Whispering Pines Tea Company

Thanks to Cheri for sending me two samples of this (I messed up the first one)

This has been steeping in the refrigerator since yesterday and man, is it MINTY! I have to say I wasn’t expecting so much mint and it really overwhelms the other ingredients for me. I do get a bit of the cinnamon and the oolong but mostly I get mint. This is refreshing when it’s cold but I don’t think I will be buying it. I’m glad I got to try it but I don’t think it’s destined to be a favorite.

Thanks again Cheri!

From Lewis & Clark TTB #11

This is lighter than most of the premium Keemuns I usually drink. It’s a nice, elegant tea with mostly smoky flavors, but with hints of chocolate and herbs underneath. Decent finish. Not bad but not exciting.

I am getting this flavor better today than the last time I tasted this tea. My taste buds were just off. However, I still don’t like it as much as I thought I would. Perhaps I just expected too much from a tea called Smores. I get an undercurrent of chocolate and the flavor of marshmallows. I can even taste the cinnamon. I don’t really taste the rooibos in here. I was expecting something more chocolaty but it is good. I am not tasting the sour notes I was getting last time anyway. We underestimate how much our own taste buds effect the taste of our teas. I have bought teas that tasted incredible the first time I drank them, then gone back to them later to find the just bleh, and this one was puerh so it hadn’t gone stale. This time I did enjoy this tea.

I brewed this tea once in an 18oz teapot with 200 degree water and 3 tsp leaf for 3 min.

I am just having an off day with tea. This tea should taste incredible to me but it doesn’t. I believe my taste buds are just off so I will avoid giving this one a rating until they are back to normal. Logic suggests I should taste the chocolate but all I taste is sour.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 5 min.

I got this tea in a small swap with Frolic. Thank you!

I really, really liked it in the first few infusions. And then my love for this tea faded. I followed Brenden’s recommendations.

I do think this is a lovely tea. The vanilla and cedar add something great to a good quality Tieguanyin. But I kind of wish I could taste the Tieguanyin on its own.

I’m really glad I got to try it, and I’ve got enough left for one more mug, but I don’t think I’ll be buying this.

I am at a loss for how to describe this tea. It is spicy and the cinnamon seems to be in the forefront. There is also a sweet background flavor that I presume comes from the Elder Berries. I picked this one tonight because it is another night avoiding caffeine. This tea reminds me of a chai, it is that sort of spicy although it doesn’t have the traditional chai spices. It is good, I just don’t know how to describe it.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 205 degree water for 5 min.

Lewis & Clark #2

I need to start this review by stating that I didn’t follow the vendor’s steeping instructions. They call for a tablespoon of tea per cup and pre-packaged the sample into 4.5 gram packets. I decided to follow my usual steeping approach for black tea, which is 1.5 grams for a 6 ounce pot. It seems unfair to compare a pot that is three times as strong as the competition, especially when one of the selling points of the tea is its strength.

The nose was rich and powerful. Earthy notes dominated. The taste was dominated by what I call “forest floor”: a sort of damp woodsy taste, which I’m not overly fond of. I occasionally spotted a hint of fruit or chocolate, but for the most part don’t see all the flavors in the website description. The finish is good, but somewhat short.

I actually saved a bit of this one from MzPriss’ Unflavored Teabox a while back. It’s very high up there in the Steepster ratings. The dark spooky tree branch leaves have a light sweet chocolate flavor. To me, it’s like the Laoshan Black type, which I guess is what Chinese black teas are like… so I really should stop comparing them all to Laoshan Black. I’ve had a few of their kind now. This one is too light of flavor for me, but maybe it was my method of steeping. Though I’m growing to love these types of teas more, they aren’t my favorite yet, and that is okay. I can’t love them all!

this is a generous sample from DeliriumsFrogs – thank you so much.
Omg this is delicious tea.
made western 3g 8oz 205F. Its rich brownie type tea with some longan/plum notes and caramel. Its amazing blend without any flavoring added.

i really like it and it goes straight to my wishlist for Whispering Pines. Thank you Brenden for creating this blend!

http://instagram.com/p/tskwLahwiW/

Loved the smell of the dry leaves on this one. Delicious tea…malty and no bitterness. No astringency either which gets high points from me for that. I’m sipping this, but I don’t know how people got all those different tastes from it? Chocolate…maybe a hint. Bread? I can’t taste it. So delicious though…very smooth and goes down easy. I think I could drink this all day since it is so smooth.

