Hesper June Send Message

Hello!
Long time, no reviews.
I still drink tea daily and have been working through my cupboard trying to drink things up before making any major purchases.
Also, been in a writing slump. Nothing inspired me to write.
Till now.
I love Earl Grey Tea. Always have.
What Brendon of WPT probably does not know about me, is well, I like my Earl a little on the rough side. You know, a little 5 o’clock shadow and a bit of mud on his boots.
But this tea, my oh my.
This is the Earl dressed for the Ball. This is a Earl that you pull out your Grandma’s pearls for. He is dressed to the nines and he knows he looks darn fine.
I noticed how fine this gent would be when I opened the bag and dug my nose deep into the dry leaf. Wow. Lovely rounded, bright bergamot tickled my nose.
Pouring the water over the darling curled leaves sent a steam of scent that reminded me of chocolate covered oranges. Yum.
Taste is lovely. I still am getting that chocolate note, but the bergamot is not taking a back seat, which is good, since I am a lover of bergamot.
Its a beautiful color as well, a nice dark amber brew.
So, Well done Whispering Pines Tea. You just made my Earl even more desirable.
Now I just have to explain to my Hubby why I am flirting with my tea cup.

Made this with coconut milk and added a little knob of fresh ginger and turmeric, sweetened it with raw honey.
Yummy. Starting out my Monday right, ya’all!
Have a great day!

I looked, but this tea did not seem to be entered into Steepster database yet.
If it already is, I apologize.
I am very tired from staying up all night with a sick kitty.
She is currently at the Vet, getting some tests done.
I am pretty sure what they are going to come back with since this has been a reoccurring issue with her since she was young.
She is such a trooper and I hate seeing any of my animals in pain.
So, to soothe my nerves and boost my spirits and get some caffeine in my system, I am drinking this tea this morning.
There is something quite delicate and lovely about this tea from first sniff of the dry leaf.
It has a brisk, dry aroma.
Yet, when brewed I almost get a baked goods note, something warm, right out of the oven, like a fruit tart with honey.
It is also a lovely golden colored tea.
Taste is light and sweet.
Crisp, yet smooth, honeyed fruit notes, maybe a smidgen of toasted nuts.
It ends light and sweet on the tongue.
Quite nice.
This tea is quite good company to me while waiting by the phone for news about my fur-baby.

I just love this tea.
Like if it were a fella, I would marry him.
I mainly reordered from Whispering Pines Tea because I had just enough of this left for one cup.
However, when I went to place my order, I did not see Chocolate Oolong.
I immediately contacted Brenden pretty much in a full on panic.
He quickly reassured me that he still carried the tea, he just changed the name.
So, I ordered a whole bunch.
But, still, when I was pouring it in to its special tin, I mumbled to myself that I should have ordered more, this just did not look like enough.
Nutty, Salty, firewood and seaweed with a bit of spice and rich avocado.
Yum.

You know how when you were a kid and you were playing outside in the snow, and you never wanted to stop.
But, suddenly just as your fingers were starting to get cold and your snow clothes soggy, Your Mom magically knew and called you with the delightful phrase “Come inside now and get some cocoa!”
You would come in, cheeks all pink, fingers and toes tingling with cold, and watch as your Mother spooned that magical powder into your mug and set it in front of you, with that perfect final touch of one giant marshmallow bobbing on top?
Well, when you open the bag of this tea and stick your nose deep into the dry leaves, thats the smell you get.
Warm, chocolaty, malt powder goodness.
When you taste it,it goes away from that smell, oh, you still get some chocolate, but now its more rich and plumy and nutty.
Very smooth too.
I could see a non tea drinker being very intrigued by this tea, between the smell and the smooth and slightly sweet taste.
This tea, simply put, is delightful.
Another one hit straight out of the park, Whispering Pines Tea!

Shared a pot of this with my Hubby yesterday.
This was another lovely sample that Brenden slipped in with my order.
Always a hit in this household.
Since LS is one of the only teas Hubby really enjoys, I usually save it to be drunk with him, on a slow Sunday morning.
Which is what we did yesterday!
Delicious, smoky yet sweet.
One of those teas that you wrap both hands around the mug and bury your face deep into the steam.
Its a like a hug in a tea cup.
Although, with this tea, its a little less like a hug from your Grandma and more like a hug from a big burly logger.
But, thats okay, because I am down with that.

