Whispering Pines Tea Company

This was my after dinner tea. We cooked out, and I was loving all the smokey flavors in the food, so I decided to keep it going with this tea. It was also nice to have the mint to help settle my food. When I bought this tea I thought it would be one of my fall/winter teas, but I enjoyed it so much today and can see myself reaching for it at other cook outs and barbecues. I guess a good tea is good any time of year.

Tea of the morning. Last week was rough and kind of left me reeling, so I’m taking today to rest and reset. That means today will be full of comfort teas, and I’m looking forward to each cup.

The mint in this tea is so good. It has that crisp, bright, straight-from-the-garden flavor rather than a toothpaste or candy taste. It’s definitely able to hold its own with the lapsang souchong. The combination of smoke and mint is so relaxing – like being wrapped under my favorite blanket and sitting by the fire.

Yesterday my daughter missed the bus, so I ended up driving her to school. I had already steeped a cup of this, so I threw it in a travel mug and headed out the door. My daughter commented on how it smelled a little like a campfire. She was curious enough to try a sip, and while it wasn’t her favorite her comments on it began the most enjoyable discussion about tea, blending tea flavors, and other areas of the world. I kinda wanted to drive past her school so we could keep talking, but I dropped her off because that was the responsible thing to do. We’ll save a hookey day for when the cabin fever really hits us. :)

While this may not be my daughter’s cuppa I enjoyed it quite a bit. One of my favorite aspects of this tea is how smooth it is. Other smokey teas I’ve tried have has some harshness or at least a bit of a rough edge, but there’s none of that here. This is smooth, rich, minty and smokey. Is it bad I’m happy I get it all to myself?

I like minty teas. I like smokey teas. I love this minty smokey tea!

I must admit that the first time I made it I over steeped by two minutes, and the lapsang souchong overwhelmed the mint. The next cup I watched with greater care, and the result was a delightfully minty tea with plenty of smokey notes. The mix of smoke and mint is delicious, and the tea has a very smooth quality that makes me want to continue to sip and enjoy. This is the tea I’ll have in my mug the next time it snows. Sipping on a cup of this while tucked under blankets and watching the snow fall is my idea of winter perfection. (Note that my idea of a perfect winter involves not going outside!)

this tea is really warming and delicious, the elderberries and the spices are perfect :) I’ve been using this one as a mulling spice for my mulled dr.pepper and it is excellent!
Great blend for the winter months.

A sample from the lovely MissB.

Sadly this isn’t for me. I tried it, the flavours aren’t flavours I want to drink, and it has been added to my brother’s Christmas present.

:)

I hate adding teas to the database, and I royally messed this one up. Can anyone help me? I forgot to add an image, and Steepster won’t let me edit the information. I guess because I posted it?

Anyway, I was sent a sample of this along with an order I placed on Cyber Monday of Whispering Pines chai blends. I was really excited to get the sample, as it made me feel special. I’m especially glad I got this sample, because I like it a lot more than the Masala Chai blend, which is a really nice tea, but which I think demonstrates that maybe Chai blends are not so much my thing.

Anyway, because I like this tea more, and because I’m about to finish the sample, I decided I would post a log note. I’ll make one for the Masala Chai blend later, but I’m waiting to decide exactly how I feel about that tea.

The brewing instructions for this tea are the same as the masala blend, 1 TBL for 5 minutes at boiling. I think that 1 TBL of tea would brew way too strong of a cup, as this tea, like the masala blend, is STRONG. I brewed 1.5 teaspoons of tea per 1 cup of water for this brewing, as I found out with the masala blend that such a tea to water ratio worked for me after trying a couple of other ratios.

I take my tea without milk, so maybe with the Whispering Pines suggested chai recipe which has half water to half milk ratio, 1 TBL of tea works. Honestly, this brews so strongly though, that I probably would still cut my tea back.

Anyway, I’ve been cramming out a paper all day yesterday and today, due today of course! And it’s cold in my room, so chai seemed appropriate. I also thought I’d brew something novel—thus my sample.

