Whispering Pines Tea Company

I started off trying this cup without anything added, but there was an edge to it that I didn’t like. I could still get the malty hay flavors, but the bitterness was distracting. I added a little cream and it made it much more palatable for me. I’m enjoying this tea, but I don’t think it is a must order and keep stocked kind of tea for me.

HHTTB

Huh, this is kind of earthy. Smooth. Almost a faint taste of hay. Adding cream and sugar makes this delicious! This is nice!

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Off topic: You guys, I am SO obsessed with the Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording right now. Ugh, go listen to it so I’ll have someone to geek out with. :)

Instead of buying more Whispering Pines tea I thought I’d drink some of the stuff I already own. This is an interesting and delicious blend – I love the roasted cedar and vanilla.

My first Whispering Pines tea! I chose this in part because I wanted to try the roasted cedar and vanilla bean (and several of the blends with those ingredients were out of stock when I placed my order). This is a really interesting and unique tea. When I first smelled it dry, I couldn’t place any of the flavours, it was just this mysterious earthy boozy deliciousness. Going back after reading the ingredients, I can smell the vanilla and cedar. I’m not sure what saffron smells like, so I can’t tell if it’s there. :)

Brewed, the black tea base takes centre stage, with the various other ingredients adding richness and complexity. It totally does remind me of being out on canoe camping trips: waking up in the morning and stepping out of my tent to breathe the fresh morning air and gaze out over the water.

This is a great tea for this afternoon. It has just started snowing and it’s freezing outside! I pick up on some soft cocoa notes, something earthy like soil and a savory hint of buttered or salted fruit. The end of the sip brings out a bitter raisin flavor, too. There is a lot going on in this cup and it seems to have a little bit of everything. While it’s enjoyable, it isn’t my favorite from Whispering Pines. I’m so happy to have tried it, though. Thank you, Ost, for the sample!

This one is from the unflavored tea box MzPriss started. I almost forgot where I placed this one. I don’t want to start forgetting where the teas are! There was a teaspoon and a half left. Always up for trying a Whispering Pines tea.

Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // 10 min after boiling // rinse // 1 1/2 min steep
I didn’t want to wait so long to steep this one, but I was deciding which tea to have/trying to find it. It seems steeped well enough anyway! The color of the brew is a mellow yellow. The flavor is just a tiguanyin should be: bright, fresh, sweet, buttery, a little vegetal.

Steep #2 // 5 min after boiling // 2 1/2
This steep was pure pineapple and less butter. I love the changes this one makes, as I love both butter oolongs and pineapple oolongs. A very fruity juicy sweet cup.

Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 1/2-4 min
This cup wasn’t oversteeped really (teally I just typed), but it isn’t as lovely as the first two steeps. There was more nuance in the first two steeps. I shouldn’t have steeped this cup so long. A great oolong overall, but I’ve had some good ones lately! Oolong spoiled!

Very rich. Absolutely perfect to curl up with on a cold day.

Oh crud, I did what several other reviewers did here and oversteeped this one. It’s deceivingly strong compared to the color. I am used to getting a dark brew with high fired oolong teas, this one has a strong flavor when the soup color is just a light sienna. I got 4 strong steeps from this but long brewed just about all. Probably could have squeezed out 8 steeps from the sample had I not overdone the brew times. Pretty tasty stuff, the leaves are yellow green once the roast steeps out.

I’m enjoying this one again in the afternoon. Today I lost track of time and let it steep a little too long—I’m not sure how much exactly, maybe 5 minutes? In any case, the long infusion produced an aroma and flavor that reminded me very strongly of petrichor. As I learned from Roswell Strange recently, petrichor is the scent after rain. It’s an interesting note, though I wouldn’t recommend long infusions of this tea to find it—the overall effect of this cup was not nearly as good as its usual profile.

(Rating is from previous impressions)

I hadn’t really given this a proper review last time because I had been super busy back when I tried it first. I owe a lot of the productivity of the last few weeks to this tea, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly without it!

The blend is made of dark, spindly leaves, and the tea brews up to a lighter color than the typical black tea, having a somewhat lighter body as well. The aroma is intoxicating—words like “perfume” and “bouquet” come to mind, but never in an over-the-top way. It’s a very fresh, natural, earthy scent with fruit and florals mixed in, like a deep forest after a rain. The taste is luxuriously rich in spite of being light-bodied, with that malty, slightly “fuzzy” Chinese black tea feel. The lingering notes are sweeter and more fruit-like. It’s very enjoyable at any time of day, and I’m now curious about trying the two individual teas that make up the blend as well.

Malt, cocoa, and earthy/roasty notes in a very smooth, gently sweet cup. This one just might be perfect. Thanks to everyone who recommended it way back in the day!

This is a very lovely fragrant tea.

It reminds me of the Taiwanese teas I have had, with the interesting fruity and unusual spice notes that I can never describe. This one tastes more toasty though and is lighter in the fruitiness – quite delicious.

I brewed this morning and forgot what I was doing and let it steep for 3 minutes like black tea. It was tremendously over brewed and bitter. I dumped that in the sink and gave it 30 seconds, much better. I get the notes of sweetness and camphor. I also get the notes of leather, although this is the first time I remember identifying that note in a tea. Overall, it is a very good tea as long as you ignore the directions on the package to give it three minutes and give it much less time.

I brewed this twice in a 18oz teapot with 7.1g leaf and boiling water for first 3 min, and then 30 seconds. The 30 sec steep was much superior.

OMG! Thank you Cameron B for the sample of this tea…and she tells me it originally came to her from Dexter so thank you both SO MUCH!

WOW, so apparently I LOVE Tahitian vanilla beans in tea. The two from Whispering Pines that include them are my favorites from this company so far and maybe 2 of my favorite teas of all time! The dry leaf is very beautiful here too, dark twisty leaves blended with shiny golden fuzzbuds…mmm. So rich and creamy. The vanilla evokes a marshmallowy sweetness. Super dreamy tea! I love it!!!

I’ve tried this one twice now and as a smores addict (it is one of my favorite treats), I am (sadly) not really enjoying this tea for the most part. The most prominent flavor/smell is that of a smokey campfire, so that part is absolutely nailed. Beyond that, I am tasting pine and strong cinnamon without any of the chocolate or graham that I would associate with smores. It is an interesting blend and I don’t hate it or anything, but it isn’t what I expected. It does brew a lovely autumn deep orange with clear liquor. It is very warming with the prominent woods and spice. The tea leaves themselves are long and look to be of high quality, but maybe it needs more marshmallow root and Fujian black? Just guessing here though. I also tried it with milk, but without the cocoa or other sweet notes associated with a dessert blend, I didn’t find it any closer to what I was hoping for. I’m going back to my trusty favorites like GO and Cocoa Amore, which are simply amazing.

I sip it slowly — savoring the delicate color and aroma. It is especially great when I am stressed and need to slow down