Whispering Pines Tea Company

I wonder how different this tea is from what it had been almost 8 years ago (time stamps on all the other reviews). I don’t get fruit, but I do get florals. Similar in aspect to a black jasmine, though not exactly like it. It completely passes my astringency and bitterness tests, which is a plus.

I think my problem is that its a gray, rainy, and cold Seattle October day and florals are absolutely not what I’m in the mood for right now. Maybe come early spring when the bulbs are starting to bloom and I’m more in the mood for something perfumy.

Right now I’m craving warm, cozy, and spicy.

I am incredibly mood driven, so I’m not going to rate this right now. lets see how I feel come march.

This is another amazing old tea. From White Antlers.

I am on the same boat as derk, trying this tea fresh would be so awesome. I used two teaspoons in a mug, but I assume gong-fu would be much better.

The dry tea was visually almost perfect, small, like spuce long needles and even it looks pretty much same. Or maybe larch needles? Just they are dark green → black instead of green fresh colour. But if it is 7-8 years old, it’s no surprise.

It was mild, sweet grass. It was even quite thick, mouthcoating and little mineral and citrusy.

Another one from White Antlers. This one’s fresh-e-fresh. I saved 3 grams from the pouch to make a western cup. I wonder to whom I forwarded the rest.

When I travel (oh COVID, when will you depart), my packings are minimal. When I house-sit, the amenities here are never sparse (I could get by as I would on vacation by bringing only a toothbrush, medication and a few days worth of clothes), yet I brought 6 bags with me. Today is the final day of house-sitting for my work father. The place is a mess even though I’ve occupied only the bedroom, bathroom and barely the kitchen. In this whirlwind moment of cleaning and gathering my belongings, I steeped up what little I saved of this tea and of course forgot about it for 10 minutes.

Luckily, my folly didn’t ruin the tea, which means it’s a solid tea. The dry leaves smell strongly of roasted peanut and cocoa. Steeped up, it has a full, smooth body with a heavy malty-sweet overtone and complex undertones of leather, peanut, cocoa, baked bread, stonefruit, caramel, banana, tannins and flowers. Lingering malty-stonefruit-peanut aftertaste. It lacks a little kick to adequately grab my attention (perhaps the long steep time muted some quirks) but it’s a satisfying brew regardless.

Two steeps western into the work thermos.

Smooth and full bodied with a woody, drying finish. Two layers of sweetness: one that is deep and fruity like dates, and a higher pitched floral sugar tone. Caffeine low — probably not the best tea to choose for a 6am Saturday shift but I wanted something mellow. I don’t remember much else. It’s an old tea in a stamped pouch.

While this pouch I have received is another same as derk had who have it from White Antlers I have to say again a thank you :)

The aroma of dry pouch is rather nutty. Suprisingly it is quite aromatic for the age (who knows, as there is nothing saying anything about the age). But it is handwritten label. Yep, same pouch as derk had. The pouch is quite full!

When brewed, with 75°C water; it was fine. Pretty much simple grassy, bit more on sweet side. Enjoayble, but unfortunately I think it seen better times. But won’t throw it away :)

I think this is a Spring 2019 harvest.

Rich with chocolate-malt-wood body. Smoothed by sunflower seed nuttiness. Rounded out by deep and warm stonefruit flavors. High floral notes. Fermenting windfelled fruit resting upon soil warmed by the autumn sun. An orchard at the edge of a forest. Good balance of flavor, aroma, astringency, bitterness and aftertaste. Feels more grounded than other unsmoked Lapsang Souchong but with plenty of complexity. The little leaves harness a wealth of power and they are not fussy in preparation method.

Got this in a sample with an order a while back. Apparently I tried this before since the packet was opened, but there were no notes here so thought I would try it again today.

Overall, I am underwhelmed. Its not bad. I wouldn’t object to drinking it, but there are others I would prefer. Its just not my thing.

A White Antlers tea, many thanks!

I wanted to pass this one around so I kept enough for only two western sessions. My experience, albeit limited, says Black Lily begs to be leafed heavy. The long and wiry dry leaf doesn’t exactly conform to spoon measurement.

