Whispering Pines Tea Company

The PTA has returned! This tea made quite a splash about two or three years ago, and it is back with a vengeance! The leaves are long, wiry, and pitch black. They carry an explosive scent of sweet caramel, cocoa, roast, baked bread (waffles?), melted butter, and a dash of salt. Sweet and savory. I warmed up my shibo and dumbed them inside. A good shake and a sniff, and I am in heaven. The warmed leaf gives a firm kola root scent along with dark cocoa, burnt sugar, more melted butter, and aromatic roast. I washed the leaves once and began my steeping. The taste blasts off with a lingering, thick, sweet, lucky charms marshmallow taste. A light malt tone weaves itself in along with some lengthy vanilla bean notes. The base has a slight wood tone, and the brew is deeply oily. This tea is completely satisfying. The next steep backs away from the marshmallow tones and presents some more woodiness with a little throat dryness. A direct fruity note burst through; I would call it chocolate covered pomegranate. The next steeping carries some dark cherry and dry dark cocoa. The malt becomes a bit more pronounced towards the end. Honestly, this is a great tea, and it is something you have to try at least once. My only complaint is that the first steeping was stars and fireworks, and the next couple were good but a little too harsh of a contrast from the initial taste. Otherwise, this is a stellar treat.

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This is a lovely cup. Flavorful, not too bold or over the top. It’s been a while since I’ve tried this one so I couldn’t remember whether or not I liked it before. I was thinking that I didn’t love it before, and I wouldn’t say I love it now, but it’s really a smooth and balanced tea. I taste a bit of caramel and some chocolate, but oddly enough I’m also getting some apple. Not candy apple, but more crisp autumn apple. It’s not a must-have for me, but it’s really nice so I think I’ll be adding it back to my wishlist once its gone.

In progress….
So far roasted overtones….not too vegetal….very juicy,
TBC

Prepared in a gongfu session with a porcelain gaiwan. Steeping times: 10 seconds, 12, 10, 12,15, 25, 35, 45; 1 minute, 2, 5.

I grabbed ounce with my last order. Just opened the packet! I’m met with a number scents when I test the leaf’s aromas. The dry leaf is pleasingly sweet, smelling of rich cocoa, mashed sweet potatoes, and a little bit of malt. The pre-heated leaf smells more strongly of cocoa and malt, and there is an addition of cinnamon. The wet leaf aroma is simply tannic.

The liquor is light orange, full-bodied, clear, and fragrant with notes of sweet potatoes and honey. For the first few cups, I mostly taste sweet potato and a bit of malt, with honey lurking in the background. At the fourth cup, there is still sweet potato, but when I let the liquor sit in my mouth for a bit, I begin to taste cocoa nibs. Following the fifth cup to the end, the sweet potato and malty notes have totally gone, letting cocoa nibs and cocoa shells take over. Someone else on Steepster commented it tastes like Laoshan Black Chocolate Genchmaicha, and I concur. Very chocolate-like, but without additional ingredients. Additionally, the texture is thick and smooth.

I expected to taste sweet potato for the entire session, but was surprised when cocoa completely took over in the middle. What a switch! In my experience (still very much exploring), it’s either this or that for Dian Hong. I thoroughly enjoyed every cup, from start to finish. Delicious and complex.

Immorally floral! Honeysuckle, gardenia and orchid with a buttery, creamy mouth feel balanced by fresh green watercress and butter lettuce.

I don’t drink many blends, but ordered this as a dessert tea. It was lovely while it lasted. I used a tiny bit of raw sugar. Yum!

Yabao has always interested me, for the colour of the liquor is IMHO the most beautiful. These buds are large with a lemon zest scent. They have sharp herbaceous tones and hay with some oats mixed in. The mixture is a pleasantly sharp sour. I warmed my shibo and placed them inside. The tones open up to heady floral and zesty herbs alike thyme, rosemary, and tarragon. I washed the buds once and prepared for brewing. The stepped white nubs give off a fragrant scent of granola drizzled in honey with some nutmeg spice. The taste is smooth and filling with prominent lemon basil, tulsi, and soft wood. The next steeps bring on hay and sugar water with the same flux of herbaceous medley. This is a great easy sipper. The liquor is the classic translucent aquamarine color that stuns me. I was not able to pull too many steepings, and yabao always leaves me unsatisfied, but it was a nice and peaceful session.