This is such a rambling log note. Hopefully my paper makes more sense. Anyway, the base on this tea is good I think, but it is heavily spiced. The base is Whispering Pines’s Kenya Surprise, which is a CTC black tea. The tea in this brews strongly and has a very nice black tea taste without a lot of bitterness from what I can tell, and when I place my next Whispering Pines order, I hope I remember to buy an ounce or two of the base tea to try by itself. I think I actually really like it.

I also like the blend of this chai and the masala chai, which is very similar. I taste a lot of cardamon, which I really appreciate, as that to me is the most detectable spice instead of the cinnamon or cloves, which I think think is a failure of a lot of chai blends. I really like cardamon. However, the blend is very even. In fact, in theory, I like this blend so much that it lead me to the conclusion I’m not feeling chai right now, because this and the masala blend are great teas and great chais.

I can’t quite detect why I like this tea better than the other blend. They are very similar, and this one works for me so much better. Obviously, the technical reason is the mint, but I don’t know what about the addition of the mint suits me more than the straight chai blend. I’ll attempt though, because the whole point of a tea log is for me to describe tastes in vague difficult to pin down terms, right? I think the mint adds a sharpness to the tea which actually rounds out the spice blend. Since I’ve been drinking these two chai blends without milk, I think the roundness is necessary (although, as a note, I added milk to one of my pots of the masala blend, which will come up in my review of that blend, which I will write eventually.) Furthermore, it somehow makes the blend taste a bit lighter and like—fluffier. (Now my language has gone off the deep end. I’ll stop now.)

Anyway, I like this tea a lot. I probably won’t buy the masala blend unless I need to have chai on hand for some reason. But I might reorder this tea. It’s really lovely actually. Oh, and I got 1 great steep from it, a nice second steep, and a half-way decent third steep last night, which is notable. The second steep tastes more heavily of the spices, which is a really interesting difference. I like when teas have significant flavor changes with steepings.

Very unusual tea, one that evokes many a childhood memory camping, and even more surprisingly, of my neighbors burning former Christmas trees in their backyard after the holidays.

I get zero mint or berry in here, although perhaps I would if I steeped it more. What I do get is smoke, strong smoke, and pine. It’s literally like drinking a smoking pine tree, and adding sweetener only makes me think of marshmallows dropped in the fire, caught on fire, with some pine needles stuck to it and their oil singeing the soft mushiness.

Really, really difficult to rate this one. I admire the creativity and thought put into this, as well as the evocative nature of the tea. At the same time, I’m less of a smokey tea person, and this is the first time I’ve had anything even remotely pine anything in a drink… that I know of, or consciously put in there… I did spent almost a year living in the forest.

I likely won’t order this again for myself, but I definitely will for friends whom I know will go gaga for this.

This tea blend is Delicious! One of my fav WP blends already I need to get some more. It is very nice and soothing when made warm and it is extremely refreshing when made cold. The notes of pine are perfect with slight minty notes that play really well with the pine. The spicy notes of the cinnamon and cloves are really well balanced too. If I could drink a snowy christmas tree I bet it would taste like this tea, its like a piney winter wonderland in your mouth. Piney and minty with warming spicy notes, it don’t get much better than that. A true wilderness tea, I must get more soon so I can share with my brother. I’m saving my last bit of this batch for us to drink outside by the fire, I think it would be great tea to enjoy outdoors.

Almost instantly I feel sick. Why am I feeling ill? I have this tea, and I’m about to be ill.

Crap. That’s because it has oolong in it. I keep on forgetting my odd reaction to oolong (several have told me it’s my stomach telling me it needs to ‘get used’ to oolong), and I keep on hoping I’ll feel or find differently. Then, I drink it unawares, and I get sick.

I want to love this. I love everything Whispering Pines. Alas…

Would anyone like the rest of this in swap? Most of the bag is left.

Oooh yeah! TY to Brewteally sweet for a sample of this!

Today was another operation mega clean. I gotta say, having american thanksgiving so late in November (vs the Canadian Thanksgiving) means my house is still somewhat clean for Christmas cleaning from cleaning I did for Thanksgiving. A good roasty oolong or more often a pu’er is the tea I drink while cleaning. Must be that getting tea drunk makes for a more fun and productive cleaning.

