Whispering Pines Tea Company

Today has been a day of laundry, watching Doctor Who on Netflix, and drinking Whispering Pines tea. Right now it’s this tea. It took me over 3 hours to fold and put away the boxes and boxes of clothes that I’d been avoiding since we moved 3 months ago. And I figured this would be a perfect reward. Delicious chocolate with a bit of malt, it’s hard not to love this. So decadent.

Backlog
Hot, this tea is like rich dark cocoa, but as it cools it gets much more roasty.
First sip of my cup, and wow, cocoa. Dark dark cocoa. My boyfriend accidentally turned off my timer so I don’t know how long this was steeping for, but I’ve decided I like it this strong.

We had company over last night, so I added a splash of Coconut Rum that I picked up while I was in the Caribbean, and it was superb. I love chocolate and coconut, so the two went together perfectly. Like a perfect dessert drink. All it was missing was whipped creme. That should totally be a thing. A tea bar! Serving mixed drinks made with tea, like strawberry tea in a daiquiri, chocolate tea and rum. Pumpkin chai and Baileys. If I ever win the lottery that’s what I’ll do. Open a Tea Bar.

Anyway, so I resteeped, and while waiting for it to cool, totally forgot about it. A couple hours later, it’s cold, but I take a sip. Deep dark roasty-ness hits me. And something else, that I might even call an autumn leaf pile (not that I’ve ever experienced autumn, let alone an autumn leaf pile. I love the sun sand and surf of Florida, but sometimes I’m really jealous of you northerners).

I put the leaves in the fridge last night, so depending on if they still smell fragrant, I might go another round with this baby.

Oh yes.

My tiny, tiny WPT order came in today. This is just what I needed!

I couldn’t tell you what camphor or eucalyptus tastes like, but I can tell you that it’s similar to aloe. Or at least, the way aloe smells. It smells like a pale green plant. Not minty, but it awakens similar taste buds. It’s like a breath of fresh air. A cool mountain breeze, carrying the scent of evergreen trees. I still don’t know what eucalyptus tastes like but I bet it’s delicious. ;) This was the first note I found in this tea. Following closely behind is the deep, rich flavor of dark chocolate. It’s SOOO dark and so robust! Just the way I like it! It intensifies as I keep sipping, and covers my mouth with a dark malty sweetness. Mmmm, cocoa. There is the suggestion of stone fruits in the background. (I recognize this from Ailaoshan Black.) Red fruits. Plums, raisins, maybe cherries. Each sip finishes with honey and thick caramel. It has a pudding-like texture. It coats your whole mouth and leaves you wanting moooore! After, when I exhale, I taste aloe/eucalyptus/freshness. It’s a very “clean” sensation (which is why I likened it to mint).

The second steep is more smooth and mellow. The flavors have melded together a little more and the aloe/eucalyptus has receded. It still has a freshness to it, but it’s not as pervasive. There’s a woodsiness/earthiness to this steep as well. Notes of cocoa still present, and strong. They contribute to the dark forest flavors very well. If I try very hard I can discern a grainy, bready flavor behind everything. It’s not like fresh buttered bread. It’s dry. Fresh, but dry. Maybe toasted wheat bread or bread crust. And omg, pudding mouth. There’s a very creamy, caramelly, custard-like finish! Ahhhh, this is great. I’m so glad I got this before it sold out.

Dang it Brenden. Adding yet another to my cupboard staples.

sigh

I was extremely pumped to try this tea. I love it, but I’m not getting the apricot or pluot flavor that others taste.
I know it’s not proper, but I drank the second steep with milk and agave syrup just for kicks, and it was a delicious cup! It tastes vanilla/mocha/malty to me.

feels like everyone has been drinking this lately…thought I’d join in finally. xD
I am happy I finally decided to drink it again now. Rough day. But this makes me feel a bit happier. It is comforting to have tea on the bad days (:
And it’s just as good as I remembered. Taste cherries and cocoa. And actually some malt that I don’t quite remember last time.
Lovely tea. Even on that bad days (:

I’ve had such a rough day emotionally. First my best friend who has been visiting me for the last week left again. Then my family was causing issues over my friend. And on top of that I’ve been feeling horribly physically. It’s just been a horrible day emotionally.
So it was a nice day to get my Whispering Pines order.
The strongest flavor I taste is baked bread. It definitely reminds me of that. There are hints of honey and caramel that make this tea so sweet. Reminds me of the Golden Snail tea, which upon trying last week became one of my favorite teas, hands down!
So this one is definitely a win!
It cheered me up some today, at least made me stop crying. Definitely an excellent tea worth trying!