In my latest WP order, Brenden slipped in a sample of this tea.
Apparently, it has been reformulated since my last order.
Sometimes, even though I am what folks around here call a " young gal", I channel my inner old person and grumble a little when something has been messed with.
“What was wrong with it before?” I mumble in my best crotchety voice.
But, Brenden is usually spot on when it comes to tea, so I didn’t get too crotchety just yet.
The first difference I noticed was the dry leaf had a definite sweetness to it.
There was still the smoky-ness, of course, but there was a new little honeyed sweetness.
Now, the other Campfire Blend had a sweetness too, more like a tobacco and plum note, this teas sweetness is more honey and floral.
Which I think compliments the smoky notes well.
I had my old tin out and have been smelling both
Right away, when I smell the old blend, I think of camping out in the autumn.
With this new blend?
Well, its camping out in the summertime.
You are in the woods on a warm summer’s eve and got a nice big toasty campfire going and somewhere upwind is some wild honeysuckle blooming.
The whole tea feels a little brighter and well balanced.
Smoky, sweet, a little spice.
Was there anything wrong with the old blend.
No.
But, this new blend is very nice and certainly worth a re-try if you have not as of yet.
I would happily keep this in my tea cupboard and drink it regularly.
Its very good at soothing crotchety throats as well;)

So, after my last blood test came back with more positive than negative, my doctor (who literally has the largest cup of coffee on his desk constantly that it could be considered a bucket) finally gave me the green light on drinking tea and eating fairly normal food again.
I started back into the tea world drinking genmaicha.
It just appealed to me.
While I was out of the tea world, I drank lukewarm water(and pretended it was tea) and ate pretty much only liquids, wore my husbands sweat shirts and binge watched Primeval and crocheted a weird blanket without a pattern, and wore lots of loud perfumes. (Don’t worry, People I trade tea with, the tea and perfumes are kept on complete opposite ends of the house and never “visit” eachother;)
I think the loud perfumes made me feel somehow more brave.
So, anyway, now that I can drink tea again I made a small tea purchase and bought some of this from Whispering Pines.

The dry leaf smells nutty and almost a bit chocolately.
The tea itself smells just slightly nutty then all I get is a nice green tea aroma.
I am not getting that big, bold popcorny, ricecake odor that most of the genmaicha’s I have tried have.
It smells more muted, gentler. Not so roasty toasty.
The taste is much like the smell, a gentler genmaicha.
The green tea itself is really the star with this tea and not so much the rice.
Its there, just more in the background.
That being said, the green tea used here, is very nice quality, I believe.
No bitterness at all, a very nice bright green tea.
If you don’t like popcorn theater notes mixed with your green tea, or want to start into genmaicha gently then this is the tea for you.
If you like a major popcorn and ricecake taste to your genmaicha than this tea might leave you wanting.

“A happy tea” I mumbled to myself.
“or maybe a comforting tea??”
I stand at my tea cupboard not even seeing the tea inside and not even really familiar with my friends that it holds.
I spot this one and grab it.
Not even sure which category it belongs to, Happy or comforting.
I am not even supposed to be drinking black tea (BLAH!) or hardly any tea at all.
But, I don’t even care at this point.
This year did not open very pleasantly and continues to disappoint as the weeks progress.
Last night, I received more heart wrenching news.
My heart is sad. I need tea.
This one will do wonderfully.
See more in a previous review I wrote on this tea for more on the actual tea.
Just felt the need to reach out to you all and with what better tea to do it with.
Ahhh, feeling more hopeful already…

This is my first Temi Sikkim.
I was hesitate at first since this is a Darjeeling style tea.
I have not quite mastered my way around Darjeeling.
But, upon first sniff, I became quite excited.
The odor of toasted nuts, baked bread and leather come out in the steeped tea.
Taste has a nice little bite, but not too astringent, with some notes of the previous mentioned toasted nuts.
I really enjoy drinking this tea.