Whispering Pines Tea Company

My brunch tea. I smelled the spices when I first brewed this. It tastes sweet, with mild spice, a hint of berry, and an herbal flavour. Would make a good tea for going camping or on a hike, since I do get a forest feel.

Thanks so much Cameron B for the sample!

This is a very cute tea and tasty too! I like it very much but it isn’t blowing me away like it has some of the other reviewers, perhaps because I’ve had quite a few other equally tasty Yunnan blacks :)

Good stuff though! Definitely my kind of thing. Glad I got to try it.

Tea of the morning. First, I have to say that the dry leaves are beautiful. They’re golden and fluffy, and they smell like grain and cocoa. Really nice. I did a two and a half minute steep, and the results were glorious. The tea taste of good bread, honey, and cocoa. This is a seriously nice way to wake up! There is also an incredible smoothness to the tea which lends a buttery feel and a thickness that just takes this tea over the top. As the tea cools the flavors blend a bit more, and I find myself in the sip-sigh-smile-repeat mode of tea drinking. It’s a good place to be.

Thank you Cameron B. for gifting me this tea in the Pass the Stash 2.0 box. I love it! This one’s going on my shopping list.

Thanks to Cameron B for this sample. It smells so awesome, malty cocoa. Not sure why, but I get a lot of Smores in the flavour. Very good. I’m really liking their black teas.

After having the black blends, I like this one even more.

Day 2 of my not very successful trying this tea.
Continued gongfu. This is so much better than yesterday.
I lowered temp to 190F.
I recently tried sheng with 212F and loved the results, but not with this tea.
Definitely low temp, short steeps. Like 5/10/15 sec
I got notes of smoky meats and bell peppers. Enjoyed this way.

. I think that parameters on a website to steep for 3 min will scare inexperienced people away. Sorry just my 2 c.

mj sent me a surprise sample of this tea. She is awesome.
Sample is super generous .

I decided to do gongfu. It works all the time.
But today i wasn’t lucky
4g 100ml 205F
rinse/5/5/5/10sec, its hay, mellow, some sweet paprika. some bitterness, nothing major. no sweetness (hui gan) . bummer

i thought that maybe i should try WP parameters
1tbsp 8oz 190F 3min ( i did rinse it, i always do)
Nope. Very bitter for my taste.

Came back to my gaiwan. read some previous notes. TTF made it with low temp like 175F and short steeps. Tried that and i think its my favorite parameters. as it cools completely i notice some slight sweetness.

Thank you so much, mj. you gave me big sample to play.

My lovely friend JustJames sent me a generous sample of this. I had it yesterday and I liked it, however, my allergies were acting up so I decided to give it another chance.

Today the scent is much richer it has the chocolate, butter and apricot tones I smelled yesterday as well as a lovely bready tone that wasn’t there yesterday.

I remember that the name seemed fitting because this smells soothing and warm, just what you need on a brisk, cool day.

Flavour wise it is smooth with apricot, and bready notes up front and cocoa mixing with butter in the background. There is a slight artichoke note as well hidden among the fruit up front. As it cools the apricot becomes more plum like, a honey note and malt become apparent.

This resteeps very well with fruity notes and malt becoming stronger as the cocoa fades. It is good for at least three steeps.

This tea has a nice simple flavour profile which is comforting delicious and suits its name! Thanks James!

Brenden sent a sample of this with my WP order last month. It’s not a tea I would have picked out normally, since I don’t usually like minty teas, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.

This is the kind of minty tea I can get behind. It smells like my old favorite vanilla mint sleepytime tea, so I guess spearmint? I’m not well educate in the various kinds of mint.

And thankfully, the mint isn’t the star of the show here. There’s some nice spice (cinnamon and ginger) and a bit of earthiness, and overall it’s very mellow and soothing.

I think it might even inspire me to go to bed before 3am for the first time in forever. Dare I say I might even add this to my next order?

