Elderwood

I sipped this down very quickly, and have worked at it between yesterday and Christmas day. I also ordered some other teas to share with Leafhopper and write about on here. I’m surprised and greatly appreciative that Brendan sent it out TODAY of all days. I did not expect it, but I really appreciate it.

This one is one of the better Vanilla teas I have on hand at the moment. I love how rich and full it is between the vanilla and natural dark wood and cherry notes of the tea. Most of the vanilla teas are out of stock on the website right now, but fortunately, I’ve got a decent share of the Taiwanese blacks to hold me off for now. I really liked how smooth and rich this one was out of all of them.

Need to try this one again. The vanilla taste lingered on my tongue even into the next day, or at least so it felt to me! Dark and delicious.

This tea is SO strange. I find it so savory, that it’s actually tasting a lot like miso soup. It’s very mushroomy, with notes of wet soil and tree bark. The Whispering Pines website describes this tea as “inspired by the deepest and most ancient of forests,” which actually really fits.

I’m not tasting any of the vanilla, though.

Sweet and soft and delicious! The vinilla shines but does not overpower. So good.

Ok, I have a hard time telling the difference from WP Ambrosia, Elderwood, and Golden Orchid. All three have luxurious black tea bases with fine quality vanilla. If I was to hazard a comparison I would say GO is on the lighter, dessert side of the spectrum (chocolate, honey) whereas Elderwood has a darker, earthier profile with a subtle peppered flare.

Yep, not a sommalier. I guess the most important part is I would order all three again if/when I have the means! The next time I go with WP I may even check out the actual tea types before blindly ordering.

For the second morning in a row my bed has been the most comfortable place in the entire universe. It has been an absolute pleasure to rest in such a perfect place, and I am deeply saddened by the sound of the alarm clock.
Some mornings I need something strong, powerful, no-nonsense. Other mornings I want something sweeter. Still others I want something gentle.
That was this morning, and this tea seemed to fit the bill, easing me into my day with a kind yet firm hand, and a lot of rich flavors.
Its going to be a very busy day! This was a nice tea to start it.

Montly TTB.

This is my first tea by Whispering Pines, and unfortunately it doesn’t live up to the hype for me. I’m not sure if it’s the vanilla or the base itself that I’m objecting to, but I didn’t love this. The base is a light, smooth black with cocoa notes, but they don’t taste quite right to me. They taste artificial, which is odd since this doesn’t contain artificial flavoring at all. Well, it was nice to try anyway. I’ve been really curious about Whispering Pines teas, but they’re very expensive. At least I won’t waste money on a tea I don’t care for.

Backlog

I got like a tsp of this tea from Terri, which I’m not sure is the amount you’re supposed to use, but I’d rather have a weak tea than have to pay full price to try it! So works for me!
I tasted a lot of cherry and wood. There were notes of vanilla too. Was not bad. Pretty good actually-I’d totally drink it again.
But it’s not something that I would buy. Which is fine. Happy to sample!

This is the tea I was most looking forward to trying. The expense put me off for a while…then it was the difficulty of placing an order before it was all snagged. Well, time to splurge, I say. I regret nothing. (Except for not buying more.)

The dry leaf smells like creamy, chocolatey gelato. It’s like chocolate infused whipped cream: smooth and sweet with the scent of custard and vanilla. I followed the instructions for western brewing. The taste is very close to the aroma. It’s silky smooth and soft like a rabbit’s fur. There are notes of dark chocolate, custard, and stone fruit underscored by the gentle suggestion of oak wood and mushroom. The finish is sweet with ringing vanilla overtones and cherry-fudge undertones. The sweetness and malt lingers long afterwards: a reminder of whipped cream, cocoa, and flavors of pine. Not any single flavor is overbearing; they all work in harmonious balance. The second steep is equally rich and decadent. Cocoa, wood, and cherry dominate with notes of heavy cream, caramel, and mushroom in the background. It’s thick like pudding and incredibly smooth. It gets even creamier as it cools.

Wow, this tea is absolutely heavenly. It could give GO a run for its money, but I know I can’t justify buying this one in large quantities. Shame!

Dry: Fluffy golden leaves blended with tightly rolled deep matte black leaves. The smell in the bag is softly vanilla, sweet, and malty.

Steeped: The leaves unfurl in a very pleasing aesthetic way. There is a mixing of the colors and the clear amber liquor bathes them in a golden hue. The smell is vaguely sweet with a hint of cherry and malty vanilla.

Taste: Honestly, the best description I could think of would be a more complex version of Cocoa Amore, which is one of my favorites from WP. I really like the depth of flavor with cherry, cocoa, and vanilla featuring most prominently followed by a hint of wood and morel. I don’t think I would like it at all if there really was a lot of the earth/oak across the palette, but it does a good job of hinting at them. The biggest downside to this tea in my opinion is the pricepoint. At just shy of $22/ounce (excluding shipping), it is one of the most expensive teas I’ve purchased. I am dinging the rating a little bit only because the tasting notes on the website indicated moss, plum, pine, melted chocolate, etc. and I couldn’t detect these. That may not be a bad thing though because pine can be overwhelming as a scent or flavor. Unfortunately, I’ve also found that this one doesn’t hold up to resteeps without going a bit bland and losing all the delicate nuances. I did enjoy the initial vanilla, cocoa, cherries, oak, and morel though and I am glad I was able to finally try this.