My best cup of the two was 1g:75mL western. Aroma like raspberries and other berries, orchid, apricot, orange. Smooth and tangy, mineral and very clean, elusively creamy and thick. The flavors were difficult to pin but the main notes I picked up were apple, delicate honey, soft sweet cinnamon maybe allspice?, oats, berries, raisins, wood and orchid, apricot-orange tone, and a brown sugar returning sweetness. Finished bright and clean.

A fantastic profile for autumn that I think would appeal to all seasons of sippers looking for such.

From the stamped bag era.

2.5g, 250mL, 205F, 4min

This tea has not aged well.

Wet Leaf Aromas: Cocoa, Molasses, Orange, Perfume
Flavors: Hot water

This was a gift from derk, which she gave me in person at the 2018 San Francisco Tea Festival, after I had inquired curiosity about it (but because I’m a horrible person, I’m only just now getting around to drinking it, two years later…) I have never been a huge jasmine person, not because of the taste (which I actually quite like), but because the scenting is usually so strong and wafts off the cup like I’m being drowned in cheap grandma perfume, which is one of my migraine triggers. I have had “lighter” iterations of jasmine (such as in blends) that I enjoyed, but most jasmine-scented greens and whites have been “too strong” for me. I have never had a jasmine black, which is what I think sparked my curiosity in this.

4g sample in my 100ml shiboridashi, because I’ve had some days off so I actually have the time to gong fu for a change. The wet leaf smells so much like strong, muscatel grapes, which is quite pleasant; definitely different than the “perfumy” jasmine floral aroma I usually smell (I certainly do smell jasmine flowers, as well, just not to the extent of “overly strong grandma perfume”). Maybe a hint of autumn leaf in there as well?

100ml shiboridashi | 4g | 205F | 15s/20s/25s/30s/40s/50s/65s

I’m surprised how much that muscatel aroma is carrying over in the flavor, as well; I certainly taste the jasmine florality, but there is a noticable grapey fruity flavor as well, and a much more subtle hint of malt and honey. On the second steep some of the black tea flavor peeked through a bit more, and I started to taste more of the malt, honey, and now autumn leaf, but the tea was still very fruity with muscatel notes and sweet with floral jasmine. I felt like the black tea notes continued to open up in the mid-session, yet retained a lovely fruity/floral flavor. Later in the session, the jasmine became a little more forceful in flavor, but never obnoxious/perfumy. The tea was such a lovely red color and extremely smooth! I drank it really lazily, and enjoyed each sip.

I loved this! I think I just need my jasmine on a black base from now on! Thank you so much for this lovely gift, derk!

Last night I had a killer migraine from nowhere that made me want abdicate my head, neck and shoulders and go live in my stomach or something. It’s still kind of lingering on the left side but it’s not even a quarter as bad as last night. It did leave me a delightful red spot on my forehead between the eyes (this has happened before, but still fml). So, I’m a little grumpy and out of sorts today.

I decided to dive into this tea because I’ve been hoarding it for too long, holding out hope that WP would get more of this or Premium Assam in stock and not sell out in 10 minutes (never happens). It’s starting to age and today it was more tart jam than powdered sugar and baked bread (still some of that though).

This is still one of my favourite teas, along with Premium Taiwanese Assam, so I thought I’d give Taiwan Tea Crafts Yuchi Wild Mountain Black Tea a try to see if it’s comparable (what do the “lots” mean? So confused), as well as some from What-Cha that look similar. Here’s hoping (otherwise, it’s good to try new things!).

Steep Count 2

An oldie from the stamped bag era.

Had I tasted it blind, I would instantly be able to tell it was a Sun Moon Lake Ruby #18 varietal black tea. That wintergreen, that menthol! Felt absolutely therapeutic one morning last week after waking up with a rattling chest due to the smokey air. Coppery malt, leather, tangy cherry (Trader Joe’s sells dried Montmorency cherries from Michigan; that’s the exact flavor note I’m thinking of here), prune-raisin, and dark wood; warming spicy tone danced with the cooling effect. The tea lacked some of the complexity of a fresh harvest but it has otherwise held up fine all these years. Gotta get some more of this varietal back in my cupboard.

I was waiting ages to try this tea from derk. Thank you!

