Whispering Pines Tea Company

I’ve decided to up my rating on this tea. I’ve been drinking it a lot recently (cold weather always makes me want tea) and I haven’t really been noticing that odd taste when it cools down like I did before. Not sure what happened there.

There are others from Whispering Pines I prefer more (Golden Snail or North Winds), but this is enjoyable in its own right.

I enjoy the tatse fo this when it is hot. No real astringency, seesm smooth, etc.

However, when it cools down, and my tea always ends up going cold before I finish it, it has an odd sort of taste. Kind of like that instant iced tea mix that was popular when I was a kid (can’t remember the name). And that brings up negative associations.

The wet leaf is quite attractive. Kind of reminds me of shredded cedar chips that are wet from the rain. Looks very pretty.

This is the first tea that I’ve tried from this company, it came my way via the GCTTB. This tea smells more like a dark oolong than a black tea to me. It has the dried fruit flavour that reminds me of some of the darker Wuyi oolongs that I’ve tried. There’s some of the dried fruit notes in the flavour as well but overall the dominant flavour is more malty with a slight hint of cocoa.

My Black Friday purchase arrived last night and I was excited to rip into the box this morning. I love chocolate and I was excited to try this tea. Expensive for a Canadian with shipping and everything, but what the heck I’m worth it!
This tea is so good! Smooth and chocolate with slight sweet cherry notes. Mmmmm

This tea is strange! I’m not sure how well the two of us get along. I’m not getting all the different notes that others are getting. In part of the sip the taste seems really flat and then further along it seems really heavy and full. I’m somehow getting a hint of seaweed which doesn’t match any of the descriptions others are experiencing. A little bit of hay on the after taste. Sadly I’m not really feeling this one.

I like this one. Such tiny looking curled up leaves are cute. Exactly what I’m wanting this morning. Warm, smooth, relaxing to sip on after a 2 hour commute to work this morning. Flavor stays good even after its had a chance to cool down (this office is way too cold).

And, of course, its out of stock. Otherwise I’d get more for myself for Christmas.

Ohh, but the Imperial Gold Buds are in stock again. My poor bank account,

Seems like people have waxed poetic about this shou – I see the appeal but I’m maybe too new to shou (shoubie?) to pick up on what’s described as cocoa and mushroom.

I do detect: minerals like river rock, clay, salt

I am not fond of this one. I can’t identify the flavor aspect I don’t like (missing vocabulary again I suspect) but I’m not found of it.

Its not bitter, doesn’t appear to be heavy on tanins, just not my cup of tea. I’ll finish the order, but won’t buy this one again.

I’m upping my rating on this one. I’ve been happily drinking it all day so far and it just hits the spot for this cold wet day.

(Its 20 degrees warmer today than it was all weekend or last week, but the rain just makes it seem colder.)

I don’t think I’ve hit the astringency this time around. Maybe I’ve been drinking fast enough that it hasn’t had time to get cold. Busy day and I haven’t had much time to contemplate the subject.

I like this one. Its got a flavor I have been enjoying, though if it gets too cool a little astringency shows up. I got 3 very good steeps out of the leaves yesterday.

For the most part is a mellow flavor, but I find I don’t really have a good vocabulary to describe it well.

I can see myself putting this into my normal rotation on at least a semi regular basis.

I still have a lot of notes to catch up on. Been drinking Moondance a lot lately and enjoying a variety of different experiences with it. I’ve had a total of three “distinct” sessions with it over the past two weeks. More if you count reusing the same leaves on a later day.

When started, Moondance is so nice and smooth, with a melon fruity flavor accompanied by light malt. Sometimes it is sweet enough that it truly tastes like sugar or honey has been mixed in, and that sweetness lingers in the back of the throat. It tends to be accompanied by complementary hay notes at this point, and really has a good amount of depth.

After being left to oxidize the flavor ends up transforming in a number of ways. This last session, I revisited the leaves a few times over a few days, and today the resulting brew was very reminiscent of an Assam black.

Been drinking quite a bit of white this week, mostly by way of endlessly using the same leaves. No complaints, though. I love white tea.