This is excellent sweet puerh with a fair amount of fermentation flavor left. It is thick with notes of cocoa and dates. The fact that it has dates notes is interesting to me as these usually develop in aged ripe puerh but this seems to have them. Perhaps my adding a small amount of sugar brought them out but I think they were there none the less. I think I want to pick up 4 more ounces of this so I have some to age. I don’t know how long this will be in stock.

I brewed this three times in a 12 oz teapot with 9.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave each infusion 30 seconds. I do not use long steeps when I brew this way, I use more of a hybrid method with puerh, using short steeps and a larger, non gongfu, teapot. I find the brewing puerh for 3 minutes is unnecessary unless you are using a much smaller amount of tea when you brew.

This is an excellent, sweet puerh with a fair amount of fermentation flavor left. It is pretty good. We will see if it lasts long enough to age a bit.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with boiling water and 8.4g leaf for 30 sec.

smooth, naturally sweet and delicious, with a heavenly aroma. I also love that I can get a few cups (resteep) out of the same leaves.

My final sample from Cameron B.! Thanks for all of these. This is another discontinued tea from WP, as the name so clearly indicates.

When this was first brewed and still really hot, there was definitely an overcooked spinach off note to it. Not really pleasant. I didn’t think I would be drinking any of it, but I left it to cool dramatically and came back for a tenative sip later and found that the off flavor had faded and instead there was a definitely creamy floral note to it. It still doesn’t have a great flavor blend, but it’s not as bad as initially feared. Not the best golden lily I’ve had but no one is in danger of buying it, so it’s not really an issue.

The last two teas I have to try from Whispering Pines (again, thanks to Cameron B.) are discontinued, and judging by their response whenever someone reviews them, I think WP would rather they just disappeared all together.

I agree with Tea Sipper who said this doesn’t taste like much. I mean, there was some flavor (mostly scent), and it was kind of nondescript, but it was also weak and completely inoffensive. It kind of reminded me of really weak tea bags I’ve had when there were no other options. Or even the base teas that some companies (not WP) use for flavored blends, that have no interest on their own, they are only there to be the vehicle for the flavor. Nevertheless, I drank the whole cup yesterday. Yup, inoffensive.

All da hong pao seems to have a roasted barley flavor to it. This one is no exception to that. This flavor is not too strong in it. There is a sweet flavor behind this that I don’t know how to describe. It is a good tea overall.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 190 degree water and 3 tsp leaf for 3 min.

My experience with this toucha was similar to AllanK’s. I got a couple tasty infusions and after 3 it was pretty weak. Tasty and worthy, I’ll pick this one up again to meet my random, impulsive, quick pu-erh fixes.

Used short steeps- 10s rinse, 15s, 20s, 30s,25s, and a final 2 min steep.

Goodbye for now, wee snail yums! This is another comfort tea for a straight black that I enjoyed quite a bit. Hoping to reorder soon as well.

Comforting is a word I would use to describe this tea. I made a 64oz pot of it and my husband and I have been sipping the lightly-honeyed cocoa maltiness for a few steeps now. I am totally hoping to order more now that I’ve found my groove with wee snail yums, but I really, really, really want to get Rivendell with my next order, too. I wanted to order it with both of my last two orders and its been out of stock forever. Since my favorite flavored green from Butiki is gone now, I need a vanilla or creamy replacement. Any suggestions?
For the Redditors-TL;DR: I like this tea. And I want Rivendell or something like it really bad.

Smooth, medium-bodied, pleasant, flavorful. There is nothing offensive about this tea and I think it would be a good starter straight black for someone to try. While it may not be my personal favorite, it is definitely worth consideration for those that tend to avoid the heavy-bodied CTC types in the morning.