I wanted to calm down with gongfu today morning. It’s another cold, upcoming autumn weather. It’s overcast, grey, now and then it rains or rain showers, cars are loud…

The tea is amazing. I could not notice anything while took a sniff from 5 grams I got. I took a half, mayde quick rinse and wet leaf aroma, as well brew aroma… is so nice and awesome.

Stonefruits, especially apricot and peaches, hints of hay, wintergreen (we have it on the garden, but haven’t tried to smell it, so not that sure), petrichor maybe as well.

And taste… well I am like biting a juicy peach with bit of cooling effect, sweet, can’t write much more, as I can’t notice something else. Trying to read others tasting notes, but can’t say That’s it. But hey! it is wonderful tea and I want more. Luckily I haven’t spend all the leaf today. Yum!

Moonlight white tea with snow chrysanthemum flowers, the orange ones that as of late, I’ve realized can be a polarizing flavor due to pickle perception.

I’m not going to lie about what the dry leaf smells like. It’s stinky — perfume, stale urine and dill. Care to read further? Stewed in my work thermos with water off-boil, the tea is fantastic. Brilliant orange-red with a strong aroma. Aging white tea taste with a hearty melding of the snow chrysanthemum taste. Medicinal, savory, sweet, thick, tannic, tangy and tingly; tangelo, hay, forest floor, Demerara sugar, white florals, pastries, minty cooling, black pepper, ginger and yes, I finally taste the dill pickle, quite strongly actually.

More, please.

Thanks to White Antlers, I was able to try another Whispering Pines Guangxi province tea, the other being a gold bud which was a tasty, easy-drinking tea.

The tea possesses, like other silver needles, a mellow sweet aroma, though the tastes lie within a lower tonal nature along the lines of dry forest duff and sweet, fresh mushrooms. When brewed western with 3g to 300mL, the body is medium with a dry finish followed quickly by sweet mushroom. The lingering aftertaste has a dominant, mouth-filling note of sweet cream butter mixed with fresh sweet corn (I listed kettle corn below since sweet corn is not an available taste). The second steep is earthy and still very mellow.

This tea serves as a pleasant contrast to the fruity, floral silver needles from the Yunnan and Fujian provinces and even Kenya. I could see this tea appealing to some fans of green and yellow teas, as well as fans of Jinggu puerh.

I am 99.9% sure that this sample came from White Antlers but it was on the center dividing line of my loose leaf sample box, so I could be wrong.

I really wanted to have a nice gong fu session last night. To be perfectly honest, it is because I told my daughter I would watch Avatar: The Last Airbender (animated) since she loved it and when I hear the music it makes me want tea.

My husband loves white tea and says it feels more thirst quenching than water to him, so I thought he would enjoy this.

I gave a really quick rinse and then a short first steep. As I would expect, my first impression is of sun-warmed hay.

The second through fifth steeps were our favorites, even though I oversteeped one and it was actually a little brisk. Otherwise, they were fruitier than I expected with a hint of floral and some minerality.

Steep six lost the the fruity notes we loved and went back to hay and mineral, so we stopped at steep seven.

Served with cinnamon toast! A most satisfying gong fu session.

Thank you, White Antlers, if this was from you! (I am pretty sure it was!)

There is another Whispering Pines Xin Yang Mao Jian on Steepster, prefaced by ‘High Mountain,’ which is not written on this particular pouch of tea. So despite the leaf looking different than what’s in this photo, I’m going to drop this note here.

Another old’n. The dry leaves are green-grey-blue and fuzzy silver-fawn thin, tight twists. Smells like walking from the edges of a sweetgrass meadow into the depths of a mossy forest. All the leaves sink to the bottom after filling the cup with hot water. Not much of an aroma. The liquor is buoyant, viscous and smooth with with most of the taste happening in the back of the mouth — like steamed broccoli stalks and buttered nuts. Mouth-watering, oily and mineral clean. The wet leaf smells tangy with a citrus-berry tone, sweetgrass and florals, as well as with something fleeting that reminded me of a wet rag. Wet rag isn’t a good way to end this note…

Great body. A green tea I’d love to try fresh.

This Laoshan green arrived from White Antlers in a pinecone-stamped mylar-lined brown paper pouch with the tea name handwritten. It must be an old’n, older’n my first order with Whispering Pines maybe 4 years ago.

