Whispering Pines Tea Company

Drinking another cup of this tea..that I keep hoarding lol. It’s just so good! I love the maté and eucalyptus, so fresh and yummy. It’s getting me through the day..only 4 more hours until the long Easter weekend! Can’t wait! See previous notes on this tea :)

Oh dear…I just read my other notes on this, and no…I have still not sipped this down haha. Having a cup this morning and it still tastes fresh, but yes a bit more stale :( booo! I love this blend and can’t get any more of it :( hey Brenden, maybe a reblend of this for me in the future? Haha, such a wonderful blend, but I am earnestly going to sip this down, it’s losing its flavor after 2 years unfortunately. See previous notes!

This tea has tons of caffeine in it, but something called ‘Zen Master’ always seems like a good evening tea to me. And it has focused and calmed my mind very nicely from the chaos that has been work the past two weeks..can’t wait for it to be over. Crazy project, workplace people problems, etc etc…not a fun time. But I finally have a break and this tea is helping to calm me and relax me for a good, hopefully stress free sleep, after my nightly yoga that is lol. Fresh, piney, like the breeze off a lake..a lovely tea. I can’t wait to place my WP order and find a replacement for this one! See previous notes :)

Ok ok, I know I said I am cutting back my caffeine intake, and yes, this tea does have mate in it..but I am itching to place a WP order (darn all the golden orchid notes! :D ) and this is from way back in my first order, so I’d like to finish it up and possibly re-order, because I love this tea haha. It’s a breathe of fresh air, piney, woody, fresh. And even though it is caffeinated, it does bring about a comforting sense of peace, and a calm in which I feel motivated to get things done (such as my online course for work that I’ve procrastinated on for a year..lol). A very well done blend, and I’m excited to place another WP order in the near future, it’s been far too long! See previous notes on this tea :)

ETA – my cold has finally diminished into a dry, gross cough, more of a sinus irritation than cold now. And I just started sneezing, so hooray for getting it all out of my system? Almost time for some allergy pills, good old spring hay fever is going to take over now that my cold is finished :(

I haven’t had a cup of this in ages! Well, tonight was the night. I went through my stash and made a list of teas I would like to work on sipping down due to age, amount left, etc…and I have also been compiling lists of tea orders from various companies lol. Trying to organize which ones I want to order from first, I haven’t been ordering tea much lately, and when I do start ordering again I want to do it in an organized manner to watch budgeting and such. Haha such a responsible side of me came out this weekend, what with all the yardwork, cleaning, laundry, and coursework I have been doing (must be because my guy is coming back from working 2 weeks tomorrow..want everything to be clean and perfect for him to return to :D).

So anyways, long informative rant aside, this tea is on the sipdown list. Not that I don’t enjoy it, it’s just getting old and I want to drink it while it still tastes good! And tonight it is very good. This is like a fresh walk in the woods by the coast, with the saltwater air and fresh breeze rippling on your face, and that damp mossy smell underneath your feet. Takes me to a nice place, like somewhere on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I want to go back there soo bad! Haha, anyways, see previous notes on this tea :)

I was craving this tea tonight. With such a crazy week going on right now with work and school, I need some Zen in my life. This has such a lovely fresh flavor and im hoping it kind of chills me out and keeps my headache from returning. This is such a lovely blend that it’s difficult to describe the flavor, everything in it just flows into this river of excellent flavor. I like it, and must have this more often. I will rate it when I’m not on my phone. See previous notes on this tea :)

Oh, and also thought I’d post a photo of the mug I’m drinking it out of, because it is beautiful and I meant to put a pic up when I got it, oh and it seems to match the tea very nicely tonight (hopefully the link works lol)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WUaZdrrrlQA/UjEuopeaHsI/AAAAAAAAB_8/fpx-fuWgWec/w426-h568/Teaware%2B-%2B1

I am back! I was back last night actually and had half a cup of tea at like 1 in the morning but I don’t feel like logging it haha im still trying to catch up on sleep.. Vegas was pretty sweet! Had some heat stroke one day from being dehydrated from no tea probably haha but other than that it was awesome. Definitely going back!

Anyways, onto tea!! When I was away my whispering Pines and verdant orders arrived! Woot! So I am having a lovely cup of this as my first official cup back. It is refreshing and energizing and the eucalyptus gives an interesting flavor! I will do a more in depth review later haha im just enjoying this cup and relaxing today. Happy to be back with my teas and on steepster :)

I’m really surprised this hasn’t been reviewed yet.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this tea yet. I need some time to sit with another mug of it.
It definetly remind me of camping (ok so 90% of Whispering Pines teas remind me of camping & I can’t tell you how much I LOVE that!), both in smell & taste. It’s earthy, almost hay like & a bit berry-ie.
The colour it steeps up is so strange. I had it in a white mug & the tea touching the edges of the mug was a yellow-ish/green & the centre was an almost grey/green colour.

