Whispering Pines Tea Company

This tea is exquisite. I’ve had it several times since I first received it in the mail a few weeks ago. And I keep returning to it, which is pretty astonishing, considering the amount of teas in my cupboard. The black tea in Golden Orchid is rich and smooth and chocolatey. Even the aftertaste reminds me of cocoa powder. Add the indulgence of sweet vanilla on top of that (and not vanilla flavoring, but hand-cut vanilla beans!) and this tea is practically a dessert. Actually, it’s better than dessert, because it’s tea! It lives up to the hype of the reviews here, which is probably the highest compliment I can give.

I mostly tasted spice and a hint of cocoa. I would love to be able to find the graham cracker that is supposed to be in here. I’ll work on finding that next time and wait to rate it because I also think I oversteeped this just a tad. I prefer Golden Orchid so far from my tastings of Whispering Pines. This was another sample from Ost from when I ordered from her :)

This is such a cozy tea! I love the base blend, December, and this blend has cinnamon and marshmallow root added to it. I’ve been on the lookout for a tea that tastes like s’mores for a while. This blend really does remind me of making s’mores around a campfire—not just the dessert, but the whole experience of it, with the smoke and the toasty warmth of the flames and the cool night air. The aroma is spicy and smoky, with hints of rich chocolate beneath it. The taste is even more complex; the cinnamon is certainly prominent, but I also taste cocoa and the smoke of the fire. The marshmallow root adds a subtle sweetness. The taste changes a lot depending on how I sip it, so I notice different notes each time.

Drinking a cup of this tea really is like an experience. It makes me feel bundling up in a coat and scarf and heading into the woods (which would be kind of odd, since I live in a desert where it’s eighty-plus degrees out right now). I have to admit, I think I actually prefer December to S’mores!… Just because I love December’s rich cocoa notes so much, and they’re a bit overshadowed by the cinnamon here. But this is a lovely tea that I will enjoy drinking, especially once the weather starts to cool down. It lived up to my hopes, for a blend that could make me nostalgic for the whole s’more-making experience. I’d recommend it to anyone searching for the same.

I ordered December as part of my first purchase from Whispering Pines Tea Company. And wow, I’m impressed! I enjoy smoky teas, as well as teas with chocolate notes. This blend has both, and as I might have expected, it’s delicious.

In the bag, the dry leaves have a strong smoky scent. When steeped, the smoke gets softer, with just a hint of sweetness behind it. Judging by the aroma, I thought the tea would taste smoky, with hints of chocolate. But I was wrong! When sipped, December is almost all chocolate notes, coupled with the smooth malty flavor of a high-quality black tea. The chocolate note is definitely dark chocolate, and the smoke is still there, but it’s mostly a subtle aftertaste. This tea holds up well to resteeping. On the second cup, I still get strong notes of chocolate, along with a little smoke. The third cup is lighter, with an almost mineral taste and hints of cocoa.

For the past year, I’ve been searching for a light smoky tea that doesn’t taste like a campfire. (I kind of like that ashy flavor, but I have to be in the right mood for it!) With December, I’ve found the perfect smoky blend for me. It’s a black tea, first and foremost: malty and smooth as silk. And while it doesn’t have any added chocolate flavoring, it has surprisingly strong cocoa notes. Basically, it’s a blend for tea lovers who are also chocolate lovers. The subtle smokiness makes it perfect for fall, too! I’m sure I’ll be forced to restock, on the unhappy day when I run out. (And thank you, fellow Steepster users, for alerting me to Whispering Pines Tea Company, and introducing me to this amazing blend.)

This was tasty with a lot of fermentation flavor to it. I only had one of these and either I wasn’t using enough tea ( I used the whole thing) or it is a fairly weak tea. I only got four good steeps out of it no matter how much time I gave it. I steeped it in all about seven times. The four times where I got tea of relatively good strength were good. The last three were weak. I would probably have noticed some nice notes to the first four steeps but I admit I was not paying attention as I was watching Haven.

I brewed this in a 130ml Yixing teapot with boiling water and one mini tuocha, about 3g. I steeped it for 15 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 5 min, and 10 min.

This sample came from mj. Another vanilla dreams tea to try! Now, I’m not generally a fan of green oolong, but I still wanted to try this one since vanilla is my favorite flavor. The oolong pellets are a dark green/yellow and medium in size. There are also roasted cedar leaves mixed in. Dry scent is very sweet with pear and floral notes, and a smidge of vanilla. I steeped it for 3 minutes in 190 degree water.