The leafe colour of this one is dark brown almost black even When I mention a Teas colour liquid or leafe it is actually Lance who describes it to me because I have colourblindness, to me it is actually quite black and the appearance is very pretty long twisty leafes, they seem fragile easy to break in the fingers but do not crumble.

The Dry leafe aroma is slightly sweet with much citrus and a vegetal something reminiscent of seaweed to me.

I steeped this one in an earthen Gaiwan perfectly according to Brenden’s reccomendations, Water at 190 starting time of 1 minute.

Steep 1- 1 minute
The Wet leafe has an almost roasty, vegetal and very citrus type aroma to me, very nice.
The liquid colour is quite light like a golden honey, beautiful.
The taste is light and crisp with citrus and a little floral with and underlying woody type note. Nice!

Steep 2- 1 minute 30 seconds
The liquid is just slightly darker this time but still like a golden honey says Lance.
The flavors have changed this time it is actually quite bold and strong to me with awesome citrus notes playing with straight up sandlewood notes and the floral note of the first steep has become the underlying note. Very Nice!

Steep 3- 2 minutes
The colour this time is slighly darker, like a dark honey.
The flavour of this steep is much like the last, sandlewood and citrus but the floral is much better taste like they way an Orchid smells and a slight nutty earthy taste of perhaps a walnut but not bitter at all. Pleasant and complex!

Steep 4- 3 minutes
I was excepting it to possibly be a litter darker again but it isn’t, it is starting to get lighter like honey still but not quite as dark this time more like an amber colour.
Now I’m getting getting a very slight note of Pine(thats what I was waiting for), citrus and just a little sandlewood still, a bit more floral still like an Orchid and a little more earthy, nutty walnut type note to me still not bitter but this time there is a slight pleasant dryness of the finish.
The citrus and the sandlewood seemed come together almost as one throughout these steepings but now the citrus seems to be overtaking the sandlewood notes,if that makes any sense.
I noticed that Brenden says this fourth steep is his personal favorite which I can understand, it does seem to have reached some kind of changing point right about now but I think so far #3 is my favorite. Power of suggestion? I was very much looking forward to #4 because of the description.

Steep 5- 4 minutes
The colour remained the same the same as the last steep this time but the taste has changed quite bit.
This time around the floral Orchid note and the citrus are really popping and the sandlewood and the slight pine note are damn near gone. The nutty note is surely walnut to me with the same pleasant dryness on the finish, I see in other reviews people getting a cashew nuttyness which I was also looking forward to but I’m just not getting it :(. I was possibly wrong about #4 being a changing point because tho it has changed slightly with each steeping and more so on the 4th this change seems to be the best. 5th steep is now my favorite, this is it right here. Perfection!

Steep 6- 6 minutes
The colour is almost exactly the same as the 2 previous steepings, just very slightly lighter.
The flavour tho has diminished quite a bit with pretty much only the floral and the citrus remaining, not much else except for the dryness on the end which is still nice but not as pleasant as before, I think perhaps the extra steeping time has allowed the tea to cool a bit this time and changed that dryness on the finish. Still very pleasant to drink.

Steep 7- 9 minutes
The colour is more like the first steep now and the flavour is just slight floral and citrus and hot water. Still overall this was a very nice and complex tea and I really enjoyed spending this time with it tonight.
I very much recommend this tea to everyone.

I think I’m tea drunk now or maybe it’s just late and I’m tired, Maybe Both lol

This was the first tea I had gongfu style! I picked it based on Brenden’s recommendation, which was spot on as always. I didn’t write a review that time because I just decided to concentrate on the experience rather than worrying about taking notes or anything. And then I’d just have to repeat the experience to write a decent review, oh darn ;).