I was lucky enough to receive a sample of this with one of my many Whispering Pines orders. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t available for purchase yet. Thanks Brenden! His customer service always rocks :)
The leaves of this beautiful tea are long, twisty, and dark brown. Just check out the awesome picture on this tea’s Steepster page! They smell very nutty and buttery and brew up a light orangey-tan. I brewed it gongfu-style (oolongs are so great that way!): 15/15/30/40/60 sec.
The first steep was heavily roasted chestnut. I actually don’t think I have ever had a roasted chestnut, or a chestnut at all, but that is what immediately came to mind. I just went with it. And ooh, there’s butter on those roasted chestnuts too! There’s even a subtle character that reminds me of nut shells, but all this fades into a fresh floral finish. I have to say, I have not had a Whispering Pines tea yet that has not had a completely gorgeous finish. That’s one of the reasons I’m such a fangirl. For this steep and all subsequent steeps, I got a hint of astringency, but it only affected the tip of my tongue. Weird lol. With the second steep, the roasted chestnut flavor intensified, but honey also joined the party :). The mouthfeel was richer too. The third steep was similar to the second in taste, but the feel was different. The creaminess intensified, but only on my tongue like someone painted the center of my tongue with a creamy mouthfeel paintbrush. The tips and the sides of my tongue were a bit dried from the slight astringency. This tea is so interesting!! The fourth steep was much the same, but the nut shell taste faded, resulting in a really smooth taste (this steep was my favorite!). The fifth steep still had good flavor, but the creamy mouthfeel was lost as was almost all the astringency.
As you may know, I love oolongs but I have been unimpressed with da hong paos so far because the ones I have tried have been kind of one dimensional. This one, however, has a lot of complexity while still remaining just downright tasty! It’s a win in my book :)
And edit: Here’s a pic of it brewing!
http://instagram.com/p/riMZs7Km8U/

I had this tea couple of nights ago during a middle-of-the-night gongfu session, which are kind of my favorite. I enjoyed it with a book and some classical music and it was, as TheTeaFairy put it, a “perfect tea for a quiet moment”.
The leaves are quite eclectic: light grey-green leaves with quite dark green interspersed, a mix of long and thin with short and flat. The brew is light yellow and smells of very sweet, hay with a hint of mallow. I steeped it 15/15/30/40/60, but as the taste did not change much from steep to steep, I won’t describe each separately.
This tea is just lovely. It’s sweet, like most white teas I enjoy, but a smidge less delicate. The main note is sweet hay with a sugar snap pea highlight. The background is a slight maltiness, which builds with successive steeps. There’s a hint of minerals, which I enjoy, and an airy honey finish with a suggestion of cinnamon. Don’t worry, it’s barely even there and the furthest from offensive that cinnamon can possibly be. Overall, it’s a very enjoyable, uplifting, and relaxing tea.

I’m having a cup of this right now and it’s amazing. Exactly what I need right now. Light, sugary vanilla, rich floral oolong, smooth, relaxing, beautiful. Perfection! See previous notes on this stellar tea!

Well I couldn’t review Golden Orchid today without reviewing Rivendell as well! I also had my first cup of this last weekend while at the lake, but logging the cup I’m drinking right now!

The dry smell is much more green, definitely that lovely Tieguanyin scent, minerally and fresh, and the vanilla adds a nice sweet smell in there too. Also a slight woody scent from the cedar. I followed Brenden’s brewing instructions again, 0.5 TBSP in 190 degree water for 3 minutes.

The brewed tea is light in color, and smells mainly of Tieguanyin, a good one at that! As for the flavor….mmmmmmmm, this really does taste good too. It’s light and has a definite mineral quality, a fresh stream over rocks. The vanilla is light and sweet here, not drippy and fudgelike as in GO. This one is light, so fresh. The cedar finishes with a light woodsy quality, bringing out some florals in the tieguanyin and putting in mind a clean forest.

This tea embodies Rivendell. It truly is pure, light, fresh, and magnificent. It evokes water over rocks, quiet forests, and soaring in crisp air. If I was an elf, this would be my drink of choice.

Overall, a very fine tea indeed. This brings about an immense sense of peace, and is not a tea you can rush through drinking. It needs to be enjoyed and savoured. Beautiful tea drawn from beautiful inspiration. And I love LOTR, so that is also a big win :D thanks again for a wonderful tea, Brenden!

