Whispering Pines Tea Company

So I was sipping on “December” just now and I was listening to December by Collective soul, WAS until he sang “turn your head now baby just spit me out” Spit Out December?? No way!!!!!!
So I switched my song to “Once Upon A December” from Anastasia sang by Liz Callaway,
Beautiful song much more fitting for this tea :)
I felt like singing along so I did ;)

Dancing Bears, Painted Wings, Things I almost Remember…
And a Song someone sings, Once Upon a Deceeeeemmmbbbeeerrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

So December was recently updated, It was delicious before and i thought it was perfect until I had the updated version.
It is outstanding!!!
First let me say that the Fujian Black is one of my favorites, it is right up on the shelf with my all time favorite Black Pearls(not WP). Everything that Brenden blends using the FB so far is always delicious to me.
In this one now I can taste the FB much more, it is made a little less smokey now and has Pine Peak Keemun which is another that I also like very much.
It is chocolaty, sweet, floral, brisk, smokey, malty, a bit fruity extremely smooth…
It has the pleasant dryness on the end like the Pine Peak Keemun that I just love and the boldness of the FB and omg It is just awesome.
I think this may be another new favorite for me (you can never have too many favorite teas, i have lots), This one will most likely go right up on the shelf beside the FB and I ‘ll probably never tire of it, I will be getting more of the new December very soon I may even just have to buy lots of it like i did the FB.
Alls I got this time around was a sample and I could kick myself in the butt now for not getting a couple ounces of it.
Looking at what I’ve written so far i think i mentioned FB too much lol Sorry its just that i can taste the FB so much more in this one now, am i liking this one better? i dunno maybe so, maybe I like them both the same, its hard to say.
If you’ve had the older version of December please do try this one too it is just too good.
Brenden at Whispering Pines makes such good teas it is hard for me not to love them all, I think I do love them all lol. Lance tells me that I should just give up on all other tea companies and just buy from only WP which i honestly think I could be perfectly fine with that but I just love teas so much and right now i still have so many other favorite teas from other places to consider that but I do plan on chilling out for a bit and cutting back to just only buying from 2 or 3 favorite tea vendors very soon, its just easier said than done for me, when that happens WP will be #1. I have already cut back on the amount of teas that I normally buy from other places just so I have more money to spend at WP and that is very easy because I love Brenden’s teas so much, I think Brenden has great taste in teas and he is very good at what he does, I can’t express enough how glad I am to have discovered WP or how much I appreciate the work that he does with his wonderful tea creations.
If you are on steepster and you haven’t tried a Whispering Pines tea I do hope you will give them a try soon, you may be surprised and find yourself a new favorite tea there too.
Sorry i didn’t mean for this to be a review of FB or of WP but it kinda looks to have turned out that way, i’m a little tea drunk right now and it is pretty late lol.

A sample sent my way from QueenofTarts, I see here that it’s been discontinued.

That doesn’t make me too sad, especially after North Winds and Golden Orchid (!!!) have wormed their way into my heart (and my belly)…. While I do get a faint hint of chocolate from this, it is bitter rather than creamy. And the oolong is earthy. I don’t love these dark oolongs, I think I’m learning that.

I followed the steeping parameters of 5 min @ boiling.
I took a sip when it was really hot to test it out, wanting to know if I should add milk or not.
I was taking it downstairs to watch a movie, see, and I knew I wouldn’t want to come back up to add milk.

It brewed up BLACK, so I decided to add cream.

It was a comforting cup but not nearly malty or chocolatey enough for me, I know there are more special WP teas out there, so if one like this had to go to make room for, say, golden orchid, then I totally support that decision :)

I had to be out & about for awhile, running various errands, so I made a go cup of this one. As far as vanilla teas go, this is the most vanilla-ey vanilla tea I’ve got. I overtea-ed a bit, so it was kind of strong, but "that’s the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it!

I have 2 weddings to play this afternoon.
The first one is a Catholic wedding Mass at 2:00
http://www.slu.edu/college-church
This is an amazing church!
(That’s coming from a non-religious, semi-buddhist irreverent musician)
The 2nd one is outside at a golf club, weather permitting (I’ll need my fingerless gloves).
http://www.forestparkgc.com/weddings.html

I can’t drink too much tea, because:
1. Sil & I drank so much tea yesterday, I’m still peeing
2. Once you start playing at a wedding, you better hope you don’t have to pee, unless you are wearing a catheter & bag (NOT, LOL).

So this is my final cup of the morning. Really, I’m being a copy cat cuz several other people are drinking & posting about it, so why not me?
It’s rich, it’s hot, I like black tea, & I like vanilla.
Since my Senses are somewhat senseless today, that’s all I got.

