, right? What I’ve noticed is no one seems to really care…cause…bergamot. What I mean is, if you’re like me, when you need a bergamot fix, you’re not looking for some fancy black tea…you only care for the bergamot cause you know it pretty much overwhelms any kind of base anyways. So why bother right? That’s the impression I get from what’s available on the market. We get some generic black tea and what makes or breaks it is the quality of the bergamot. What I want is an earl grey that will provide a good balance of the bergamot flavor. I don’t want that overly parfumy and soapy taste they sometimes have. Luckily, I found a few brands that made me very happy over the years and just stuck to them.

When I saw Earl Gold, I said…really Brenden? You’re gonna “waste” some snaily yums on bergamot?

And then I tasted it…and said…damn it Brenden, must you succeed at everything?

Apparently, the answer to that is yes!! He truly is a master blender.

I already love Golden Snail a great deal on its own. But I was so sure everything I love about it would vanish under the oppressive bergamot. Turns out they both complement each other perfectly!

Malt, caramel, chocolate and bread? Please meet citrus and candied orange peel.

A very bright, sweet and warming cup of tea with a big kick.

It is suggested to drink it gonfu so I did try. Surprisingly, the bergamot oil doesn’t rinse off on first steep, it actually stays present through the whole session.

But I must admit, my personal brewing preference for earl grey tea will remain mug style. I just want a huge big fat mug of it and hold it and slurp it slowly while I read a good book. That’s what this tea is to me…a hugger :-)

I’m so happy I’ve got four ounces in the cupboard. It will definitely be one of my favorite comfort teas of the winter!

P.S. When you get this tea at home (cause I know you will, you MUST) please don’t skip the “inhaling protocol”. Beleive me, your nostrils will thank you.

The last bit of my ounce and it ranks as a favorite now. Oddly enough, I preferred this one Western or even Grandpa Style. Favorite mouth feel out of most of the teas I had. I still wish I got more coconut and mango every once in a while though I did on occasion. If only it were a hint stronger.

Brenden’s description of it sold me yet again! Though, I think the “even a hint of plumeria” might have had deeper intentions…Anyway, the notes that Brenden used were precise and accurate, especially in the smell. It reminded me so much of Ko’Olina. The plumeria and cream scent accented by the fresh grass matched the scent on the lagoons air. I also drank coconut milk and ate pineapples by the gallons back then. The taste is the same brewed gong fu. It also was very similar to Mandala’s Milk Oolong, which is a powerful achievement. The creamy aspect is almost identical, though Mandala’s is much thicker. The color blooms into a vibrant, golden yellow glowing with green under hues. Absolutely gorgeous.

My main criticism is over the tea’s delicacy. As with any milk oolong, or most of Whispering Pines Tea for that matter, a lot of attention is required in the brewing. When I brewed steep two four seconds over what was supposed to be ten, the vegetal notes overwhelmed the others entirely. Again, gong gu is something to be mastered-“skilled art” for a reason. The tea would have been significantly better if I brewed it correctly-and it was when I did-but it demands so much care and attention to minutiae. Many people would like this tea because it’s so good, but someone with expertise and or a great attention to detail would be able to fully enjoy this, or be able to serve it.

This tea is so high maintenance, but it could potentially be one of my favorites from Whispering Pines. I need to try it again.

Chocolatey malty smoothness in a cup. I am only on my first steeping and I am very impressed by this tea. Thanks Beelicious for this in my Secret Pumpkin box!
The second and third steeps are good too, just a bit less intense, still smooth and malty.

I’m reviewing the Autumn 2014 harvest (according to the Whispering Pines web site), purchased in October 2015. I brewed it gong fu style using the timings recommended by WP (10/10/15/30/45/75/120/180 seconds)

Tasting notes on Steepster from a little over a year ago speak of cocoa and caramel notes. Other than a hint of cocoa in the aftertaste on steep 2 and a whiff in the aroma in steeps 5 and 6, no cocoa notes were found in this harvest and no caramel notes at all. Early in the session I was disappointed by this.

As the steeps went on, however, I gained an appreciation for this tea. It has good balance, with no one taste really standing out throughout the session. It’s a medium bodied tea with a moderate intensity of flavor.

There are other China black teas I adore because of a particular dominant note, but can’t drink them every day because I get tired of that note.

I will have to drink this tea a few more times before I can say for sure, but this feels like one I might not get tired of. It has a buttery mouthfeel and complex aromas of sweetness, malt, tart stonefruits, occasional spice, dried apricots, vinegar, and a few faint cocoa notes. And on the last steep (3 minutes) I smelled sauerkraut. Yep, that’s in there too.

The flavors were primarily tart stonefruits, honey sweetness, some sweet fruitiness, and Yunnan spice.

I’m not going to rate this until I’ve had it a few more times, but my initial reaction is quite positive.