I shoveled for at least an hour in -25 celsius temps this afternoon lol uncovered my driveway and moved my vehicle back there to plug it in haha. Man oh man I came in frozen, so I am sipping away on this treasure of a tea to warm up. And warming it is, as well as a treasure! I had been hoarding this, but I need to drink this, as well as other teas, instead of hoarding them. That is one of my tea resolutions this year – don’t hoard, drink up, and restock if required! A few others:
-No ordering tea until cupboard is under 100 teas (so currently not until I finish/get rid of 42 teas)
-Keep cupboard level at 100 maximum
-make list of favorites to keep in cupboard and try to eventually just have favorites in cupboard
-CUT DOWN ON IMPULSE BUYING. Haha this is a big one, I am notorious for buying a large bunch of tea because it looks good. I need to further research and contemplate if I need the tea before I order a ton (possible exceptions being a highly reviewed pu’erh cake, such as the one from WP that I nearly ordered this past week :P).
-Have a more organized tea cupboard. This will be a work in progress.

Anyways, this tea looks like it will be one that will be restocked :P it’s still ridiculously delicious. But I will drink up what I have first before placing an order! See previous notes on this tea :)

Sooo…yes, I had to get this tea after review after review praising its amazingness. And I confess – I’ve drank at least 3 cups before logging this tea. And might as well get it out now – I am ALSO on the GO fan club train!!!!!! :D

I first had this tea last weekend at the lake, where i have zero internets most of the time so I couldn’t log the awesomeness of this blend. But I am finally taking the time to write a review instead of downing the cup and sighing with happiness lol. So here we go!

The dry smell of this tea is HEAVENLY. It smells like pure fudge. When I first smelled it I exclaimed in excitement and immediately shoved the bag under various people’s noses for them to enjoy it as well (my mom..my dad..they know I’m a bit crazy about tea at least lol). And having it today, it still smells just as amazing.

I followed the brewing instructions – ~.5 TBSP in 200 degree water for 3 mins. The resulting tea is a deep rich brown and smells like an amazing Yunnan black tea with added sweet notes – honeyed, malty, rich.

As for the flavor…mmmmm. This is GOOD TEA. The base is an excellent quality, I picture a lovely Yunnan black bursting with honey and malt notes..then add in vanilla beans. Folks, this is by far the best vanilla tea I have had in my life. The main notes are honey, vanilla and yes…when they all meld together, you get fudge. The sweet notes come out more as the tea cools, and is is just wonderful. I also found I didn’t get a crazy caffeine buzz or have my anxiety act up from this tea – major plus in my books! Oh and this also tasted great, maybe even BETTER, up at the lake with non-filtered water…might have to try that! Or the water is just better up there haha.

So overall, this is a masterpiece. I have told Brenden on FB that this tea is a masterpiece, and I will tell all of Steepster too haha. If you like fudge, vanilla and good black tea, try this. I can’t even imagine how good Cocoa Amore is haha since it also has vanilla and different black teas lol. But this one is a win and a half for me. I am going through my ounce at an alarming rate, and with all the teas I have in my cupboard, I really shouldn’t order any more until Black Friday. But this one might make me…oh how I wish it was free shipping to Canada too! I applaud the maker of this blend! SUPERB TEA.

This tea is not out yet, i just found out tonight. I’ve had a sample for a little while now but was sitting on it for god knows what reason. Well whatever the reason was, it was a good one cause i don’t think I could have had a better session than tonight with it. It was the perfect timing.

Granted I love pretty much all types of oolong, I drink it everyday. I seek quality though. Don’t want to drink anything generic.

So I was pretty excited to try this one cause Big Red Robe is a highly praised oolong. And I like BRR a lot usually.

Just the smell of the dry leaf is divine: baked goods, roasted chestnut and almond, sweet and velvety. However, the first thing I get in steep one is a strong floral mouthfeel. The tea is just waking up.