This is my 4th tea of the day. I started in bed reading Doctor Sleep, Stephen Kings long awaited sequel to The Shining, with Laoshan Black, steeped at 3 & then 5min. Then it was Butiki’s Dinjoye Estate Assam while cooking breakfast, & Kenyan Obsidian with breakfast.
Now I’m relaxing, watching the Cardinals/Cubs baseball game, contemplating getting back to work on the sock I’m knitting, & sipping this tea.
I steeped 1 T for 3min. I also added a pinch of stevia from Cheryl’s Herbs. Most stevia’s have a bitter anise aftertaste. This one does not!
This tea is vanilla ice cream. It also reminds me of a really fine Vanilla pipe tobacco (no, I don’t smoke). Tony says it smells like vanilla pastry to him.

Afternote: I tried a 5 min resteep, but it didn’t really offer much. I gave it a few more minutes, pretty much the same.

It might seem like I’m playing favorites with WP this weekend, & well…I guess I am, LOL.
That’s because I recently got a box of teas from there, & most of them are samples that I want to split with Sil. Also, our shared order from YS came this week, & I want to finish all the WP samples, so I can include them in her box. Finally, I’m leaving for FL on thurs to visit my mom & dad for 5 days, so I’m hoping to mail Sil’s box off before I leave.
Of course, I could wait until I get back…we’ll see. Anyway, I brought the WP box with me to Tony’s for the weekend, so that’s what I’m drinking.

Per my usual sunday morning routine, I made an awesome pancake breakfast for Tony & I, with bacon, fried apples, & a drizzle of maple. This tea was the obvious choice to go with the pancakes! I used 1 TB, & enjoyed the first cup straight, & the 2nd steep with a little maple. I might as well try for a third steep, but I’ll take that one plain.

Now we’re watching cardinals baseball in our PJs.

I don’t have time for a long review here, where I wax poetic about the glories of this tea.
Let’s just jump to the chase & say that everything you’ve heard about this tea is spot on. The initial aroma reminds me of a really high quality vanilla pipe tobacco (although I don’t know for sure if I’ve ever actually smelled one), & then you start drinking it, & it’s awesomely wonderful, vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate sauce drizzled over the top, the kind that hardens into a shell. What I love about it most is that the black tea underneath isn’t some woosie generic, it’s bold & thick chinese blacks. And yeah, it resteeps like a dream, & I’m taking all those resteeps for once. And the sweet aftertaste lingers…sigh…
I’ve said enough!

This sample is also from Nicole (although I did also order a sample of this, hah!). It’s a blend of Yunnan and Fujian teas, which is pretty obvious by looking at it. It has the longer, lighter colored tippy Yunnan leaves and then there are also shorter, darker Fujian leaves. It smells very nice – bready with malt and honey and a little cocoa. Steeped according to the package directions.

The aroma is similar to the dry leaf, with an added dark raisiny note. The taste is definitely a hybrid. It’s like a light Yunnan that has been dragged down into darkness by its Fujian counterpart. It still has those lovely lighter malty bread and honey notes, but there’s an underlying depth and richness from bitter cocoa and syrupy molasses. In the middle is the lovely raisin fruitiness that helps to tie these two together. A very nice combination! I’ll have to be sure to try the Fujian on its own soon so I can fully appreciate this blend.

I will say one thing, this has given me a much greater appreciation of Golden Orchid. While this does have some dark and bitter cocoa flavor, it’s nowhere close to the same. So clearly those little vanilla beans have a huge effect! Can’t wait to try that one again later today… :)

This tea is a really enjoyable cup, but I can’t rave about these snails as much as others do. The bright taste of this tea isn’t well rounded to me. I feel like I am missing something. Its like a golden monkey but with out the dark notes and I have to say the dark notes is what I really like. I wouldn’t pass up a cup of this, but I probably won’t seek it out either.

Up next from the recent WP order. I am not yet well versed in Yunnan’s. I know I have had a few, but not enough to really know. I made the mistake tonight of starting to sip this tea with a bowl of strawberries in front of me. The sweet from the fruit did not help this tea out. It made my first few sips a bit wishy washy. Once I got the sweet taste out of my mouth I was able to focus on the tea a bit more. I enjoyed this cup. I get malty, tad bit of honey-ish flavor with a bright finish. I will need to have another go with this cup without a bowl full of fruit to get to know this one a bit better.