Pix: http://instagram.com/p/9KrjCBli48

Hello!
Long time, no reviews.
I still drink tea daily and have been working through my cupboard trying to drink things up before making any major purchases.
Also, been in a writing slump. Nothing inspired me to write.
Till now.
I love Earl Grey Tea. Always have.
What Brendon of WPT probably does not know about me, is well, I like my Earl a little on the rough side. You know, a little 5 o’clock shadow and a bit of mud on his boots.
But this tea, my oh my.
This is the Earl dressed for the Ball. This is a Earl that you pull out your Grandma’s pearls for. He is dressed to the nines and he knows he looks darn fine.
I noticed how fine this gent would be when I opened the bag and dug my nose deep into the dry leaf. Wow. Lovely rounded, bright bergamot tickled my nose.
Pouring the water over the darling curled leaves sent a steam of scent that reminded me of chocolate covered oranges. Yum.
Taste is lovely. I still am getting that chocolate note, but the bergamot is not taking a back seat, which is good, since I am a lover of bergamot.
Its a beautiful color as well, a nice dark amber brew.
So, Well done Whispering Pines Tea. You just made my Earl even more desirable.
Now I just have to explain to my Hubby why I am flirting with my tea cup.

I let this set for quite awhile to decompress from its journey, and tonight it is ready to be drunk! I opened my jar, and I was greeted with a wonderful aroma. The dry leaf give off a sweet fermentation scent mixed with red clay. Also, there is a sweet undertone present. This is a very strong aroma. I placed a good amount in my warmed gaiwan and gave it a shake. The dampened leaves gave off the same intense sweet fermentation scent, and it mixed with a desert rain aroma. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The scent deepens into a wet wood and lake scent. The aroma reminded me of a walk through the forest after a storm. The brew gives an amazing mouth-feel. The liquor is thick and crimson red. The initial sip fills the palate with dry earth tones and sweet dark flavor. This brew is deep, hearty, and full of flavor. I can note a Merlot taste and feeling. There is a slight fermentation flavor present in the brew. Also, a drying sensation coats the back of the tongue throughout the session. This drink is filled with savory tones. The brew is one that you can drink all night (almost did) and keep re-packing the gaiwan. I was able to pull about 8 or so steeping sessions from my gaiwan. The drink continued a dark crimson. The best part of this is the qi. It’s not overwhelmingly powerful, but it makes its prescience known. It begins at the top of the head, and then it appears at heart center. It’s a slight warming sensation. Then, it grows into a resonating warmth that expands from the chest. This sensation follows throughout and long after the tea session. It continues to radiate from the chest and relaxes and soothes the body. I really enjoyed this brew. This is a well balanced and savory tea.

https://instagram.com/p/9HlcM1TGT2/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Oh you silky smooth shou, you. New to shou? This shou is for you! Shou newbie like me? Fear not, this pu-erh is gentle and as smooth as silk. I will not rate this gentleman, but I love this warming, subtle, silky tea.

Ok, so I actually followed the brewing recommendations on this one today. The leaves o this were pretty spread out, so the 4.5 teaspoons isn’t quite as much tea as I keep thinking it is. At least for the first steep. It smells like this beautiful malted chocolate in the cup. It reminds me a little of the Horlicks/Bournvita I drank growing up as a kid.

The first sip takes that away, since I don’t have the sweetness from those blends, but I’m pretty sure some milk and sugar would transform this to a near taste-alike, if not an exact match. But I shouldn’t do that, or I’ll be drinking this late at night and not be able to sleep.

This is still pleasant, though, with only the lightest touch of bitterness, even brewed at 205 degrees. It’s mostly an unsweet chocolate malt to me. I can glean some of the citrus in this, but only if I look really hard. I’m already thinking of trying to do the second infusion today, if I can finish this first cup quickly enough. I want to see how it works with the milk and sugar.

Second steep: This was brewed between 195 and 200 degrees, for 5 minutes (didn’t quite manage to hit the exact temperature with the microwave this time). I also added milk and sugar this time. It was nice, but the milk and sugar kind of muffled the taste notes. Rather than the malted hot chocolate taste I was hoping for, it just like simple black tea, with a little bit of malt powder in it. Maybe I’ll try it again with half as much sugar and milk, but I think so far, I prefer this one without them. They just tend to drown the flavor out a lot more than I’d like.

So this tea is quite different than what I expected. I’ve been spoiled by Verdant’s excellent tie guan yin this spring and was eagerly awaiting the autumn harvest. It’s remarkable how the flavor profile of some teas can vary from one tea garden to another. I was expecting some sweet nectar and floral goodness, but this tea is predominantly milky both in flavor and smell. It tastes like a very strong flavored jin xuan. There isn’t much complexity to it beyond the milk and cream flavor, which is quite intense and the aftertaste lingers in your mouth for a while. I couldn’t take more than a few sips of this tea because I started feeling queasy. I tried steeping it gongfu and western style, but couldn’t avoid the nauseous feeling from the overpowering creaminess. Unfortunately this was not a tea that suited me which is too bad because I can tell from the freshness and bright green leaves that it’s high quality.

We had this yesterday at a clean-out-my-freezer tea party. I had prepared tea treats all through October for 45 people for an Alice in Wonderland Halloween tea I was doing for this charity I am involved in. I was socking them away in the deep freeze so I didn’t have to do a lot all at the end. Then the party was cancelled due to the hometown team making it into the World Series. I scheduled a tea at work to use some of the leftovers that couldn’t freeze and that turned out to be the day of the celebration parade. Not that I wish we hadn’t made it, winning after 30 years certainly is nice, but I got really tired of sports messing with my tea!