Then, it’s a party in the mouth. Honey, almond, and the unthinkable…toasted coconut. That nice almost milky sweetness you get from coconut flakes toasted in the oven. This is all very subjective of course, it doesn’t make this tea anywhere near a flavoured coconut oolong. It’s just reminiscent of it.

It’s complex but so easy to drink. Nice rock minerals develop, and it remains very sweet.

It gets very juicy and refreshing, like a bright citrusy and oaky white wine.

Thank you Brenden for this generous sample. This is fancy oolong. I’m happy I got to try it, and I love that I had plenty to make a very satisfying gongfu session!

Pic’s session:

http://instagram.com/p/reDT6zwh0W/

After midnight, Lance is in bed sleeping and I’m awake in the tearoom, my favorite room. Tomorrow is an off day for us so I can stay up late as I want and with Tea in my mug, a furbaby at my feet and a notebook full of eBooks on my lap, I’m all set to read and sip for a while tonight.

With all the lights off except for my reading lamp and the radio off everything is nice
and quite, there no sounds at all in the tearoom except for rhythmic tick-tock of the
clock on the wall and the spontaneous snoring of the doggy, I can hear the sounds of
The crickets and the frogs outside.

A perfect atmosphere for sipping and reading, I’m sipping on Rivendell so I probably should have downloaded a LOTR book but I’m still reading Piers Anthony “If I Pay Thee Not In Gold”.
I think I’m going love this tea, it smells pretty good and I took a few tasty sips already,
it’s going to be nice for reading and relaxing.

I’m going read a bit and sip my tea and soak in some of this peace and quiet with out typing up tasting notes just yet, I will do it a proper review soon but for now I’m just going enjoy this.

Good night Steepster folks :)

This was my first experience with shu. Holy Monkeys. I’ve tried one sheng too and it seems like I am way more of a fan of shu (shou? Is there a difference? This is the level of knowledge I’m starting with). First, I followed this handy dandy guide written by Brenden of Whispering Pines and it worked for me really well.
www.lifethroughthepines.blogspot.com/2014/07/gongfu-style-for-medium-shu.html

I have to be honest, when I first smelled this tea I was very apprehensive. It does smell a little barnyard-y when you brew it, but kind of a pleasant barnyard smell that reminds me of horses. I was slightly taken aback by my first sip just because I had never tasted anything even remotely like it before. However, the more I sipped the more I adjusted and the more I liked it. To me this tea is just LEATHER in a major way, which happens to be one of my favorite scents. There’s also a somewhat mossy note in there. There’s a lightly sweet finish with the cooling effect of camphor. That sounds like a weird combination. It IS a weird combination, but I freaking like it. The later infusions became smoother and sweeter and I legitimately felt high….not that I’d know anything about that of course 0:-). It definitely gave me a heady, buzzed feeling. There was happiness and giggles (by myself, like a crazy person). It felt too fun to be legal haha

I also sipped on this tea today while I was crocheting a cute monster beanie for my nephew’s first birthday. And I finished it, woot!
As a PSA, I thought I’d mention that this tea is perfect for sipping while crafting because the more it cools, the better it tastes!
For details, see my previous review :)

This tea is so totally second breakfast it’s not even funny. As soon as I tasted it, I was like “yep, Shire!”. The Shire magic comes from thin, wiry, and dark leaves that are medium length. When brewed, they smell almost like a yunnan black to me and they yield a pretty, cedar-y colored liquor.
At first steep, the flavors were huge helpings of malt and bread with cocoa. The tea is on the fuller-bodied side of the spectrum but definitely lighter than traditional breakfast blend. However, I recommend that you let your tea cool some (if you can!). Once the tea starts cooling, delicious flavors start emerging from their hobbit holes :). First came honey, bringing its friend butter along! Always a welcome addition in my book. Once it cooled a little more, a wildflower infused breeze joined in at the end. Just lovely. The tea was almost room temperature by the time I got to the last sip or two and all of a sudden BAM cherries popped out right in the middle of the sip. I wish I had more left at that point! This tea totally reflects hobbits: quiet and unassuming with a charming homespun quality up front , but revealing surprising depth upon closer examination.