Brewed aroma kind of reminded me of a wet dog… HAH. Once I got past that it was strong floral and pears. Hmm… I’m kind of underwhelmed by this one based on the amount of hype it’s gotten and its high rating. It mostly just tastes like the usual green oolong to me – very lightly vegetal, mineral notes, peach, floral, etc. I don’t really pick up on a ton of vanilla, maybe a little bit. The cedar leaves give it a nice roasty aftertaste. So overall, it’s good, but I don’t love it.

My first tea of the day, and the last of samples (mj) sent me. The dry leaves smell pretty foresty. After I brew, I get some more floral scents. There is a tangy, and kinda creamy flavour. Not really what I was excepting, but good on a rainy afternoon.

I recently purchased a set of samples from Whispering Pines which included North Wind and this one. I wanted to compare the base tea to the vanilla version. I have to say, this tea is pretty fantastic with vanilla beans added. You can’t go wrong with vanilla. Not getting the decadent fudge people are describing but it is good.

I feel inspired to add vanilla beans to all my teas. I had requested a pound of beans for a birthday 2 years ago and I still haven’t used them all even though I made a half gallon of vanilla extract. I’ve cut down on dessert foods lately so I guess tea is the best place for these beans now. It doesn’t take much vanilla bean to flavor a tea. I could probably do a bean or two for a pound worth of North Wind. :D Or add some to Laoshan Black. :D Plus cocoa nibs. :D Or I could play around with WP’s Fujian Black since it’s a tasty cheaper tea that would take well to vanilla and cocoa.

Smell this tea before you brew it because it’s amazing. The aroma is what sets up your palette’s expectations. The actual taste is not quite as amazing as it smells, but is still pretty good. It has a smooth, general good black tea feel to it, with nothing that jumps out and surprises you. Good for drinking when you don’t know what kind of tea you feel like and just want something good. Add sugar to make it a wonderful dessert tea and bring out the amazing vanilla taste.

Another WP sample from Cameron B.! Get used to seeing that line, because I have a bunch to go through. :)

This is quite delicious. A very nice golden yunnan tea. Nice and sweet potato-y, and with a hint of molasses as well, like a sweet potato with brown sugar. Mmmmm. A little bit of cocoa flirting around the edges, and overall the texture is thick and creamy. Thanks for the sample of this one Cameron, it was very enjoyable!

Holy chocolate, Batman!

I was teaching some 4th and 5th graders today when I took the first sip of this. Apparently…I made a face. I know this to be true because my normally rambunctious students stopped dead in their tracks and stared at me.

“Miss O….what’s wrong?!?!?!”
“Chocolate….there’s…it’s….there’s chocolate in my tea!”
“Chocolate tea????” (At this point, they commenced their usual frolicking around the classroom, only now they were chanting “chocolate tea” in a really creepy but funny way.)

So, yeah. I actually couldn’t remember what this one was supposed to taste like when I grabbed it. I just knew I had really been excited to try it when I got samples from both Ost and Beorhthraefn almost back to back. Thanks you guys!

I think I’m in love. Oh dear.

Okay, so this isn’t going to be a very good note… Curse you, Diablo III, for causing me to ignore my teas! Ahem. These oolong pellets are super dark in color, almost black. Dry scent is roasty and sweet with mild cocoa notes. I brewed it for 5 minutes at 200 degrees.

It’s pretty tasty! Definitely reminds me of coffee, as a lot of really dark and roasted oolongs do. Also somewhat sweet and with a little bit of dark cocoa flavor. Yummy, and even very good cold! There’s no bitterness here whatsoever. :)

So I drank the rest of this tea yesterday (thanks again Cameron!). I had a bit less leaf than I would use normally, so I brewed it for 4 minutes instead of 3, also hoping to bring out some more of the vanilla and creaminess.

Nope, just brought out a stronger toasted (almost burned) note. Still reasonably tasty (and once again a hint of vanilla came out at the very end of the cup). I will say that I will probably get another sample of this from WP someday to give it another shot.