Anyway, so I could free up some freezer space for the holiday season, we had a little tea yesterday with my mom’s friends. This was one of the teas I served.

One of the ladies was a friend of a friend and I had never met her before. She took a sip of this and said “Oh my goodness, this is amazing tea! I don’t even need sugar or milk!” Later I made a pot of Assam Signature Malt from Golden Tips and she didn’t add anything to it either. She was just stunned that she liked teas without additions or flavorings and she just kept raving about Jabberwocky. Makes me happy when that happens. :) Now, she did add cream to the Flowering Black Tea Cones from Yunnan Sourcing but to be fair, they had sat in their little glass pot for awhile before she tried them and I probably used a cone or two too many for the volume of water. But she said she still liked it a lot.

Then I got to whittle down my stash by giving the ladies a basket of assorted teas to shuffle through to take home. So that, along with excellent tea that was well enjoyed, tasty food and good company made for a good day. :)

But now I need to get more of this tea since I almost used it up!

I wasn’t wow-ed the first time with this, but this time I must have done something right. I get the malt and the eucalyptus. Reminds me quite a lot of TWMB though there is a little bit of dryness at the end of the sip and not quite enough breadiness. Really excellent. I think last time I used bottled water since it was the first time and this time I used tap water. I always liked TWMB with tap water, too. Need to remember this.

Snicker-snack! This one is worth keeping around for sure.

I love being the first to review!

This is the Autumn 2015 version. I want to start with saying I am highly picky of blends and flavored tea (whole traditionalist thinking). However, this brew definitely made the cut. I woke up especially early, and my house does not heat well. So, it was freezing in here. I had no where to be for some time, and I was in dire need of some warming up, so this came to mind. I wanted hot coco, but I wanted tea. I picked this out and tore open the package. I was smashed in the face with the scent of the best Recees Pieces in the world! I couldn’t help but think of Trick or Treating. I was pretty excited to try this out. I warmed up my gaiwan and placed a generous amount in. The warmed leaves made for a sharp and deep dark cacao scent. This scent was thick, syrupy, and slight malted. I washed the leaves (and nibs) once to prepare for brewing. The steeped leaves lightened to a warm milk chocolate and nougat. This was a smooth and creamy sensation. I could still take in a light malty note, and I also noted a cherry cordial in the background. The flavor is sensational! This is perfect for cold October mornings. The sip begins with a creamy chocolate and nut flavor, and then it moves more into the wooded and malt tones. There is a sweet almost huigan aftertaste. This brew tastes just like a more higher quality chocolate bar. The liquor even smells like butterfingers and hot coco. As the steeping continues, the brew becomes slightly bitter and a pleasant sour tone appears. Also, a fermented flavor comes to be in the late steep sessions. I noted some nice focused head qi in the last steepings. This feeling was nice, considering I don’t usually get much from Shou. The best part is that a nice chocolate tone follows you throughout the entire session. The brew becomes lighter and tapers off quickly. The color of the liquor seemed to just drop to a pale watered orange at about the sixth or seventh steep. I believe I can avoid this next time by adding more leaves. The nibs are heavier than the leaves, so it tips the scales a bit in brewing. This was a wonderful session, and I will be definitely be sharing this to my winter lovers.

https://instagram.com/p/88KicRTGUl/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I was positive I had written a note on one of my most beloved of shous but I don’t see one here…..

Simply EVERYTHING about this cake is beautiful – no surprise since it’s from Whispering Pines. It is presented in a gorgeous wrapper snuggled inside a handy storage envelope. As lovely as they are – the real beauty comes when you open the wrapper and see the abundance of golden leaves threaded throughout the cake.

After a very quick rinse, the first steep is a little light and carries notes of warm cocoa. This is one of the most accessible shous ever – there is zero funk and no barn or leather (not that barn and leather are bad things in shou – just not present here). This is probably the best shou to ease a new pu drinker into the dark side. It is the shou you give your best friend when you are trying to turn them into your pu drinking partner. It is sweet creamy deliciousness that wouldn’t be challenging for someone who might be a little hesitant – in other words – it’s a perfect “gateway drug” and it WILL get you hooked.

The following steeps are thick and syrupy with a mouth-coating sweetness and the cocoa note becomes stronger. As I steep through, brown sugar, caramel, dates, creamy vanilla and a little mineral background make welcome appearances.

In my distant past, I knew a very charming man I nicknamed Mr. Silk. That guy was smooooooth. I may nickname Huron Mr. Silk as well – it is super creamy-dreamy and almost slinky.

I got 8 or 9 delightful steeps and a nice laid back relaxation – a lovely ride.

This is a special shou and it needs a special song. I really like the Radiohead song “Reckoner”, but it is much better by Gnarls Barkley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUmmsMeHAaE

My session on Instagram: https://instagram.com/p/8yCfFTwx4T/

HIGHLY recommended!