In honor of Brendens new shipping policy, I’m having a cup of this.

Confession time. I’ve had this before and was left feeling… Uninspired. I didn’t write a note because based on the cult following that GO has, I was expecting to want to get this tattooed on my chest and to name my first born after it. When I didn’t feel the need to do either of those, my first thought was I did something wrong. So I gave it some time, and vowed to try again.

Determined to get the best cup, I used about 1-1.5 tablespoons, and steeped for just under 2 minutes, in a sort of gongfu style. I don’t know if the change of style had an effect, but taking a sip, I think I finally understand what the issue was: I had it a month ago when I first decided to try black teas, and one my palate wasn’t as refined, and two I wasn’t fond of malt yet at that point (now I totally dig it). The front of the sip is lots of malt and cocoa, and a thick mouth feel that together reminds me of good dark fudge. Mmm. The mid sip is smooth creamy vanilla with the fudge, and a dark cherry note also comes out. Like I’m eating cherries and then eating decadent fudge.

There’s little vanilla bean seeds at the bottom of my cup. Is it weird that I find them cute? I don’t know how I missed the cocoa the first time I tried this, it’s so prevalent.

OH
MY
GOODNESS!!!!!!

100 tasty tea points for this one on steepster lol

Thank you TeaTiff for sending some of this one! This tea basically inspired a swap. :D Well, the first cup of this was the last tea brewed by my old kettle, the second steep I had to heat the water with the microwave. Ick. Though I don’t have much money right now, I can’t go without my tea and I already knew which kettle I was buying possibly even years before this one broke. I’m getting a Bodum Bistro 34 ounce electric kettle. Hopefully this one works as long as the other one did!

On to the tea… I’m not sure if maybe the kettle died halfway through boiling because the first steep was pretty light. I used a teaspoon and a half and I DID wait eight minutes for the water to cool… maybe it was my fault. Though the flavor that was there is everything that I think a keemun is. Still so so light! With the second steep, I made sure to use boiled (microwave) water and I also added the teaspoon or so left of my sample to the leaves. It seemed like a ton of leaves but after a six minute steep, the flavor is great. It reminds me of an older harvest of Teavivre’s Premium Hao Ya which I thought of as my favorite keemun…. I just worry about the amount of leaves that must be used to get to that flavor. But I was actually surprised that there wasn’t an oversteeped flavor with six minutes. I think it is what the first steep should have been. Again, could have been the last death throes of my kettle. I certainly won’t be drinking my favorite or highest quality teas when I don’t know what I’m doing with this microwaved water! Sipdowns of some not-favorites will be happening! Hurry up and get here tea kettle!
Steep #1 // 8 min after boiling // 4 min steep (1 1/2 tsp of leaves)
Steep #2 // just boiled // 6 min (1 more tsp added)

OMG y’all. This tea is GOOD. No, GREAT. No, DELECTABLE! I was blown away despite the fact I was already expecting amazing things from Whispering Pines, obviously.

The leaves are dark green and tightly rolled, interspersed with cedar. So pretty! See?
http://instagram.com/p/rYOQWDqmzS/
Don’t fault the tea for my lack of instagramming skills. I’ve had an account for like 2 days.

The smell of the dry leaves is divine! I could not stop sticking my face in the bag for another whiff. It smells like a berry, but not one that is actually a real berry, wrapped in cream and vanilla. It brews up a light yellow green. The first steep tasted of sweet fictional berry (this is not a bad thing- trust me) and these berries come to you on a cushion of vanilla, cream, and butter. This is followed by a rush of pure, slightly mineral, spring water. This is what Rivendell water would taste like! The sip finishes with buttery toffee rolling in on a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

This tea has a lot to give, and I went for a second and third steep. I stopped because it was late and I need to sleep tonight. The 2nd infusion brought a more intense creamy vanilla berry element that replaced the buttery toffee finish. The third infusion had more cedar coming through, just peeking past the creamy berry goodness and a stronger pure mineral water finish.

This tea is my new precious. It’s a must buy!