I feel like I should be drinking this in a sauna or by a fire.

Alright so once this steeped up I was really worried about it because it smelt so much like coffee.

I dove in sitting at work, slacking. Errr my fear is realized it tastes so much like coffee. I’m sure there is some chocolate linering at the end of the sip, but I can’t get past the coffee taste.

I’m sure this is a great tea, if you like coffee. I just can’t get behind this one.

Another sample from the Traveling Tea Box, this is a four seasons oolong. Normally I’m not a big fan of them. I love floral oolongs, and four seasons definitely are but they just fall flat for me.

Brenden suggested a 1/2 tsp, 5 min steep with boiling water to emulate the first and second steeps and get a sweeter tea. Sounded good to me so I did so.

It was sweet, and it was far better than the other times I’ve tried a similar oolong. I just haven’t given four seasons a try in a gaiwan or my yixing pot and that might be something I do with this one. Orchid is definitely very strong here, with just a little honey and cream depending on the sip.

Tea from last night…also during hockey…so far when I drink tea and watch hockey my team wins..hm.

I was tired of green tea so I decided black tea would be good, and when my friend went to make tea, there was a goal…so I thought I’d try. Didn’t work. Haha.

This is really good for a ceylon, I don’t tend to like them just because the briskness isn’t my favorite. But when you have a decent quality one like this you really don’t have to worry about it going bitter so quickly the way some flavored teas w/a ceylon base do. It’s sweet and brisk, but smooth.

I am such a smoke weakling I can’t even handle this tea.

Sad times.

So, my first taste of Pu-erh reminded me of mucking out the stables.
This Pu-erh gives me a horse-y memory too, but thankfully a more pleasant one.
Hubby gets fish from Pu-erh, and I get horses, so odd how one tea can appear so very different to each person.
I use one of these little cups for a 2 1/2 cup pot instead of for a 8 oz serving (as suggested) I also start with very short steeps.
I am finding with Pu-erh if I can let it sneak up on my taste buds, I enjoy the whole experience a lot more.
The smell of these tea reminds me of horseback riding with my big red Tennessee Walker,named Star, up on the mountain behind the farm where I grew up.
There is a tiny stable smell, but the good kind (if any of you have been around horses you know what I mean) that good, healthy horse smell.
That smell is mixed with a few other memories, like riding over the soft damp earth under the trees, some patches of the earth covered in a thick dark green moss, the horses hooves would be so muffled on the moss that sometimes we would come upon a deer and her fawn grazing or napping in the filtered sunshine.
Then, maybe we would ride around the other side of the mountain next to the creek where there was a beaver slide and in a small hollow in the shade, there would be a patch of wild mushrooms growing.
Woody,damp earth, moss, mushrooms and horses.
With the taste I get small amount of horse, moss and a lot of mushrooms with a tinge of forest.
It’s very interesting, and although to the new comer to Pu-erh, all of this sounds completely nuts.
But, This tea has fetched a memory from back in the dusty corners of my mind.
I am grateful for that.

Oh, Boy.
This is a long one, folks. So grab a big cuppa:)
Okay, I got this tea from Brenden at Whispering Pines Tea clear before Christmas with the rest of my order.
I had never tried Puerh tea and decided that with my next hundred tea notes I was educated enough in tea to start on something anew.
I was still secretly quite intimated, so I waited until a day when I knew I would be around most of the day to play with it.
So one day a bit before Christmas, I decided that I wanted to try it.
Set the kettle to boil, got out my little bodum infuser cup (8 oz), got the kettle up to a boil, performed a 15 second rinse and then infused the tea for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, per instruction on little tea packet.
The smell after this infusion was so strong.
I have cleaned a lot of barns in my day and this smelled exactly like that.
A deep manure and hay smell.
I tried not to let it deter me from tasting this, I had read enough of Puerh teas to know that it is common for these to scents to emerge, I just had no idea it was going to be so strong.
Then I grew brave enough to take a sip.
GAG! Oh my land! It seriously tasted like strong bitter manure (don’t ask…but yes, I do actually know how that tastes, growing up on a farm and then being a Vet Assistant for years,sometimes your mouth is just open at the very very wrong time)
I felt tears of disappointment prick my eyes.
NO! I must like this tea. I am supposed to be improving my taste in tea!
I gagged down the rest of the cup, determined not to waste.
I felt sick to my stomach, but still plowed forward and messed with the tea the rest of the day, shorter steepings and such, but every time I tasted it from that point on it just tasted so bitter and nasty, it was like that first tasting never left my tongue.
It did not help me when I read the previous tasting note on the tea is was from Bonnie my tea and life idol, giving this tea high ratings.
That was it. It certainly was not the tea, it was me.
By the time my Hubby came home, I was so irritated and angry and I hadn’t gotten half of what I had wanted to do that day done and he kept asking me why I was so upset.
So…I told him. He listened and gave sympathetic nods, then broke in and said “You don’t have to like this type of tea just because everyone else does” to which I responded like a 13 year old girl throwing a fit “Yes! Yes I do!” but I was seeing I was starting to lose him.
He spotted his new Diesel Power magazine he got in the mail and was browsing through it.
I started to walk away mumbling to myself when I heard the words “Make me some” I turned around “what?” and he said “yeah, make me some of this Poo-poo tea that ruined your day, I wanna taste it”
Okay… I was slightly shocked.
Starting with a new piece, I took a new look on preparing the tea.
I took a deep breath.
I was going to start with tiny, tiny steepings.
So, I did. I started with just a 15 second steeping. no rinse.
The water had barely even turned color.
It was so much better.
From there I would go up to like 25 seconds, then 30 and so forth.
This was so much more delightful of a experience.
And sharing it with someone too, we both held cups and talked about what we smelled and tasted.
It still has some barnyard notes to it, also deep woody notes.
But, I find it intriguing.not bitter at all.
I am not going to rate this tea yet, because I am still so new and still experimenting.
This was just a beginner at Puerh point of view.
For a expert review please read Bonnie’s review on this tea, it does it so much more justice.
But for me…
So, begins my journey with Puerh.

