Whispering Pines Tea Company

So, in addition to sipdowns, I’m really keen to actually, you know, try the teas in my cupboard. I’ve got more than half of my stash that’s currently listed as no tasting notes, and I’ve not yet tried. This is so silly! I’ve got all this tea so I can drink and enjoy it, so I should get started on that.
So, this, which is me being brave and venturing into unflavored black teas again. I picked it up on a whim with my last Whispering Pines Order, as they’ve not steered me wrong with unlfaovred teas yet.
This is almost creamy. I don’t mean that there is a creamy or vanilla flavor to it, but the richness of the sip is the same as a “creamy” tea.
That said, the flavor is not too dense or heavy. There is admirable lightness, and so the slightly woody, slightly floral flavors of this blend have a chance to stand on their own.
Unlike some unflavored black tea, where I can see why people add milk or sugar, this one I think would work best as it. Additives would just weigh it down.
Yep, Whispering Pines has not steered me wrong yet.

Today i’m packing my knitting stuff, my daily use stuff and my clothes. Tomorrow my brothers are coming to load up my bed etc. That means today is my last day in bass hell. I was hoping for a quiet, relaxing day of packing.

The bass started up today at 10:40 am this morning. I want to go over there and punch him in the face and scream at him that couldn’t he for F’ing ONCE not play his bass at top volume? He once told me, “I like being respectful.” Well, respect this, you selfish, inconsiderate @$$wipe! Grrrrr.

My tea is packed. Actually, it is all in one of those large sized reusable grocery tote bags. To celebrate, I decided to brew a small pot of Ambrosia to sip while I pack. It is a great tea. So, so smooth. The flavor is rich. No bitterness, no astringency. Truly worth the price tag.

I have a collection of teapots and I know I can’t take them all so I decided to pack my DAVID’s clear glass bubble tea pot for mom’s. It supposedly holds four cups. I find it holds TWO, but then, like C.S. Lewis, you can’t get a cup of tea big enough for me. Anyway, I left out a couple tea bags for when I’m here later packing and cleaning. The microwave and a paper cup will suffice for those days.

We’re having a warm spell now. Everybody thinks I’m crazy because I want to go back to the highs in the mid 50s with night time lows in the 30s. But I guess we get the weather that we get and no amount of whinging will change it.

The point of that bit above was to explain why it took me so long to try this tea. My order from Whispering Pines came over a week ago, but it’s been so darned warm that I haven’t had tea. Today was in the upper 60s, but it was rainy and very windy, so tea felt appropriate.

This was so, so smooth and rich. Malty without being heavy or even slightly bitter. Almost sweet all on its own without any sugar or sweetener added. Until now my favorite WP tea was Golden Orchid, with North Winds as a close second. But I may have to re-arrange my favorite standings. Ambrosia is a wonderful tea!

This is probably the most balanced “spiced” green oolong I’ve had. At times the base does feel swamped by the ingredients but it doesn’t have that “not mixing” vibe that green and oolong chai blends often give off..

The flavour profile is clean (eucalyptus, mint, cedar), warming (cinnamon, cardamom), and savory rich (buttery oolong). I still think oolong is a tad strange with spices but I keep coming back to this one because it’s such a relaxing and intriguing cup. It holds up well to multiple steeps, so bonus!

I like this one. My favorite note in tea is chocolate, and that’s what I keep a lookout for. To my enjoyment, this has a nice dark chocolate taste.

Anyone know of any other good chocolatey black teas?

I just ordered some more Laoshan Chocolate Genmaicha from LP, which I’m super excited for. I think I’ll also order some more of YS’s Classic Laoshan tea and also see how it compares with the Imperial.

Backlog.
I used my new pu knife to break a chunk off this cake. It really smells of dill weed.
5g, 75ml gaiwan, 190F
Rinsed once. 20s/30/20×6/25/30/35/40/1m/1/2/5m
Long lasting tea. I eventually stopped when flavor started to fade, though my water was cooling off and I didn’t want to heat more.
Beginning steep was thick with dillweed and a slightly floral flavor. 2nd steep went a little longer and brought out savory and dillflower in addition to dillweed and thick mouthfeel. I didn’t like the savory taste, so I returned to 20s for a while.
Over the next 6 20s steeps, it returned to dillweed, but sweet. Mouth coating, thick and sweet aftertaste. Cause my mouth to tingle. Dill came out more in longer steeps. Faded toward end.
I liked this. Different but good. I’ve entertained getting another cake or two next time I order. 88

Not as flavorful as I expected, but perhaps I didn’t steep it long enough.

This tea is so good!

Yet again, I’ve had a hiatus from serious tea. And also again, I have turned to Whispering Pines to break the hiatus. What can I say? I’m a sucker for inspirational names and tea stories. :p

It has been so long since I have used my Gaiwan, that it had collected debris, despite the lid being on it. I cleaned it out, threw some of this tea in without measuring, poured some water at 200F in and waited about a minute. I wasn’t being to particular about parameters. I was just desperate for some tasty tea! And my tea brewing skills have gotten rusty anyway.

But this tea survived my hasty technique and it tasted amazing. Like an ancient forest in the late afternoon. The first steep was bright, peppery maybe, woody, but with an air of secrets and mystery. I steeped it again for three minutes. The second steep was less bright, with a heavier mouth feel. Very smooth. I liked the first steep best, but next time I have this tea I will have to be more careful about parameters and give it the proper attention Brenden suggests! Stay tuned!

A long queued note as I needed some time to think this one over.

While in search of a chai that isn’t dominated by clove, this was recommended to me.

Results? I’m torn. First, no clove. Absolutely a plus! Otherwise, its good, but not something I’ll go out of my way for. There’s a flavor element I’m not 100% fond of and while I’m not sure what it is, maybe its the basil?