This tea is tha bomb! I love a good dark toasty oolong and this is it! Tastes like a dark roast Big red robe oolong! Dark chocolate notes, roasty campfire, and creamyness. I might have to buy this tea for my collection in the new year.

Tea of the morning. This is always such a treat. The combination of flavors is so well done and just plain yummy! It’s lightly sweet and smooth at the beginning with notes of honey, bread, and creamy marshmallow while the dark chocolate and pine flavors linger at the end of the sip. Seriously tasty stuff.

Yet another Whispering Pines tea. I’m on a roll!

I’m drinking the old version of this blend. I steeped it for seven minutes and was rewarded with notes of honey, chocolate, malt, cinnamon, bread, and smoke in an almost syrupy thick tea. Oh, so good. I’ve already resteeped the leaves once. I’m going to steep them one more time to eek out all of the yummy goodness in this blend.

I only have one serving of this left, and while the hoarder in me wants to hold on to it I think I’m going to finish it off this weekend so I can get the new version of this tea with my next WPT order.

Win! Win!

We had a great Fourth of July bbq. Lots of food and lots of laughter. Now we’re in that quiet time between eating too much and going to watch the fireworks. A perfect time for tea. This is the tea I had planned to have tonight when we were camping out (stupid rain), so I thought I’d enjoy it now.

I took Miss B’s advice and over steeped this one. I usually steep it for three minutes, but today I went for six. The results are glorious. The chocolate and honey flavors are thick with the graham cracker and marshmallow flavors mixing in layers. One sip I get more graham cracker, the next creamy sweet marshmallow. High yum factor goin’ on here. At the end of the dip I get the smoke and a light taste of pine. It really brings the whole tea together.

I know this is billed as an autumn tea, but for me this tea will always remind me of summer and simple pleasures.

…and it’s gone. Actually, I think I can get one more steep out of the leaves in my brew basket, but then I’ll have no more S’mores. :(

I’m going to miss all of the layers of chocolate, graham cracker, marshmallow, smoke and honey. This tea is so beautifully unique but also fun. (How could a tea inspired by the classic campfire treat be anything less than fun?) I’ve enjoyed it so much this winter, and chances are I’ll be buying it before we start our camping season in May (right after I get my medical bills paid. Eek! ). Until then I’ll enjoy all of the other Whispering Pines treasures I have in my cupboard.

Hello Steepster peeps. I’ve missed you. I ended up getting a nasty case of pneumonia that culminated in a short stay in the hospital. Not fun. Even after I got home I spent most of my time sleeping and recovering, so it’s nice to feel like I’m back in the land of the living. I’d much rather be here with a nice cup of tea in my hand while reading all of your lovely tea notes.

Speaking of tea, I’m still loving this one. The warm sweetness, the dark chocolate note, the honey is all wonderful. The first cup had lot more graham cracker flavor than I remember from previous cups, but it was really nice. The second steep offered more of a balance and all of the layers that I love so much. This is exactly what I wanted. So good!

I don’t know if I would have necessarily thought of a s’more if someone had handed me a cup of this tea and not told me the name. What I would have thought is Oh. Holy. Yum. This is delightful!

This isn’t a tea that screams s’mores! (despite its name). Rather it gives you all the notes of a s’more – nice dark chocolate, sweet honey, a touch of bread, smooth marshmallow, and light pine smoke – into something infinitely more sophisticated than your run of the mill campfire treat. I particularly like the honey and pine taste together and then the lingering chocolate at the end of the sip. So good.

My husband saw me lurking on Whispering Pines web site and surprised my by ordering this for me (he’s a good guy). I’m so glad he did. This is easily one of my new favorite fall/winter teas.

Ah, yes. I needed something delicious tonight! A sipdown as well, and yet, one that really fit the bill. I get a bread-y cinnamon from this one, and tonight I definitely taste something icing-like too (although that’s likely the sweetener I put in it).

More decaf teas this evening as I enjoy Lost Girl, a poorly named show with a decidedly sexy sci-fi bent as I write a newsletter, get through oodles of email, and try to finish knitting my first shrug.