Small yellowish grey-green-brown curls of leaf smell like sweetgrass and maybe violet? Pale yellowish green liquor with a lightly sweet and umami aroma that reminds me of cooked beef and onions. While it may sound strange, that aroma is what really drew me in to a different company’s Imperial Laoshan Green. It stimulates my stomach rather than being off-putting. The taste, I imagine, has suffered from the years. It reminds me of a sweetgrass incense braid and very lightly sweet mineral water with hints of nuttiness, umami and violet. The mouthfeel is nothing noteworthy but I was taken by surprise with a moderate sugarcane returning sweetness. Body-warming.

I’m sure this tea was better in its prime. It was nice to try another Laoshan green despite its age. Laoshan produces probably what is my favorite type of green tea.

Spring 2019 harvest.

Dry leaf has a wild look, large dark and craggly leaves interspersed with gold to beige glimmers of fuzzy leaf. They smell of wet grain, specifically malted barley mash for sippers with beer-brewing experience. Warmed leaf smells of Grape Nuts cereal, molasses, black cherry and wood with rose and orchid florality. The steeped leaf reveals the heavy red oxidation.

Western steeps can be adjusted to create a slightly different flavor profile and body. Brewed with the recommended parameters (I think it was a half tablespoon to 8oz boiling, 3/5 minutes), I found the flavors and body rather mild and unobtrusive with smooth notes of brown bread, molasses and a hint of cherry. Using 1g:100mL made a full-bodied brew with a similar, though more pronounced taste. Cherry wood-malt aroma.

Gongfu brewing was honestly a waste. Some fruitier notes popped out in the first steep like passionfruit-mango. It quickly developed a brisk and tannic-bitter quality which it retained through another 5 infusions.

This tea did have the trademark cherry taste which I’ve experienced in every Thai oolong I’ve tried (which isn’t many). I’d call this an above average daily drinker black tea; it did lack what I would consider ‘gushu’ qualities, at least in comparison to Chinese teas. Whether that’s due to the leaf not coming from ‘ancient’ trees, the processing, or my relative lack of familiarity with Thai terroir, I’m not sure.

2017 harvest.

Cool, slick mineral-pear sweetness. Very floral perfume with gardenias, vanilla, sweet pea and lilac. Some roasted almond and baked bread provide deeper notes. Creamy bulb flowers like narcissus and lily in the aftertaste. Cooling and drying in the mouth, warming in the body. Strong zoning out and calm followed by a caffeine rush. Plenty of longevity brewed gongfu with longer steep times. This was the best Zhangping Shuixian oolong I’ve had.

7.5g, 150mL glass gaiwan, 195F

I should have added this earlier when it was still on the website. The Dayuling was priced at $17 per oz, which is expensive, but not bad for a Dayuling. Hopefully, Brenden or someone can edit this note page appropriately. I also wanted to get it out there that WP did sell Dayuling.

From what I remember, the website described it in very general detail, focusing on the cotton candy texture and teas inherent sweetness. “Being in the know” about this type of tea cuts off the rest of the description.

I gotta confess, I love Dayulings despite being rivaled in flavor by the lower elevation teas in my opinion. All of the Daylings I’ve had are comparably fresher and sweeter than many Alishans and Shan Lin Xis, but it’s an effervescent sweetness that’s not thick or heavy. Not bubbly, but green and light as feather. Effervescent may not be the best word since it literally means to boil up with bubbles, but it works for the green and lively energy I get from Dayulings. I also tend to find that they are not very durable on average, but if they are, the have full stamina and a monster of a commanding price.

Some of the best Dayulings I’ve had were from Floating Leaves and Wang Tea, but even those on the pricier end that tradeoff the opportunity of other teas because of their cost. You could argue the same for this one, but it’s not a bad price for what you get.

I haven’t had the luck I wanted to with this one. I was impulsive and drank it immediately after I broke the air-tight seal. I could smell it, and it did have a green grape of cotton candy sugar cane quality in the dry leaf, but even Western, the flavor was muted. Light, effervescent, and green-absolutely. Flavorful beyond those notes? No, or at least not yet.