Keep in mind I’m not an expert. :D

The first time I made it, I took a few BURNING sips, and tasted hints of vanilla with a fudgy, hoppy aftertaste. YUM! I let it cool off for a few moments, and… What?! What’s going on?! I think part of it is because I used too much water to too little leaves, because it became something different. It literally tasted like a beer tea. I honestly don’t mind, but where did the fudge and sweetness go? I also think the hardness of the tap water here has been effecting my tea. I used to use a water filter, because I hate the chlorine smell/taste of our local tap water. I had to play around with it a little more…

Second time around…
WOW WOWIEE! Now I know exactly what people are making a fuss about! This time I used almost exactly 1.5 tsp with 8oz of water. (First steep was 12-14oz to 1.4 tsp. Which didn’t turn out well for me.) I let it cool down and it tastes like chocolate malt tea. In my opinion its best this way! :)

I love the weird hoppy, nutty after taste. Its akin to the taste of a good stout. Yum! Any beer aficionados out there agree?

I’ve also read that it tastes like fresh baked bread, after sitting here for awhile, there is a subtle aftertaste of toasty baguette crust.

Definitely play around with this tea. I didn’t have good luck with it at first, but now I know where I went wrong.

So dynamic and interesting. Skipping out on this would be a mistake!!!

I’m finding this tea sinfully easy to drink.. scary, considering how it’s a luxury item in my cupboard. It has a misty autumnal vibe to it, but the eucalyptus and evergreen could be appealing in many scenarios.

With all the sharp, “green” elements, the vanilla is an interesting contrastive choice, but a nice one nonetheless. Whispering Pines seems to make a nice vanilla tea and that goes for this one too.

I love everything evergreen in my tea, and this one fully delivers. I’d previously pegged down White Wolf, from Bellocq, as my quintessential, super-expensive, cedar-vanilla tea but this one is really good too.

Port has a nice balance of flavours: cedar, smooth vanilla bean, and accents of salt and of something “nippy” that is distinctly eucalyptus. It’s a nice level of eucalyptus, and not at all like the time that I put a little too much eucalyptus oil on my hot hand towel and inhaled deeply- when hot, that stuff burns with righteous intensity. I probably won a Darwinian award somewhere in that story.

This is a “darker” tea than my other cedar-vanilla option, which has a white tea base. However, it also isn’t as cold, and so set in the dead of winter, as my other one. I can drink this at the lake camp in the midst of a broiling summer too, or on a foggy autumnal day.

I haven’t had a lot of exposure to saffron and I’m going to have to carefully budget it out, but I love this tea and I want it to be a part of my life! Also, the dry blend reminds me ever so slightly of marzipan. It also resteeps well, although the cedar is more pronounced in the second steep.

Hooray, more Whispering Pines! This sample came from the giant Yunnapalooza pack sent to me by the lovely and generous Nicole. I was pretty excited to try this for a couple reasons: 1 – it’s super cute!, and 2 – I ordered an ounce of this in the 4th of July sale this past weekend. The leaves are so cute and beautiful, and just looking at them makes me think of “wee snaily yums” and that makes me think of those adorable snail fairy land pictures provided by mj! Squee! When I opened the paper packet, I immediately smelled Fruit Loops. Huh? The scent is very honeyed and there’s a definite stonefruit note, which I am starting to find common in Yunnans, especially very tippy ones. I brewed this according to the package directions.

Mmm the aroma! Lovely yeasty bread and mild sweet potato! Tart stonefruit with honey and molasses! Exclamation point! Needless to say, waiting for it to cool was agony… #firstworldproblems. The taste is surprisingly light for a black tea! But it is definitely full of flavor, just without a lot of heaviness. My first impression is of lovely light, crispy toast with honey slathered over the top. There in the middle is that sweet potato, very creamy and smooth in texture. And in the back there’s molasses, adding a lovely richness and depth to the overall taste. And is that a little hint of floral near the end? According to the website description, it’s gardenia, and since I have no concept of that I will have to take their word for it! I was missing the stonefruit from the aroma, but then I got a nice pop of apricot in the aftertaste, which was unexpected but wonderful!

This is my favorite Yunnan yet, and I am very glad that I ordered an ounce! Can’t wait to try the Imperial Gold Bud, too! :)

I have to say, I don’t love this. I don’t hate it, but I’m just not a fan of eucalyptus. This infusion is about 2 tsp for 12 oz. I’m getting a minty taste for sure. And a little cedar, but that I can kind of handle. This is less dessert like than last time. I mean, it is still a little sweet, though I added a little bit of raw cane sugar.

I thank CrowKettle for allowing me to try this one. I feel like Golden Orchid resonates with me more though.

