Whispering Pines Tea Company

So, my goal is to review more of the teas I have, starting with my newest obsession, Ambrosia. I really like this and have been pushing it onto everyone in the vicinity. This really swings towards a vanilla marshmallow for me. I have been playing around with it and find that I like to use quite a bit of tea for each serving. Less is not balanced enough between the syrupy vanilla and the tea. More than 3-4 steeps, depending on how much attention I am paying to it while brewing, and I find that it fades considerably. The taste goes away, some of the vanilla scent lingers though. I let the steep I am currently drinking sit for a bit too long, so it is very brisk but not unpleasant. I do find a bit of an almost woody taste behind the vanilla. This tea really lives in the vanilla though, by itself the black tea would be pleasant but not as well rounded.

In summary, sugar and vanilla on top of a nice round woody black tea.

I like this one pretty well, it’s nice and smooth,not quite as chocolatey and bold as the previous North Winds, this one is more fruity and floral, still very delicious.
I ordered my Autumn 2015 North Winds already so I’m gonna enjoy this one up while I have it, i’ll prolly save some back so i can taste them side by side just for funs,
I have always enjoyed all versions of North Winds that I have had,it is one of our favs I think.

Brenden… dude… Firstly, when I originally started looking at this company for tea, I already had respect for the handcrafted, Michigan inspired feel. Being a native and current Michigander myself, it was instantly something I could respect.

Then I ordered and tried some of the teas. I fell in love (especially with North Winds). I am still a relative newbie to the tea scene but I knew I had tasted quality and that my relationship with how I judged tea had changed.

I lay all this out in order to say: It’s been done again. This is pretty much the best herbal tea I have ever imbibed in. It doesn’t hurt that I am a ginger freak and this tea, from smell to sip, has a wonderful rounded ginger aura. Even with making my cup strong and dark, there was no astringent bite. But it’s not just ginger. There is something else there. A sweet, honeysuckle tartness with a hint of pepper to keep it from being cloying.

Also, really reasonably priced for the smooth flavor and relaxing feeling it presents. Will certainly be using this often this upcoming fall/winter.

Picked this for a gentle tea to share with my fiance while rewatching The Two Towers.
Steep 1, 20 sec: Menthol sensation all over my mouth, slight prickly feeling from the trichomes I believe. Light sweetness and even lighter florals, but dominantly the flavor of fresh hay, before it has been baled.
Steep 2, 15 sec: Lighter in flavor and texture.
Steep 3, 30 sec: Much sweeter, with a sugar-in-the-raw sweetness.
Steep 4, 45 sec: More mineral sweetness, dominant hay and perhaps slight sage flavor in the aftertaste.
Steep 5, 1:30: Darker than previous steeps. Faint sugar, almost like aspartame, with a slight “boiled tree leaves” backbone. The same menthol-like sensation has accompanied each steep.
Yum, but I like my silver needle accented with jasmine more, I think. It is rare that an unflavored white tea is chosen by me. This was a generous sample, and I’m glad I got to try it, but I think I prefer Bai Mu Dan or Yabao.

This tea is truly magical! Extremely well blended! I actually had to check back at the ingredients since I was no longer sure that it was vegan, but of course it was. I saw something on Steepster a while ago written by a representative of a tea company about how blending tea was not some magical art. I strongly disagree with that statement. Very good blends, like this tea are art. I believe it is very easy to tell when love, creativity, and time have been committed to the creation of a tea. I know that is how I used to blend teas and still do for myself and I can tell the same type of care from some other tea companies.

I had this tea once before, western style, and I think I may prefer it that way. There was an overwhelming coolness that washed over my mouth and a sweet nectary floral flavor pushing through the cool charcoal presence of the roasting. For once, a darker oolong that doesn’t taste like smoke!
Filled the bottom of my gaiwan with leaves. Infusion times: 20s, 15s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 1m, 2m, 5m
First: It tastes like very little at first, but a slight cooling sensation is still detectable. A slight nectar builds on the tongue. The charcoal is very light this steep.
Second: I may have to stop following the directions. He always seems to suggest a shorter second steep, I think in an attempt to capture the first steep. But the second steep is usually the one that knocks my socks off. This is maybe sweeter, but also lighter than the first steep.
Third: Cooling stronger, charcoal more assertive. More caramel sweetness in aroma and taste. Slight touch of ‘leafyness’.
Fourth: Sweeter, more floral smell. Greener flavor. Cooling sensation intense. This steep is most like the western style steeps. This steep is my favorite, even though it is slightly missing the nectars from the first few steeps.
Fifth: Sweetness is back, and so is the charcoal. The aroma is incredible, but the florals don’t translate as well to the liquid. Still, quite good.
Sixth: Minerals, and cooling, and fine baker’s sugar! Loving this finish! Almost vanilla like scent in the aroma cup.
Seventh: Losing most everything but that cooling sensation. Kinda greener too, but even though there’s not much else, I still thoroughly enjoy it.
Eigth: Five minutes is a long steep for a gaiwan! It was HOT! Slight cooling, mostly a flavor of a spent tieguanyin to be honest! Still this tea and I went on a long journey, and it sure took a while to go over the hill.
Overall, I like it. I think about that cooling sensation for about a week after I drink it, and I supposed that’s the mark of a tea that was good enough to stick with you! I have teas that I like a lot more, but this one deserves my high rating none-the-less.