Yesssss 200 degrees makes Assam so good. Four minutes and 200 degree water, so sweet and tasty! Every other Assam I’ve had so far, I’ve had to only steep it for 3 minutes, add milk, or wait for it to cool way down. This is life changing.

So this is sweet, and malty, and actually helping me to wake up with its big burst of flavor. I am finishing it then for some reason going to Target, mostly because I got a stamping kit for my nails yesterday and really want to use it…but I only brought one bottle of nail polish with me. Oh well.

Had some of this again earlier with added chocolate, by way of hot chocolate mix. Soooo good, I know I should try it on its own already but chocolate and mint and I are really getting along right now.

I now need to go make tea for right now, as I was given a $50 Sephora gift card for Christmas and I can’t figure out how to not go too far over the total….I have to buy online though because LOOK AT THIS. http://www.sephora.com/very-colourfoil-manicure-trade-P377711?skuId=1491273

Yum! I added some chocolate mint coconut milk to this and it’s incredible. The Assam definitely comes through, and the real mint tastes even better than the flavoring of the milk on its own.

My original plan was tea hot chocolate, but I paid $3 for the quart of this milk, and it’s been extremely disappointing to drink on its own. I’m definitely finishing it up in this tea in the next couple of days because it’s so good this way.

I would also like to announce that I found my parakeet the perfect seasonal Songza station for him: http://songza.com/listen/acoustic-guitar-christmas-songza/ He is a very content feathery puffball now.

I really should have brewed this in the gaiwan but I was in need of tea ASAP after the peach fiasco.

My favorite part of keemun is how it has the most delicious honey notes, almost better than honey itself. Although, I just say that because keemun isn’t sticky and therefore is less messy to handle.

This one is really tasty, very sweet, and all around a good black tea in the morning to just drink straight.

I left a bit in my mug when I went to start prepping my spaghetti squash and it was even good cold, yay!

WOW! This tea is the essence of a chilly autumn morning, waking up to mommas fresh apple cobbler and the dazzle of the sunrise over your oak-frame bed. Crisp, smooth, and refreshing, we’ve blended cinnamon pieces with a highly oxidized Indonesian o’olong with unbelievably strong all-natural notes of Washington red apples! This is a tea you just have to indulge in to believe!

I’ve been drinking this nonstop for like a week, and I can’t wrap my head around how perfect it is. :)

Infuses 5+ times!

The Perfect Cup
Infuse 1 tsp of tea leaves in 8 oz of boiling water for 2 minutes

Infusion #2: 2 minutes
Infusion #3: 3 minutes
Infusion #4: 4 minutes
Infusion #5: 5 minutes

Ingredients: O’olong tea, cinnamon

http://whisperingpinestea.com/applecinnamonoolong.html

This is another one that came in my box from Azzrian. My husband and I certainly have different tastes in tea. We do like some of the same ones, but he never sweetens anything except the occasional iced tea. Oolongs are his favorite. I made this one up for him, double strength, since he likes his tea strong. He thought it was a winner, said it had a lot of flavor-he is not one to get into specifics though. I took a little sip and thought it had a light smokiness, but he didn’t pick up on that. Not sure if this is really to my taste, but I’ll try it again before I make a final verdict. It won’t go to waste because my husband will finish it off. You can get at least 3 steepings from it.