This one comes from the ever so lovely CrowKettle along with a few other WP teas and a few other odds and ends. This one caught my interest when she said recently that it tasted like marzipan, or somewhat dessert-like. Then today when she gave it to me, she also mentioned the cedar and eucalyptus notes. Colour me intrigued and confused.

So I went to look at steeping parameters, and it said to use 1 tablespoon for 8 oz, and I was like, huh? Thinking it was a typo and that it was 1 teaspoon, I opted to try the smaller amount. I’m not sure if it is in fact a typo, but that is how I made it.

The liquor is much paler than I was expecting. Which maybe is under leafing? I don’t know. I went into drinking this one with the hopes I got a more dessert-y feel, and I did, though I can kind of pick up that slightly minty-ishness of the eucalyptus. It is sold of like a coolish feeling going down, but not like peppermint or spearmint or anything really strong. I can kind of pick out the sweeter vanilla note, but not sure on the saffron or really what that should taste like.

I did use sugar for both of my steeps which makes it less woodsy to me. I’m not the hugest fan of woodsy, to be honest, and that part of the description is what threw me off on wanting to try this, until it was compared to marzipan. I can’t quite say it is like marzipan, but I can get a sort of dessert note, probably from the vanilla and saffron. Marzipan is a bit more almondy.

I’d have to say this feels like a masculine tea, playing a bit of dress up, and trying on a little bit of a feminine feel. I have to say I am a little confused and mystified about this one. I have enough for another serving, and I can probably get one more steep out of this. I might look at cold steeping the last bit, or a steeping from the last bit, as was suggested.

I can’t say whether I would recommend the to anyone because it is such a peculiar yet specific note that the person really has to like more woodsy notes in their tea. But that’s just not my thing. For what it is, I like it more than I thought I would based on the description alone. Thanks again to CrowKettle for sharing this with me, and pushing me out of my comfort zone.

I measured out a sample of this for my tea-drinking friend a few months ago. I’ve since run out of this blend, but while I was at her house today she offered me some.

She didn’t spoon out the leaves, she just dumped them into a cup and poured medium-warm water over them. (My internal dialogue: Did I measure several servings or just one? I wonder if she’s—oh, okay…I guess it’ll be a little strong.) Neither of us set a timer. I think it steeped for about five, six minutes, but the water temp was low enough to prevent it from getting bitter.

So. I liked this a lot more than I remembered liking it. I think I brewed through my entire ounce using Brenden’s parameters instead of tinkering. So my memories of this tea use descriptors like “bland, weak, too floral, unbalanced”. Kind of harsh, but I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t my thing.

The long steep made the green tea base REALLY REALLY buttery, velvety and delicious. There was only a hint of jasmine in the background. It added more to the texture of the tea than the taste, in my opinion. Smoothed it over…made it a little creamier and sweeter. Just a little floral. The pine was barely present. In fact, I don’t remember if I could taste it or not. I wish I had taken notes while sipping. Oops! Anyway, the thick buttery sweet taste/texture is what got me. It was warm and comforting, like a soft blanket on a chilly night. It’s the kind of tea I’d love to have right before bed. Winding down, at the end of the day…

Not very outdoorsy, that cup. Not at all. That’s fine…it was an experiment of taste! Now I wish I had more of this to play around with. Next time!! shakes fist at sky

Sipdown!

This one most likely won’t be a repurchase for me. I do enjoy it while it’s hot, but there’s a certain floral note here, and if I let it cool just a little too long, it takes over and renders the cup nearly undrinkable as it becomes soapy extremely quickly. Obviously this is entirely my preference, as I tend to not enjoy floral teas. So farewell, Ailaoshan, it was nice to meet you!

Side-by-side comparison with Ai Lao Mountain Black Spring 2014 by Yunnan Sourcing

I remembered that at one point, boychik had mentioned that she’d like to see a side-by-side comparison of this tea and Ai Lao Mountain Black, so I thought why not? The Ai Lao was a single-serving sample, so I figured it’s now or never!

Visually, these two are nearly identical. The leaves are nearly black and they remind me of a smaller version of the “spider leg” Taiwanese Assam leaves. Same size leaves in both of these teas. I can’t comment on the dry scent, because my Ai Lao Mountain was in a zipper baggie and therefore lost most of its smell. Oh well! I brewed both teas in identical cups with identical infuser baskets. It was a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees with 3 grams of each tea (my sample of Ai Lao was 3 grams so I used the whole thing and matched the weight for Ailaoshan).