Wow, I’m really the first one to review this? I’m surprised, because this is a really good chai.

Brenden’s description is very accurate. This tea is an obvious chai with a weird mesquite undertone that really reminds me of traveling in Egypt. It was not as sweet as I was expecting it to be, but the taste was consistent in every steep with the mellow white tea contrasting to spicy texture hinted by berries.

i’ve been under the weather lately, however it wont stop me from making reviews

an awesome tea!

little glass pitcher thingy: Grandpa style

when i smell the leaves, dry they smell roasted and fruity.

when i smell the leaves wet, they smell roasted and like grapes.

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell grapes and roasty aromas.

when i taste the brewed tea, it tastes like. strong wine, grapes and roasty.

i rate this tea a 100 because i don’t taste grapes or wine often in teas

With all the caffeine I intoxicate myself with, I need an herbal detox to de-stress. I am very glad that I bought some of this, and it shipped to my dorm in a day, with a Cricket sample (thank you Brenden!). Now, the consensus?

Nichole’s description was perfect: it is a liquid cinnamon roll. I taste all the notes described in every steep combining into a winter desert tea. I taste the cinnamon with the minty basil of the note lingering in a background of berries. I taste more berries in the later steep, but the tea is very consistent.

I thought that I was going to rate this one higher, but I’ve been spoiled to taste the other blends. However, this is one of the best tea blends that I’ve had from Whispering Pines forming the most cohesive profile yet. This really is a chai in its own right, and a good one at that. I now feel prepared to relax, and make the most out of the coming storm.

From the Sheng and Shou TTB2

First a mea culpa. I told everyone that we needed to review the Whispering Pines teas, since Brendan had provided free samples. They he got pretty close to zero reviews. I started off the bad example. My only defense is that I tend not to review shous because the taste doesn’t appeal to me that much. So anyway, here is my review.

I started with a 10 second rinse. The first steep had a significant salmon smell and aroma, along with a berry fruit. I didn’t actually mind the salmon, though it was a bit weird. It was entirely gone after that steep, so a double rinse would avoid it. The tea was very fruity; so much so that I wanted to really fall in love with the tea. However, there was an earthy bitterness that came and went through half a dozen steeps. Very good, but not great.

Thank you. First review on this website!! Hope I’m doing it right. I tried this because it’s number one and two other tea

When I said 10 oz of water, I did do that, but I steeped it for 5-10 seconds FOUR times with 2.5oz f water each. Gravity steeped it into one cup! Now, I have had Puehr…BAD puehr that tasted like wet hay and was pretty terrible. I almost didn’t want to try any more of the stuff. Then I got to reading a thread here on Steepster about it being sweet, and nutty, and silky, and it made me WANT to like it! Then, I started asking about it and lo and hold, a sample pkg from Whispering Pines showed up today and I was surprised to see this tea in it. I couldn’t boil my water fast enough. The smell of the dry leaves were NOT what I had smelled in the other Puehr’s (the bad ones)…This one was earthy, and nutty and just invited me to sit and have a cup. So I did.

Sweet, creamy, silky with hints of roasted nuts and coconut. My Lord, this stuff is good. Imsipping on it as I type this and the flavors change as the tea cools…more sweet and more coconut with less roasted nuts.

My first REAL Puehr and Im HOOKED!

A really nice one :)
The aroma is outstanding, fruity and sweet, it fills the whole room when steeping. It almost smells like froot loops cereal to me lol
The Bergamot flavor is strong but very well balance to compliment this tea, It is not in your face too strong but doesn’t fade away with each steep like many EGs, the fragrant cirtus twang of the bergamot is awesome with the malty sweet goodness that is golden snail, better tea = better blends :)
I steeped this one western style 4 times starting at 3 minutes adding a minute or so for each other steep and it was yummy all the way through.
Sorry such a short review, I haven’t tried it gong fu style yet nor with milk and sugar but I’m very much looking forward to doing so in the morning, perhaps I’ll make it into a London Fog latte and call it a Golden Fog :)

The first steep is pure heaven! Fresh baked biscuits with sourwood honey (from Savanah Bee Company – try it!) accompanied by creamy cacao & sweet potato. The scent alone is worth the price of admission. That being said, I was surprised that the second steep had lost all of the baked biscuit goodness to be replaced with a burned ash taste. An “off” flavor for me. Still drinkable, but not enjoyable. I lost interest on the 3rd steep & discarded it. I brewed in my Breville at 195° on my second morning with this tea. The first brew at 205° resulted in some slight bitterness. If the 2nd and 3rd steep had been better, I would have given this tea a perfect score. Will I purchase again? Yes, but for that first steep only, making this less economical than anticipated.

So today I decided to pull out something different and make my brother drink it with me. I kind of lied about it because I told him we were going to drink mushrooms straight up. He gave me an ugly look… but he does trust me with tea so he went with it. To his, and my , surprise this tea is one bold cup of comfort. The black tea used in this is of course a Whispering Pines tea and therefore, from my collected data, it will/is/shall/can/may/has/moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee great.

This is a tea that I would not buy on my own because I would see the mushroom and pass it up, but I am glad I tried it because it is wonderful.
I will be honest: While drinking of this I knew it would be better if a frog was drinking it with me ;)