First, this tea is gorgeous! The leaves are fluffy and curly, while their color reminds me of golden lion tamarin fur. I think it’s cute :). I brewed 3g at 205F 15/15/30/40/60 sec

Steep 1: This steep was malty and bready, melting into sweet honey and cocoa. There was an earthy aroma that didn’t really come through in the flavor with this steep. Overall, it was honey butter on a biscuit! Yes please. More of this.

Steep 2: This steep was still malty and bready, but almost aggressively earthy tasting. It was not as sweet, but cocoa is stronger.

Steep 3: Now all the tastes are still very present, but mellowed as a whole. They’re not any weaker, they’re just not as sharp as they were, as if they’ve melted into each other. The cocoa was the strongest flavor in this steep.

Steep 4: This steep was all buttery bread with a hint of earth but the cocoa seemed to be hiding. Where did you go, cocoa?

Steep 5: Cocoa’s back! This steep was surprised me given the fourth steep. It was buttery, bready, and cocoa-y. It reminded me of a chocolate croissant. Nommy to the max! I can’t decide if I like the first steep or the last steep better; maybe I’ll have to do this again soon I’m definitely doing this again soon. This tea makes my teeth buzz and got me hella tea drunk to boot!

Aaaaah Saturday morning yums!!!

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 200 degrees, 3 minutes, French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma & Brewing Aromas: Chocolate cake. Om nom nom

Flavor: yum! This has lovely cakey and cocoa notes. I wish it was a little sweeter, but that’s easily remedied. I am going to try a second steep and see how that goes!!!

Uh oh. This is the last of my sample! Gotta get more!

I’m drinking this and watching Clue. I think I’ve seen Clue at least 1000 times. No lie. Whenever I can’t decide on something to watch, I pick Clue. I think this tea goes very nicely with Tim Curry. And that is a VERY high compliment to the tea!

I’m feeling so restless today. I want to do something, but I don’t know what I want to do, so I do nothing, then get annoyed with myself and even more restless. Rinse. Repeat.

I was going to try the Elderwood this evening, but I grabbed this instead because I thought it might have a calming effect.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 180 degrees, 1.5 min, muggy strainer

Dry Leaf Aroma: wow, gorgeous. Pine/evergreen and a very strong floral, like jasmine

Brewing Aroma: heavier on the floral

Flavor: the floral is first, with some gentle piney notes. Then there’s this fascinating and totally unexpected nutty note. It’s strong, too. It’s also got a creamy feel and a buttery taste. It’s also a little sweet and has a nice lingering aftertaste.

Is it bad that I have a reminder on my calendar to get this in August before the batch is gone?

Edit: Ehrmagerd!!!! 2nd steep. 3.5 min. Sipping this. Yum. Ok yum. What’s that? Holy crap! It’s pine nuts! This tea tastes like little pignolis on the end of the sip. SB- I love you!!!

Golden Orchid is a vanilla scented black tea blend as per its ingredients list. In practice it’s more of a fudge tea. I stand by my old tea note of six years ago. I don’t know which year this batch came from (no younger than 2018) but I do think it’s not quite as fudge-like as previous batches but the aftertaste is undoubtedly fudge-like. Weirdly enough, a bit of the sour tang of stonefruit and cleansing note of eucalyptus is creeping in too, as well as a burst of cloying date sweetness every once in a while. Neat.

I may be at the point where I slightly prefer Ambrosia to this but it’s still very much a comfort tea. Glad to see I still have some in my stash (I am totally rediscovering my previously neglected tea cupboard. It’s the coursework and procrastination).

There is so much fudge here.. I’ll never have to buy fudge again. This tea is my new, regret-free, fudge, that doesn’t make me feel violently ill after consuming too much of it (yay).

Golden Orchid has quite a few similarities to North Winds, such as the delicious stonefruit and cocoa honey notes, but the additional vanilla makes this tea it’s own individual entity (aka-fudge). There’s some waffle cone malt too. My only hold up is that it doesn’t have the multi-steep prowess that North Winds demonstrated, although it’s still adequate.

