Whispering Pines Tea Company

dexter sent me this one as i really want to place an order with WP but when i built my cart it was several hundred $ lol Soooo dexter helped me out with a few samples from her cupboard of WP teas that were on my “want to try” list. I love this tea. I enjoyed multiple steepings of the sample dexter sent me and loved it. Oak, cocoa, vanilla..and a truly delicious base. I think my only “complaint” about this tea is the price :( It would for sure be a birthday sort of splurge tea for me – to be enjoyed. Thank you so much for sharing this with me dexter! delicious!

Evening sipdown; many white teas are actually quite high in caffeine but this one has never given me trouble sleeping even when consumed late. It remained consistent even after a few steeps, with a light pine and rosemary fragrance, and dried-grass sweetness. It’s something I’ll probably purchase again, I haven’t found anything else quite like it.

Meanwhile, I’ll be on a no-buy for November. Let’s see how it goes!

New tea from Whispering Pines, and 100th tasting note!

This tea is very pleasing to look at, coming in the form of little buds with silver down on them. Once brewed, the buds open up slightly. The aroma is, surprisingly, a lighter version of Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, with musky pine and longan fruit sweetness. The taste is much more subtle and faintly sweet. It reminds me of a southern California garden in full sun with the fragrance of drying herbs, but not many flowers. Looking at the description later, rosemary was probably what I was thinking of, we have plenty of that around here! A very enjoyable light tea that I will experiment more with.

(This tea is now sold as Yabao on the website instead of Winter White Buds.)

This is an incredible Dancong, thanks Cheri for the sample :D

First steep had a huge amount of sandalwood, and some interesting strong cannabis notes. My first steep was a bit longer than it should have been. Very potent. Second and third steeps were still strongly sandalwood with some spice notes. 4 and 5 have developed some floral, citrus and tannins and still some spice. Crazy good dancong. It is still going strong. I wonder what steep 6 is going to bring…

Overall impression this tea gives is darkly warm :)

Interesting Keemun combination here. Mint is in the spotlight here from the start, and it leaves a fresh mouth feeling to finish. A bit of lemon/honey is present, though more subtle than the mint. Even more subtle is the berry flavor, but it is still definitely identifiable.

This tastes good but I’m not sure if I’d reorder it. I’ll decide during my next tasting and update then.

So, I ordered a sampler pack… and it came today. This smells pretty good, like malty chocolate. In the flavour I get more fruit, and bread… along with the cocoa. So pretty much it’s chocolate covered fruit, with plums, and some really good bread. Seems a little out of place in the Summer though, I think this is an Autumn morning tea.

I got another sample of this tea from another most generous Steepsterite! Thank you SO much! And this time I even brewed it properly, LOL.

Man, I have to be honest here…I didn’t WANT this one to live up to be hype. I didn’t WANT to fall in love! But alas, this tea is everything everyone says about it and more. Seriously ridiculously good. I had a couple of non-tea drinkers taste my cup, and they really thought there was some chocolate in there! Nope, just two insanely good black teas and some vanilla beans. sigh I combined steeps one and two in a hot-to-go mug. I got notes of cocoa, tart cherries, pastry, malt…even some powdered sugar notes. GAH! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO GOOD!!! Sigh. Expensive tea but worth it. I’m a convert! Maybe my fave black tea of all time now??? Ambrosia!

starts saving pennies

:)

Backlogging from the weekend…

Ugh, I really screwed up. I tried to pull up the brewing directions on my phone and it wouldn’t show properly…so I used 1tsp for 8oz. It was weak :(

I hope I have enough left in my swap sample to try again. Boo!

I have two samples of this in my house – the lovely TheTeaFairy was kind enough to send me some, and then Brendan included this as a sample with my order. Thank you very much to both of you.

This is wasted on me. Sorry guys, can’t do it – I can not get past the pine/eucalyptus/cedar, whatever that tree taste is. I’m not getting any saffron, very little vanilla – it’s just lost behind the tree taste.

Maybe I’m too much of a city girl to appreciate this…..

Lewis and Clarke TTB

So excited to finally get to try this.
First steep is light and sweet, honey, nectar, bread, and caramel, silky smooth mouth feel.

The second steep starts to get a bit darker. Honey, bread, caramel, but now there’s also raisins and a touch of cocoa hiding at the edges. I accidentally forgot this one and left it steeping for 10 minutes with no bitterness or astringency.

Wow honey. The third steep is like pure honey and nectar. I’m at my dad’s and using his microwave to heat the water so it’s probably only ~185F. But it’s still delicious.

I went back to one of my staples this morning and it was delicious, as always. I honestly don’t think I will ever find a more tasty vanilla tea. It is so perfectly REAL with a lovely black base that nothing else can compare. It is my favorite flavored tea and also helps to satisfy my sweet tooth when I have one. Thus, it can never be discontinued. Never. EVAR! :D

I have been enjoying my Whispering Pines orders all week but haven’t had a chance to actually write out a detailed review of anything when Steepster has been up. Today is no exception and I have to leave soon, but let me just say that I made GO as a latte this morning and it is so delicious! For vanilla lovers, it is perfection. I will buy this tea again and again. <3

I am incredibly happy right now because I finally found my favorite vanilla tea- and it’s my birthday, too! This is vanilla- not the fake powdery stuff so often found in flavored teas, but rather the complex and true vanilla that can be enjoyed when one is separating vanilla beans. And like that isn’t already enough, this tea also has chocolate and other lovely notes to enjoy in the same cup. I will write a more formal review later this week, but I am in love and will be reordering for sure.