This still tastes like cinnamon bread to me, and I so wish there was a hint of icing. ;)

Bought this about a month back just after it was renamed. I love cinnamon tea, so this was on my must try-list.

Huge slivers of cinnamon in here makes it a really strong smelling tea, and this is promising for me. Kind of reminds me of Bengal Spice (Celestial Seasonings) my current favorite cinnamon tea, even though I’m loathe to admit it. Bagged, grocery store tea? Sacrilege!

All I taste is liquid cinnamon and rooibos at the end of the sip. This is a good thing (for the most part… there is some bitterness in there). I’m happy to gulp it down with or without sweetener – although sweetener does help it pop more.

The Inspiration
Evergreen Spice was inspired by the pristine evergreen forests and deciduous woodlands of the upper peninsula of Michigan! We started with a complex base of traditional-roast tieguanyin and aged yabao before adding wildcrafted green pine needles and roasted red cedar leaves. This beautiful evergreen base is set on top of the perfect blend of organic spices and organic holy basil before being sprinkled with earthy spearmint.

The flavor of Evergreen Spice opens up with smooth green notes and the pine and cedar fuse with the spices for a very unique combination. They are so well balanced that the spices almost seem to be coming from the evergreen leaves, forming a beautiful layer of warmth. The middle of the sip carries creamy floral notes from the tieguanyin that are spun together with the sweet velvety freshness of aged yabao. The yabao naturally has pine notes, pulling all of these ingredients together as one. At the end of the sip, you get warm cedar, peppercorn, and earthy organic holy basil tied together with the earthy qualities of spearmint, and as the taste lingers on your tongue, you are left with the slightest hint of cooling mint — barely there yet vital to the beauty of the cup.

Both the green pine needles and roasted cedar leaves are ingredients only found at Whispering Pines Tea Company. The pine needles are sustainably wildcrafted by the owner and processed similar to white tea. The cedar leaves are roasted under low heat in 1 ounce batches to achieve a complex and sweet evergreen profile.

This is a perfect embodiment of the beauty of northern Michigan and will please any tea lover!

Notes
Pine
Cedar
Caramel
Roasty
Rosemary
Brown Sugar
Earthy
Warm Spice
Mint

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1 tablespoon of leaves
in 8 ounces of boiling water
for 5 minutes.

2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 7 minutes
4th infusion: 10 minutes

Ingredients
Traditional-Roast Tieguanyin Oolong
Sun-Dried White Tea
Wildcrafted Roasted Western Red Cedar Leaves
Wildcrafted Green Ponderosa Pine Needles
Black Peppercorn
Organic Ginger
Holy Basil
Spearmint
Organic Cardamom
Organic Cinnamon Pieces
Organic Cloves

Caffeine Content
Medium

http://whisperingpinestea.com/evergreenspice.html

This has become my go-to tea this month ever since I discovered how much better a 3 minute steep is! Savory, smokey, cocoa and bright citrus notes…I’ve had about 4 cups of this each day for the past week :)

Hopefully the snowy memories that inspired this tea will bring the snow soon!

Happy holidays, everyone!

I’ve been working on this tea for quite some time now :)

My goal was to create a tea with cocoa, citrus, and smoke notes that had no bitterness or astringency that would be the perfect companion on full-moon walks in December, when the moonlight reflecting off of the snow makes it as bright as daytime.

This ended up being one of those teas that is so smooth that it’s hard to set down. It’s a rustic blend, perfect for outdoor lovers. It withstands oversteeping very well, making it ideal for the backcountry.

Enjoy! =)

December, you are the month of chills. The month of campfires that die from the bitter cold wind. The month of snowfall and of embers and the moments one cannot wish to describe. December, in all your bright white moonlight and soul-stirring knee-high snowdrift steps, I love you. You are hot cocoa and orange peels with cloves and the warmth of the fireplace dancing across my toes reminds me of nothing but the moments I spent last night shivering cold with snowflakes on my beard. How is it that the bite of your night is so painfully addictive as to keep me wanting more? Perhaps I will ponder your eerie charm with another full moon walk and a cup of tea.