Mmmmmm yummy good

This is one of my favs, Brenden use to sell it back before the new site update.
I bought up a bunch of it because I liked it so much hopefully I won’t run out anytime soon but if I do maybe I can get some more.
It bews up nice and dark and it tastes roasty toasty and sweet with some slight fruity notes, very yummy :)
A great rainy day tea :) I love these type Oolongs on a rainy day.

This was the sample included with my first order from WP! Thank you!

This is a lovely oolong! This turned out very light for as dark and twisty as the leaves are. I drank WP Huang Zhi Xiang Phoenix Mountain Oolong 2 nights ago and I believe in comparison this tea doesn’t have as much citrusy/fruity tang to it. It is more a roasty nutty flavor. This is more comforting while the Huang Zhi Xiang Phoenix Mountain Oolong has a little more flare. This isn’t the dark, dark side of oolongs, but there is a hint of roast that says hey I am not a green oolong. They are both wonderful and I will definitely reorder this one at some point. Thanks again for the sample and the opportunity to try this one.

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #12
Another tea with just a little left in the teabox so I steeped another not-full mug. I love these types of white teas. The flavor notes sound DIVINE. The highest quality white tea can become a favorite, even if you don’t think you will like a white tea at all. Just give the best ones a try! Obviously a white tea from Whispering Pines would be delicious. The leaves are different colors, different textures. None of the usual fuzzy nonsense here… somehow this one is super creamy, tiny hints of sweet citrus… it’s almost like a lemon cream cake. Definitely one of my favorite white teas, right next to Verdant’s Bai Mu Dan which also happens to be in this teabox. The second steep was a little disappointing, but I left the leaves for 24 hours a probably steeped it wrong. The flavor just wasn’t nice on that cup. I remember Verdant’s Bai Mu Dan’s second steep was even more flavorful than the first and just creamy lemon…so distinct I remember it months later, so I guess I liked that one more. This one is in a nice metallic pouch, so I don’t think it’s due to road weariness.
Steep #1 // 25 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // ??

This has become a great favorite of mine for mornings. It’s bold enough to stand up to breakfast, but still has a complex and defined flavor profile. Plus, did I mention this chai requires no milk or sweetener? I actually prefer it au naturel. That’s how good it is! Of course, starting with a Golden Snail base, how could it not be? The leaves are the aforementioned adorable snailies plus some spicy chunks :). It just smells warm to me, with ginger definitely coming through as it brews up a golden brown liquor. In the initial sips, ginger is definitely the star. It’s bold without being offensive in any way. Underneath that, buttery baked bread and cardamom really come through in a taste that is extremely close to cardamom rolls (those are a Norwegian thing: kind of like cinnamon rolls but breadier and with cardamom – duh – and savory instead of sweet). As it cools, more the chocolate and honey notes come out to play and the tea becomes much sweeter and more buttery. Yum! If you have the self control to let it cool for a while before drinking (I usually don’t), you will be rewarded with the full flavor profile this delicious tea has to offer.

Backlog from yesterday

This is one of the Whispering Pines teas I drank yesterday while cleaning. I got a lot more dark plum and raisin and molasses and sweet potato, with a sprinkle of cocoa and it of bread. It’s sort of amazing how the same tea steeped the same way can taste so different depending on what flavors come out more. This time was very dark and fruity, last time was very chocolatey. Either way it’s delicious.

This is one of those teas that when I have, I want to smack old me on the head. For some reason I used to avoid unflavored black teas like the plague. I guess I assumed all black tea tasted like McDonalds sweet iced tea (which, as much as saying so might get me stoned by the cult following said tea has down here, I can’t stand).
Thankfully, and to my total surprise, straight black teas can actually be good! Especially this tea. I get a great amount of cocoa out of this tea. Cocoa and caramel are the two strongest notes I get. I’ve never had caramelized plum (sounds divine) I can imagine that the dark, tantalizing, fruity undertone that I’m getting here is just that.

Absolutely amazing, this tea is a symbol for everything I was missing when I was shunning black teas.

This sample is courtesy of MzPriss. Thank you!