I did try again Gong Fu, but steep three was the only pronounced one. Lemongrass was the most prominent note, or for people who can see past tasting note pretension-a light green oolong. I do think the issue lies in the prematurity of breaking the seal, but more importantly, my water quality has not been the greatest for the past few months. I do use a water filter regularly that makes a difference, but I have had to do it through my city tap water which has a little bit too much minerals in it. The chlorine taste really blocks the flavors of my better teas, so I stopped drinking them for a time being because of it.

I ordinarily refill purified water from the local grocery store or Meijer, but since COVID, I can’t refill my bottles like I used to, and the sanitized bottles are regularly out, and restock is delayed due to increased shipping times.

Are there any economical recommendations of getting better water? I’ve managed with my blacks replacing my filter regularly and relying on my more basic profiled teas that aren’t altered too much by water quality, but it’s still problem. I should catch up with my 20+ of backlogged teas anyway.

Back to this one, I can’t judge it properly yet. I can recommend Brenden’s Taiwanese teas if you don’t want to wait for international shipping times in the U.S., and while they are slightly more expensive than I prefer, they are a good medium for high quality teas.

I honestly can’t drink this without comparing it to PTA (Premium Taiwanese Assam), which has swiftly become the tea I would happily drink forever.

Its got a lot of good qualities, rich flavor, not astringent, not bitter. I almost get the impression something maybe fruity and mild. Nice and easy to drink, I can easily see having this on an
Read more about review stating Nice and mild
early summer morning when everything is still and quiet and I can just sit there and listen to nothing but the birds chirping.

So back to the comparison. Its not as sweet as PTA, though there is still no bitterness and no astringency at all, even after multiple steeps. The fragrance is milder as well. While I have not tried doing so (yet), I suspect this might make an excellent light iced tea. Maybe toss in a slice of orange or a few pieces of sliced strawberry to help bring out that almost fruity impression I get.

It looks like I might be building a liking for Taiwanese blacks.

Off the bat, I am not fond of white or green teas, so my impression of this one isn’t very good.

That said, it doesn’t taste like grass clippings, which most greens do for me. The leaves are also fuzzy enough that I keep feeling like I want to pet them. :)

I’m sure this will be the perfect cup for others, but it isn’t for me.

One of my favorite blacks from whispering pines so far, and one of many teas I’m behind putting. At this rate, I might just put the teas I really liked on here so I don’t have to fuss. The list will still be long, but there are some that definitely need to get on Steepster, especially from What-Cha, Wang, and Whispering Pines

Back to the tea. It has a very creamy texture and leans on the fruity end of black teas. For you tea snobs, it does have a lot of similarities to its less oxidized oolong counterpart when it comes to the tea’s osmanthus like florals and almost apricot like flavor. Nectarine is probably more accurate. There were times I thought of berries, though it’s more akin to the nectarine, but I would not say this is a intensely stonefruit kind of tea. Fruity and intensely sweet with creamy honeysuckle florals, yes. Mega peachiness? Maybe not. I was thinking more passionfruit. Creamed honey, maybe some caramelized sugar. Later steeps were lighter, and its oolong heritage shined through. Shorter steeps makes it especially resemble the oolong counterpart, but with more body and flavor.

It also lasts quite a bit of time western or gong fu. I use my longer 30 second intervals with 5 grams, and upped the by 30 sec each time. I know, not precise. Western was also a lot more experimental, staying in at 2-3 min for the beginning time, but then I did whatever afterwards. Thank heavens this one is forgiving. There are a lot of similarities to some Taiwanese blacks in how sweet it is, and reminded me of Nectar, another good tea that’s occasionally sold on Whispering Pines. This one is more complex in my opinion, but Nectar had a little bit more staying power and was thicker. This is thick, that one was THICC. I feel that there is more to say about the teas notes, but I can’t put it into words right now.

In terms of quality, the rating should be closer to a 90-93. It is also a lighter than average black with little to no astringency and moderate malt. Some might be iffy about it because it is a more mild black tea, but it is by no means as faint as a golden bud black. In terms of how I like my tea, it’s perfect because it’s light floral and fruity. In terms of price, I remember it being decent. Tie Guan Yin blacks are hard to find, and even with other big companies like Yunnan Sourcing and Verdant, they are pretty much seasonal.
You could of course try Tealet or finding vendors/farmers directly, but Brenden does a good job curating teas like this. Sweet tooths, rejoice. I would definitely buy this one again.