First, the smell-off! I found that both teas had strong dried fruit notes, but Ailaoshan’s were dark, syrupy fruits such as raisin, prune, and cherry, while Ai Lao had a lighter dried fruit profile (raisin still maybe, but paired with fig or golden raisin). Both teas had a strong molasses aroma, and an interesting herbal or spice hint that I couldn’t quite place. The biggest differences I noticed between the two: Ai Lao had a little wisp of floral dancing around which was absent from Ailaoshan. In contrast, Ailaoshan had an obvious dark caramelized sugar scent that was divine! So far, pretty similar but each with its own flair.

On to the taste-off! There is also similarity here: both teas have a nice bready quality, although I would say it’s stronger in Ailaoshan. Also, both teas have strong molasses-ish rich flavor and that same dastardly unidentified herb/spice note! Does it bother anyone else when they can’t identify a flavor? Harumph! Both are fruity teas, but in quite different ways. The Ai Lao has a tangier dried fruit flavor – think prunes, maybe with a bit of something tangier, like tamarind maybe? Meanwhile, Ailaoshan has a much sweeter, almost jammy cherry and blackberry flavor, which was a surprise to me considering the aroma! Just like the aroma, the Ai Lao has a (fairly strong) floral element, which unfortunately translates into a slightly soapy aftertaste for me. Ailaoshan retains that lovely dark caramelized sugar that I noticed in scent form, and it goes very nicely with the dark bread notes and the fruit. I noticed as Ailaoshan cooled, it developed a woody taste that was not at all unpleasant. The Ai Lao tastes almost the same cool as it did hot, maybe with a bit more of that soapiness at the end.

In conclusion… These two teas are far more different in flavor than I would expect. Yes, they have several similar notes, but the ones that are different affect those similar notes in a way that makes them taste dissimilar in the end. I would almost describe these as being the corporeal and the ethereal form of the same tea. The Ailaoshan Black would be the corporeal version, with its earthier dark sugar, wood, and dark bread flavors. Therefore, the Ai Lao Mountain becomes its ethereal counterpart, with its lighter and whimsical floral element combined with the mild tang of the fruits.

Hah, that probably makes no sense, but I’m sticking with it! Overall, my preference is for the Ailaoshan Black, but considering I’m not a fan of floral, I consider myself to be biased in that regard. :P

This is my second time trying this one, after not loving it the first time. Thankfully, a lot of people here on Steepster gave me advice and hints so hopefully I can have a better experience with this one. I’m doing the TheTeaFairy and Dexter method, which is basically low and slow. :P 5 minutes at 190 degrees, and with bottled water instead of tap (thanks Brenden).

Well, it definitely tastes different. This time I’m getting a ton of sweet potato and almost butternut squash taste. Very creamy, but almost savory. It’s definitely fruity as well, but mostly dark fruits like plums and raisins. I’m not sure on the whole salted caramel idea, I think what I taste is probably closer to molasses. And I still definitely am getting a slight floral aftertaste.

Overall, it’s good but I’m not “in love” with it. Maybe this one just isn’t totally for me… I would be curious to try tap water with the same brewing time and temperature, maybe in a few days when I’ve gotten through part of my humongous Nicole Yunnan collection. :P Thanks again for all the advice, everyone.

I got a sample of this from Nicole (I also have a sample from Whispering Pines and I have another ounce coming on Wednesday). I’m kind of anxious to try it since it seems to have quite a following around here. The leaves are very dark and spindly – like a miniature version of Taiwanese black leaves. They smell of raisins and cocoa, with some malt, tobacco, and honey notes. Brewed according to the package directions.

The brewed tea smells strongly of sweet potatoes, with a malty edge. There’s a deep molasses scent, and a lighter raisin note that makes me think of golden raisins. The taste is pretty similar to the aroma. Lots of sweet potato with strong malt taste. There’s a fruitiness that reminds me of plums and raisins. I don’t get any chocolate from this at all. And there’s a floral aftertaste that kind of seems soapy to me? The body is lighter than a lot of other Chinese blacks I’ve tried, maybe a little bit thin.

Now I know that this will probably get me pelted with rotten vegetables, but I don’t love this tea. And I’m unhappy because I feel like I didn’t get the flavors that a lot of other people mentioned, like chocolate and caramel, and it makes me feel like I’m at fault somehow in my tasting of this. Frustrating…

Holding off on the rating until I give it a couple more tries.

So what varietal of tea is this. Is this a Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, I think I have seen it referred to as a non smokey Lapsong Souchong? I love this tea. I have been pulling it out when I have been craving a cup of hot chocolate lately. I could seriously drink this all day long. I am down to my last cup. I know that this year the rains have effected this type of tea, but hoping to find something that somewhat replaces it for a little while.