So, now that I have worked down on some blends club blends and I am actually at 100 teas in my cupboard (not counting the samples from Cameron), I feel like I can finally start trying those WP samples that Cameron B. so generously sent me. You might have heard that WP is kind of a big deal around on Steepster lately, so eventually I decided I should probably give them a try. The only WP tea I’ve had before now is North Winds, which I understand is the base for this tea (?).

I followed the steeping parameters exactly for this one; it was convenient because they happen to be my default black tea steeping parameters. It left me kind of… what’s the big deal? This tea has just a little crapton of hype about it, so I guess I was expecting nothing short of heaven on earth. For most of my cup, it tasted pretty much exactly like North Winds, which is to say bittersweet-chocolatey, not unlike some Fengqing pearls I’ve tried in the past. I had no vanilla or related flavors (creaminess, etc) until I got down to the very bottom of the cup and it was pretty much stone cold. Then the last couple of sips were vanilla bombs, no doubt thanks to the little vanilla seeds swimming at the bottom. It was a tasty cup, but it was not liquefied fudge or a chocolate sundae or any of the other superlatives people use for it. I have another small serving of it, so I will happily try it again, and I could even imagine getting another sample of it sometime just to give it another shot. I could always order some North Winds at the lower price and cut some of the roughly 1 kilos worth of Madagascar vanilla beans I have in my cupboard into it (a perk of doing fieldwork in Madagascar). :)

I will say that I feel like my tastes in teas are diverging from a lot of the Steepster crowd these days, so I guess you can take my note with a grain of salt. Thanks again to Cameron for the sample! This is why I wanted a sample first. :)

From the Lewis and Clark TTB.

“Wisdom begins in wonder,” says Socrates on the baggie I picked.

A malty, chocolatey aroma rises from the teapot when I take away the lid. The leaves even look like chocolate. The liquor – golden, full-bodied, thick – has the same notes as the aroma, only they are 10x stronger, bolder. It tastes a little aged. I ate Nutella on toasted bread with this and the two complement each other wonderfully. Freshest chocolate fudge, dark pure honey. With this pair, the tea overpowers the actual chocolate. That’s not something I find in a tea very often.

This is one heck of a cozy tea. Not hugging, but the kind that warms every inch and part of your being. For the darkest, coldest winter night, while a heavy snow falls.

Marco Polo TTB

Yay, My first taste of Whispering Pines! I was so excited when I found out this would be in the box. It’s such a special tea I would not expect to find it in just an ordinary TTB. I’m very grateful to have a chance to try it. I already planned on getting some the next time I’m allowed to buy more tea (November), this sample just helped make the amount I would buy go up.

Yummy, Yummy, Vanilla bread tea. I read I should try it with shortbread, so I did and although it was delicious I felt like I was wasting the tea and think I will drink and savor each sip on its own for special days in the future.

My son wanted to dip his cookie in his tea but could not because it was in a large mason jar and his tea was almost gone so I let him use my tea, I did not think about how it would ruin my cup and turn it salty with cookie crumbs on the bottom I was just thinking it would be a nice way to share the special tea with him. I will look for the chocolate next time and not let my son stick his cookie in it.

Bonus* I was lazy and left the leaf in the steeper over night and just rinsed it out before adding black tea in the morning. Pleasantly surprised to find leftover vanilla flavor in the first two steeps of morning tea :)

The last of my Cedar Ridge sample. It’s been nice and I will consider ordering more of this when I place a future order.

Had this tea last night. I thought I might enjoy this herbal tea since I do like woodsy herbal teas. It was quite pleasant. Brenden really is a master blender. Everything seemed to be so perfectly balanced.
Spearmint – gives the tea that feel of clean clear outdoors.
Roasted Cedar – Wasn’t sure if this would be too strong for the tea but it added such a wonderful dimension. It took me back to the days when I was a kid and my aunts used to cut cedar in the woods to form bundles. I remember helping them a few times and the cedar smell was wonderful.
Cinnamon – I like cinnamon but am not a cinnamon lover like my husband. I think it has it’s place and I don’t like it overdone. It was done just right in this tea adding a nice warm spicy feel to the tea.
Ginger – Another spice I don’t like overdone. In fact I usually avoid ginger in teas because it’s too strong. The ginger in this tea was only slight. It’s there just to add that extra spiciness but nothing more.
Elderberries – Well, I have no idea what elderberries taste like or even if I was picking it up in this tea. I really enjoyed the tea overall though!