The leaves of this one are beautiful and they smell lightly vegetal dry, sweet and hay-like wet. Followed the recommendations and did this one western style, which resulted in a sweet-smelling, light-colored liquor.

Texture is smooth, thick and viscous, the flavor light and sweet in the first steep and just a bit bolder in the second steep. Enjoyable and easy to drink, and I definitely want to try this one gongfu style next.

The more I experience Chinese black teas, the more I’m learning to appreciate black teas in general.

Steeped this one in a gravity steeper with boiling water for about 3 minutes. The result was a nice, red liquor with a deep, bready, chocolatey aroma. Each sip has a smooth texture with the taste of cocoa and bready notes, and a creamy, malty aftertaste lingers for quite a while.

I forgot about the tea during the resteep and let it go for a good 10 minutes, but I still got very nice flavor out of it without any unpleasant flavors. Definitely enjoyed this hong, seemingly more than rhinkle, funny enough!

Day #2 now and still going on the same teaspoon of leaves. I did end up spreading the leaves out on a paper towel over night. When I got into work this morning, they almost looked like they hadn’t been used at all.

Anyway, they are starting to loose some oomph now. Boiling water at 4 minutes and its starting to get a little weak. The color is now a lovely light honey color.

Astringency is almost completely gone (though you still notice it once it gets cold).

Tried for a fifth steep, but I think I’m pushing it. Nice color still, but not much of any flavor left. Added a tsp of a coconut chai (its wet and chilly out) and that will see me through the rest of the day.

This really isn’t a tea I can see myself buying more of, but it was enjoyable and it was very close to what I was in the mood for.

Any mothers out there ever noticed that as soon as you lock the bathroom door and start filling the tub with warm water that the kids start severing major arteries, break bones, set things on fire, flood what they don’t set on fire, break windows, loose a sibling or two, and electrocute anyone who makes the mistake of approaching the front door?

(Well ok, while I’m not a mother, I have numerous nieces and nephews and have witnessed this phenomena many times.)

I think of this every time I attempt to try a new tea while at work. Its like the universe is psychic, knowing exactly when the water starts to boil in the kettle. Access points go down, someone starts rebooting the router over and over (because the APs have gone down, which have nothing to do with the router). Machines start crashing, servers stop responding, vital passwords have been forgotten and must be reset this very instant, etc.

Yeah, this was one of those days.

So, to the tea. I got this as a sample in my latest Whispering Pines order. The name didn’t ring any bells and it was not listed on the site. With some searching around, I found an instagram post referring to this tea as something being tried out. Yay, I get to be a Guinea pig. :)

The leaves are very pretty and look to be whole leaves tightly rolled. Kind of hay like in color. I’m assuming this is a black (yeah, I’m real educated on tea here).

First steep finishes right before an all projects engineering meeting starts. Great, I need the caffeine. Cup is mostly gone and is cold by the time I realized I haven’t noticed one little thing about it. Try to pay attention to the next few sips. It seems a little astringent to my pallet. Not horribly so like you might get in a breakfast tea, but it is an element I notice the most.

Its now lunch time so after I eat I go for steep number two.
I’ve noticed the leaves have plumped out a little bit, but they really are still rather tightly rolled. Steep for another 3 minutes. The color of the tea is lovely. Kind of reminds me of the color of home made caramel sauce. The flavor is much less astringent, though there is still a little there.

The flavor is hard for me to describe. Mostly because I just don’t have the vocabulary, but also mostly just because I can’t taste all the things people list in their tasting notes. I do like it. The kind of thing I was wanting this morning. Too bad its afternoon now by the time I’m getting a chance to really try it.

Its now late afternoon and I go for a 3rd steep. Four minutes this time and I swear these leaves are still going strong. Color is still that of caramel. Astringency is now almost gone. Too bad its now time to go home.

I’m half tempted to spread the leaves out on some paper towels and let them dry over night so I can keep going in the morning. The leaves are still rolled up pretty tightly

I’m not rating this yet as I really haven’t had the chance to give this much attention. Maybe to be continued tomorrow.