Getting mail is usually my favorite part of the day, I get packages of tea from all over the world, I get books from Goodread’s First Read program which is usually awesome, and sometimes I get presents from my friends and family on the other side of the country. But there are some days when the mail betrays me and brings me an unexpected and gut wrenching medical bill that I have no idea how I will afford. So much for doing anything fun for the next couple months, so lame, I clearly need a tea that will cheer me up!

Today’s tea fits that description perfectly, Golden Orchid by Whispering Pines Tea Co is one of the few teas that not only puts me in a good mood, it makes me feel better. A blend of their North Winds tea (which is a blend of Chinese Yunnan Dian Hong and Chinese Fujian Black Tea) and hand-chopped Grade A Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans. If that sounds incredibly decadent to you, well, I am certainly not going to say you are wrong. The aroma is so intensely rich and so incredibly sweet, it is a blend of sweet vanilla (real vanilla, not vanilla extract smell) with a warm cocoa, a touch of honey, a pinch of cream, and a finish of sweet dried cherries. I admit when I first sniffed this teas I just kinda sat there in awe, I do not say this very often, but the aroma blend was perfection.

Before I get too much farther into reviewing this tea, if you have not, you should read Whispering Pine’s tea descriptions! They are inspired by the creator’s experiences in Northern Michigan (and occasional Middle Earth) and they might be the most transportive descriptions I have had the pleasure of reading, even though they are about Michigan, they remind me of my time in the North Woods of Minnesota, so it touches a very special place in my heart. The now soggy leaves are a swirling sweet blend of creamy sweet vanilla and cocoa, it wafts out of my gaiwan and seems to coat the entire tea area in sweetness. Sniffing further into the leaves I can detect notes of cocoa, sweet potatoes, pepper, and of course vanilla. The liquid is intensely creamy with notes of vanilla, cocoa, a touch of cherries, and a tiny bit of pepper at the finish.

When I sip this tea, I feel the need to go Greek and lounge, or at the very least slouch in my chair, because this tea makes my head spin. When I brew it I use a pseudo-gongfu, I use my gaiwan set (because I want tiny sips) but I brew it similar to Western style using less leaf than I usually would and letting it steep longer. The taste starts out rich with notes of cocoa mixing cocoa butter creaminess and rich dark chocolate, this is accompanied by sweet caramelized sugar. At the beginning there is a hint of rich vanilla that builds around the mid-taste, this explodes into a sweet, creamy crescendo at the end which blends perfectly with the finishing notes of malt and pepper. The aftertaste is vanilla, and it lingers for quite a while. A fun thing about this tea that makes me giggle is the slightly tingly mouthfeel from the golden tea’s fuzzies, teas with fuzzy trichomes make me immensely happy.

The second steep’s aroma has even more of a vanilla presence than the first, it almost smells like creamy vanilla icecream…you know, the good stuff that has bits of vanilla bean in it, that was always my favorite vanilla. The taste takes a cue from the aroma and starts off with a strong vanilla presence, it is joined in the mid-taste by notes of roasted peanuts, sweet potatoes, caramel, and of course a strong cocoa finish. The cocoa and vanilla have a gentle finish together and both linger into the aftertaste. This tea very much so double features as a dessert tea and a feel good decadent tea, it has become my new morning wake up sip, and I jokingly told the proprietor that it cured my Fibromyalgia. It is wonderful to find teas that taste good, I have found hundreds that I enjoy and certainly dozens that I love, but I have only found a few that make me feel good physically, spiritually, and mentally…this tea joins that lofty few.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/whispering-pines-tea-co-golden-orchid.html

I ended up in the cowboy boot store on my lunch hour today. I came home to this shoo. The dry leaf had a very slight shoo aroma. I gave it a quick rinse @ 205, let it sit for a bit and started with a 1 minute steep. WHOA – it’s as black as Jerry Jones’ heart.

The first sip took me right back to the cowboy boot store with a nice smooth leather taste – yes, it tasted JUST like the boot store smelled. This is a big-ish leather, but not overwhelming like some. It has had time to age and smooth and it’s just lovely.

Subsequent steeps of 20s, 30s, 45s and then 1 minute and 2 minutes and it is still going. The leather has mellowed though still present. I’m enjoying the mellow body sensation – this was exactly what I needed this afternoon.

I stayed out late seeing one of my favorite musicians, Dave Alvin last night and this tea reminds me a bit of Dave’s voice – well aged, leathery and delicious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSU9vIzFCzk

And here’s a pic: http://instagram.com/p/rvJkVHQx20/?modal=true