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I have a sizable stash of WP teas and finally got around to trying Foxtails. YUM. The leaves are tight, long and light gold, and I could smell the cocoa malt aromas off them. I love when light colored black teas deliver big flavor. Although I didn’t pick up the sites described mushroom notes, there was a savory element but mostly a toasty baked goods choco flavor dominant. I used 5 grams for a 100 ml pot and for a black, this was a decently long running tea with many steeps. Very smooth, comforting.

Since I haven’t reviewed too many blends this month, I motivated myself to finally break out the last of this one. A blend of three Chinese black teas, The Jabberwocky has become one of Whispering Pines’ signature teas. It is a highly regarded blend with a wide following here on Steepster. I found it to more or less live up to the hype.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 5 seconds. I followed this infusion up with 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced interesting aromas of chocolate, honey, wood, and stone fruits. After the rinse, the honey and stone fruit aromas intensified and were joined by emerging scents of orange, toast, and malt. The first infusion produced a bouquet that saw malt and toast aromas continue to develop. In the mouth, a pleasant and robust mix of wood, brown toast, fresh bread, cream, malt, honey, orange, caramel, sweet potato, and indistinct stone fruit notes washed across the palate. Subsequent infusions produced a bouquet that was maltier, fruitier, and more honeyed. Aromas and flavors of raisin, apricot, nectarine, and peach emerged. I also began to catch hints of camphor, eucalyptus, and minerals on the finish. Later infusions were dominated by wood, malt, chocolate, brown toast, and citrus notes coupled with touches of caramel and stone fruits. The camphor, mineral, and eucalyptus notes on the finish were also amplified, producing a unique and soothing cooling effect.

This is probably one of the most complex and refined black tea blends I have ever tried. It was not quite what I was expecting (I had heard that this blend was incredibly strong, so I was expecting it to absolutely knock me for a loop), but I was far from disappointed. Though it mellowed a little quicker than I would have liked, it still had considerable staying power and a gorgeous layering of aromas and flavors. Definitely put this stuff on your wishlist if you have not yet tried it.

Sipdown!

I find this blend reminds me a lot of a lake or pond in smell and taste. It is Earthy, but more specifically wet Earth, sand, wet rock, petrichor. I like the hint of spices (pepper?), slight tang of sour and bitter, but overall really good. The soil + mineral flavour is also accompanied by wet wood/bark, and it makes me think of a lake’s shore lined with driftwood.

It has a thick mouthfeel, but no sweetness.

Rinse: 15 seconds

Steep 1: 35 seconds, 350 mL almost boiling water
No storage flavour at all. Flavour profile is quite mellow, tastes like wet rocks (not so much minerals, more like the smell of a river or petrichor) , brown dry leaves, and autumn.

Steep 2: 30 seconds, 350 mL hottish water
Stronger tea flavour, the base tastes very oxidised. It kind of tastes like spices (pepper, ginger, maybe nutmeg), but the pot was clean, so it must be the tea. I think it tastes a bit sweet like molasses. Very interesting.

Holy wow, this tea is scrumptious! The chocolate and vanilla come through really nicely, but so strong as to mask the lovely earthy notes of the puer. I brewed gongfu and got a good 6-7 steeps out of it before it gave up on me.

This was my first tea from Whispering Pines, and I am very impressed. I have several more from them to try soon!

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.

I finished this a couple days ago without ceremony, which is disgraceful.

It tastes of rich dark wood, ripened cherries, and heady vanilla. It also reminds me of cream soda, with less sugar. Needless to say, it’s on the reorder list for when I’m fabulously rich or the Canadian dollar isn’t so terrible- whichever comes first!

Mmm, bready chocolate pure tea is my favourite and this one is right up there high on that list. It is complex with many layers of flavour.
I think there will be a black Friday order in my future!!

I received this as a sample! Thank you Brenden!

This is delicious and definitely something that I would order. I love black teas with that deep dark chocolate note. I didn’t get too much time to focus on the tea as I had to hurry off to work, so I will pay more attention and rate it next time I enjoy this beauty.

This one is good. The raisin and plum notes are prominent in my opinion. The cocoa notes are only there for a brief second. there is a baked goods aroma wafting out of the cup.

I am learning that I love black tea much more than pu’erh but I really enjoyed this one. The cocoa nibs add a deep chocolate flavour to the earthy base. It is very pleasant and resteeps multiple times. The resteeps hold up in flavour really well