It is interesting enough to me, however, that I have just made a second purchase which includes the Golden Snail base for this blend.

I’m almost done with the ounce I ordered and I’ll likely finish it before the week is over.

I’m upping my rating. The last time I had this tea, I was back in the midwest for 2 weeks in horribly hot weather in September, with amazing stress levels through the roof. As I had only received a sampler and was constantly interrupted trying to have a morning cup, I didn’t have a decent chance to really think about it, I was just trying to gulp down as much caffeine as I could get.

I like this one. I really like this one. If I could realistically afford it, this would be the one I drank most of the time. No bitterness, no astringency. A nice mouth feel, almost creamy or buttery like. A flavor element that makes me think of freshly baked whole wheat bread.

Added note – there is a small amount of astringency present once it goes cold. I wonder why that happens as this isn’t the first time I’ve noticed that with a tea.

I received a sampler of this from another order and tried it while I was out of town. Sadly I didn’t have the time to linger or think much about the tea. I was more interested in getting as much caffeine into my system as I could at the time.

From what I can remember, it had a nice flavor and a quality I am having trouble finding the words to describe. It left a texture\feeling in my mouth similar to that from something fatty, like heavy whipping cream or butter. Not the flavor, but kind of a coating from a high fat source. I’ve never experienced it before in a tea and found I did enjoy it.

Brewed western style and I found I could get 2-3 nice cups out of the leaves.

note

I’m upping my rating on this tea. While I still haven’t gotten more, and it looks like WP is out of stock, I have been obsessing about this tea ever since I used the last of it.

Maybe I should be grateful. I doubt I could afford to have this one as a staple. :)

This tea is fairly sweet with notes of cream and grass. It is a nice white tea. I recently purchased Tea Honey from the Savannah Bee Company. This honey is nice because it does not overwhelm the flavors of the tea. Overall I like this tea.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 185 degree water for 3 min.

This is absolutely delicious, and I think it’s one of the few earl grey teas that I have had. It’s balanced very well.

I enjoyed the golden snails on their own, and this is a nice twist.

This was batch #8. Excellent stuff. I’m very excited to try the wildcrafted dian hong and the wild grey.

The cold and strep throat stuff is going around here. Luckily, I’ve been able to ward off most of the symptoms. I’ve been doing some apple cider vinegar with garlic and water as an antiviral, lots of eucalyptus, frankincense, and citrus essential oils, and lemon and lime water.

I was happy to see that my WP order arrived today. This is a good tea. Good amount of ginger. I don’t usually add sweeteners, but I’m craving something sweet, and the site said adding honey increases the antimicrobial properties. ;)

Now, white tea and myself do not always understand one another. But when Super Starling! sent some of this my way, well, who was I to refuse?
So I brewed it up this morning, and boy, if this isn’t some good stuff. It had none of the muskiness that I can sometimes get from white teas, and a lot of really lovely, almost earthy flavor. I might be forgiven for thinking this was a black tea, for a split second. Its very rich, and I really enjoyed it this morning!

You know, I imagine that a spot of milk would not go amiss here. That’s a funny thought for me, as I usually take my tea black, unless its a very special occasion or a very particular blend.
This is not fussy or anything like that, but as I was sipping on this cup this morning, I was struck by the notion that it would be just a nice with a dash of milk in it as it is black. Maybe even a sprinkling of sugar?
Huh, now that’s really out of character for me. But maybe I’ll give it a go. I do have a bit more of this, and would be happy to give it a try.

I’m mostly a flavored tea drinker, but I am slowly moving into the world of unflavored blacks.
This is very smooth, and goes down a treat. Its a good, sturdy cup.
There is no bitterness to it, just a pleasant trace of maltiness.
I’ve got a bit of this left, and will enjoy my next cup.

Tea of my morning!
This sipdown is a sad one. This is probably the favorite Earl Grey I’ve ever tried, and I will certainly be bringing more of it into my cupboard at some point in the future. I need several more sipdowns before I do that, but when I do have those sipdowns, then I shall order this with great delight!
Farewell, forest king! Until we meet again.
Sipdown.

My office is closed today, allowing me to do three days worth of writing on the story I’m working on. This was my pot of tea through that writing.
This is such a lovely Earl. You really can touch the “wild” aspect, like an aristocratic forest king, in tea form.
Ahh, an excellent companion to writing.

I didn’t sleep well last night. I had strange and intense dreams, not upsetting enough to be nightmares, but not calm enough to let me rest fully. Plus there was a loud noise in my house in the middle of the night, and I then had to lay awake wondering if I was about to be murdered. (Spoiler alert, I was not murdered).
Bleh.
So that means I needed a proper cuppa this morning, and I turned to this.
Boy do I like this Earl. Its a wonderfully balanced thing, just a kiss of bergamot, and a beautiful tea base to it all. It is, quite possibly, my favorite Earl I’ve ever encountered. I will certainly bring more of it in when I’ve finished this pouch. And when I’ve finished other teas as well. The ol cupboard needs pruning.

I don’t know why I havn’t had this one in so long. This is just a gorgeous Earl, absolutely gorgeous!
I have a tricky history with Earl Greys. I want to love them, but so often I end up really disliking them. But this is a perfect blend of quality base and the lightest, most well thought out kiss of bergamot. Perfection of an Earl!

Alright, Whispering Pines is winning my respect. Everything I’ve tried from them has been good!
I’m tentatively getting to know Earl Greys, and while they might never be my very favorite blends, when I find a good one I can certainly appreciate it.
And this is a good one! The base holds its own against the bergamot, and the flavors balance each other out really well. It was a smooth, tasty cup, and I can’t wait to try more!