I can’t believe you shared this one with me:) This is such a special tea. I will be honest, I was really scared to try it for fear of the price point and the hype. I finally caved today. This is all it is cracked up to be. This tea brings me back to all of my favorite back packing trips, staring at stars around the fire in places that make you feel so small. I can’t really explain the flavor. There is a lot going on here. Black base, sweet, vanilla, cold figure tips and chilled nose. Opps, I am letting my memories slip into my taste buds. This is really good and it has brought a smile to my face this evening! Thank you MzPriss for this special treat.

I have been excited to try this since my favorite Teacret Agents: TheTeaFairy and MzPriss, posted their reviews from the samples they received. So here we go…

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 200 degrees, 3 minutes, brew-in-mug strainer & Dr. Who mug

Dry Leaf Aroma: I do not work for WP and I am telling you the honest to goodness truth – this smells EXACTLY like those gooey chocolate covered cherry candies, specifically the ones with the cherry surrounded by cherry goo and vanilla goo, then covered in chocolate. I brought the bag of tea into the living room, and I’m sitting on the couch, opening it and smelling the tea, then closing it to let the aromas accumulate again, then sniffing. It’s like a cherry-vanilla-chocolate heaven.

Brewing Aroma: Oddly, this just smells like tea, with a light creamy note. I don’t smell cherry. I start to get a little sad.

Flavor: I take a sip. Tastes like black tea, with a lovely sweetness, but WHERE’S THE CH…

Ooohhh. There you are, sneaky monkey. The cherry is hiding on the end of the sip, and it’s not on every single sip. However; when it’s there, it’s just lovely.

I have a feeling that this one may even get better with a little age. I have about 8000 lbs of pu’erh to keep me busy for awhile, so I’d like to try not to drink this, let it sit just a couple weeks, then see what’s what.

Even though I know this isn’t scented or flavored with cherry, my mind doesn’t seem willing to believe it. What tea magic is this??? :)

The Jabber Wocks…it’s 5am, and I’ve got nothing else to say…except that this cup, twas brillig. That’s all. And that’s enough.

(See previous note for more insight)

Jabberwocky …

Any references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass make me happy. Partly, the reason is I’ve learned some of my English in their company. Crazy, right? The riddles and the unintelligible language just had me fascinated. I had both the French and English versions and used to read both at the same time to understand. Well at least try to understand. This quote was tailor made for me:

“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing – turn your toes out when you walk – And remember who you are!”

How could I not fall in love with this magical world?

I find also that magic in the tea blends concocted by our Tea Whiz Of The Woods (aka Brenden of Whispering Pines) or better yet, tea hobbit Brendenol PinePeaker as MzPriss affectionately calls him.

I think his teas have put a spell on me, cause every time I am sent a new sample to evaluate, I keep thinking, how could it be better than the previous one? I mean, I can’t go higher than 100 on that rating scale anyways!

HoneyBelle (aka MzPriss) and I did our tastings simultaneously, like we always do.

First thing to notice is it has in its base two of my favourite black teas: Fujian Black and beloved Ailaoshan Black. At the first sip, I went, whoa!!! This is good.

But what’s that fresh menthol taste that feels like a light winter breeze?

I am told it comes from a high-mountain wild picked purple leaf tea. Same as in my “Gold” tea PORT!

The taste opens with subtle floral notes and quickly transforms into a honeyed creme caramel mouthfeel, I call that feeling “pudding mouth”. It’s thick and coats the entire mouth.

This tea is so smooth and sweet, it will take any steeping abuse. (I tested it!) There also a certain saltiness to be found, a bit like honey crackers if you’ve ever had one.

The smell is out of this world, fresh baked crusty bread.

But what really gets me to the core, is that complex morphing eucalyptus ending. It provides such a warming feeling…a great tea that opens your mind the way a good Sheng does.

Hard to explain how special this is…

If Alice was drinking this Jabberwocky, she’d say the same thing she said after reading the poem:

«Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don’t exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that’s clear, at any rate.»

Well this tea fills my own head with beautiful things….Then who killed what you may ask?

This Jabberwocky… yes, this tea nearly killed me: that’s clear, at a hundred rate :-)