The “mildest” shou I have had, which is great because I’m a novice, and was about to give up on cooked pu’erh. It doesn’t help that I keep running out of the room to tend to poopy baby boy and my tea keeps going cold. Also, adds to perception of compost smell. :)

Medium infusions had a pretty peach tone. So, visually very nice in my white porcelain cup. It took two 15-sec infusions to get the deepest color.

No bitterness, mineral earthy taste, silky texture.

Received a sample of this with my November order. However, it doesn’t appear on the site so I’m not yet 100% on what it is. It looks like a golden tips black tea, which smells leafy and lovely in the bag.

Ok, brewed and stewed. Grassy, lemon aroma off the cup. Then I sip and oh, yum. Smooth, biscuity, toasty goodness. Quite a light and savory black. A nice winter breakfast tea!

First infusion, 20 seconds: smells a tiny bit sweet. A lot of mineral taste in there with the earth. Like licking a wet rock (in a good way). Maybe a little hint of molasses.

2-3 infusion, 10 seconds: As soon as I pour over the hot water, the dark, dark cola color BLOOMS in the bottom of my teacup. Fairly bitter and espresso-like. The bitterness is more mineral than vegetal bitterness if that makes sense. Fermentation flavor is not too bad.

Overall a pretty good but one-note shou for me.

More than half the day has gone by, I survived a potluck, head’s killing me and I haven’t had any actual tea. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to try today, but ended up choosing to give this a shot. Cake itself smells mushroomy and is easy enough to break into. I throw 5 grams into the gaiwan, give it a quick rinse and a fairly quick first steep.

The leaves have a spiced, sweetish scent, and the liquor brews up a fairly deep red. I’m taste mushroom and camphor from the very first scent. Super smooth, and I get a sweetish finish as it goes down. I get some hints of cocoa out of the second steep. I got completely sucked into some work and totally forgot about and oversteeped the third go around. But the tea still came out well, not too surprisingly. Still smooth, and a very distinct cacao flavor came through. I did one more steep which confirmed my worry that I probably pulled most of the flavor out during the oversteep, but I enjoyed this one, so I’ll have it again soon.

Drank a bit of this recently for the first time in a while. Very easy drinking, simple to enjoy. Nice, thick, smooth and soothing with a long-lasting session.

Ordered this recently as part of my first Whispering Pines order. As many have stated, beautifully packaged, the cake breaks apart easily enough, and—in my opinion—it has a nice, earthy aroma.

I did a quick wash and then had to refill and reheat the kettle. A very quick first steep—5 seconds or so—yielded a dark red liquor with a nice mushroom aroma. It pours with a noticeable viscosity, and the first sip does not disappoint.

Smooth. Sweet. Creamy thick. Rich. I do get mossy earthiness and clay, finishing up with cacao that lingers in the aftertaste.

Another quick steep, less than 10 seconds. I get mineral, more wood and a hint of petrichor, plus a hint of a mushroom underneath it all.

I have to wait a while before I can get to the third steep, but it also comes through sweet and smooth and tastes a bit like coffee. This steep carries me through an underwhelming phone interview.

About 45 minutes after that interview ends I remember that I’ve still got these leaves sitting, waiting for a resteep. The liquor comes out dark and smooth again, with a light taste and an almost buttery finish.

The following steeps make for easy drinking that carries me throughout the rest of the day. All-in-all, really enjoy this one and would definitely get it again!

The SO’s request for the morning. Didn’t have time for gongfu before she has to be at work, so we did western, following WP’s recommendations.

The dry leaves are dark and twisted, once wet they expand to reveal an even light brown color. The liquor is a nice amber, much lighter in color than I expected.

I sip. The texture is smooth, and I’m getting cocoa notes and some woodiness with a stone fruit aftertaste.

I’m enjoying this. Time for a resteep. 4.5 minutes.

It’s sweet! I’m getting a light sugary taste behind the cocoa and wood, and it’s still mostly smooth. The aftertaste is still stone fruit. And the qi hit me during the resteep, totally taking me by surprise.

Overall, quite enjoyable for me, so I’m very glad we decided to give this a shot.