Whispering Pines Tea Company

We do buy this one a lot but drink it not so much like Lance said in his review, Surely one of my fav Yunnan Blacks. I’m drinking it right now with a little Fujian Black added not because it needs anything added to it but just because I like mixing the two sometimes.
To me it has notes of malt, chocolate, honey, earth and more.
We have had lots of these type teas some good some bad some maybe even better than this one but prolly not one as beautiful as this one because it IS prolly the prettiest yunnan golds we’ve had.
I like everything about this yunnan gold tea and I drink what I like so this is the one I’d rather drink. Also lance loves it so that is a plus too, I couldn’t get him to drink much teas with me before WP.
If ya like this one and the Fujian wont you make yourself a cup with both 50/50, You may love it!

Pretty good over ice on a nice spring day :)

The Sleeping Bear while at the dialysis clinic again, its lonely here today, just myself and the sleeping bear and the color purple on tv, I think i’ll turn off the tv and read a book :)
I really enjoy this sleeping bear, the jasmine sweet pine goodness is great this morning.

Sleeping Bear is Great!! Piney sweet Jasmine goodness!!
I’m sitting in the dialysis waiting room waiting for Lance sipping on it this morning and there is this one guy here that talks to me sometimes specially when i bring tea, He is from Korea and it’s hard for me to understand his speaking sometimes he is a really sweet guy but he HATES China and all things Chinese lol, I’m not sure whats going on between China and Korea, he tries to tell me but i just can’t understand most of what he says :)
Most of my teas are Chinese and when I drink them up here he always tells me how bad china is and all this rah rah rah blah, i just smile and nod cuz i don’t know what to say lol.
I lied to him about the Sleeping Bear I tell him it is Japanese and he is happy and I don’t have to hear all the rah rah blah blah lol. I love my Chinese teas!!

Sipping on this Ailaoshan Black this evening, I had made some cookies to enjoy with it But things didn’t work out as planned. The cookies were way too sweet and even with this unsweet tea with them to balance things out they were still just OMG too sweet for me, had they not been so sweet I think they would have paired up well, maybe just plain sugar or shortbread cookies next time. The Tea is Awesome as always, I still love WP teas, I haven’t had a WP fix in a while, WP was/is one of our favorite places to order from, I miss it so much.

I wish I had the fairy powers (and the money), to travel all around and drop a sample of this marvel of tea in each of your mailboxes, Steepster friends…

For real…

Sweet goodness coming from what seems to be a Vanilla Tee Tree.

It’s just blissful in my newly seasoned VANILLA DREAMS yixing clay pot.

Upping the rating, it’s just perfection!

(See previous note for more details)

So…Steepster people. MzPriss and I have been chosen to preview this new creation before its official debut. Yesterday, I received the precious sample and drank it right away.

Beware, I have a lot to say, sorry for the long review, just couldn’t make it a short one!

I will not pretend I have the English skills to describe this tea the way Brenden did so masterfully in his own beautiful “Tolkien-esque” way…

But after reading it, I can tell you that I get what this brand new concoction is all about.

See, I live in a mountainous forestial environment.

Some days, I feel like Alice in Wonderland.

I get inspired by my forest every day….walking by a tall and majestic oak tree, bouncing on spongy velvety mossy grounds, getting intoxicated by the pungent and resinous scent of evergreens, listening to the chant of dazzling birds, secretly meeting with wonderful critters, having mystic encounters with strange and never seen before mushrooms, floating my way through ponds and wetlands, following the curves of sinuous rivers…

Beautiful nature canvases, begging for respect and attention. To experience it all, it is only required to look, smell and listen.

That will be my approach with this tea…

The look:

Stunning. Dark ebony curls and golden ribbons, they intertwine like enamoured lovers. Tea can be such a beautiful thing…Here’s a pic:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/14514171475/lightbox/

The smell:

Enticing. But not as overly vanilla as I expected. It took me a while to figure out what the dry scent reminded me of…I finally did put my finger on it. I have a Vietnamese Lotus scented tea, and I compared it. Lotus blossoms! In tea, they have a natural floral vanilla scent to them. It’sa very distinctive fragrance, a little earthy and mossy.

Once brewed, the aroma took over the kitchen. Pics right here…but sorry, no 3D olfactory effects!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/14534509223/lightbox/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/14491254566/lightbox/

The listen:

That’s the tasting part. This tea embodies someone’s love and respect for his surroundings. That “speaks” to me so I tried to be attentive to fully grasp all its subtleties. To tell you the truth, all I felt like doing when I drank it was to close my eyes, relax and enjoy instead of taking notes…and that’s totally what I did, at least for the first steep. (Lazy reviewer!!)

I initially thought this was going to be Golden Orchid on steroids!!! But it’s quite the opposite. It’s more subdued. In fact, it doesn’t even seem like any vanilla was added to the blend. It feels as if the leaves came from a mysterious and unknown vanilla tea tree variety, an old tree that would have been watered with vanilla scented water for centuries. That’s how natural this is, Camellia Sinensis in all its glory!

I am biased and partial. I already love the two base teas creating this little marvel: Ailaoshan Black and Imperial Grade Dian Hong . How could I NOT like this?

The union of the two create some amazing notes. The first steep was like liquid silk in my mouth, all vanilla and smooth salted caramel. I also got that lotus note.

The other steeps brought more complexity. The mix of the two black teas produced some kind of chocolaty dried cherry notes, so yum. I didn’t get Morels per say as in the description (my favourite mushroom BTW) but a damp yeasty earthiness might be my own perception on the “mushroom” notes. I also got woody and piney notes in the later steeps.

This tea is very potent, I was skeptical that it could yield as many brews as Brenden suggested. But I respected the Master’s instructions and it worked. 5 good steeps and not one weak cup! Well actually, that’s not true. It did get a little weak the first time around. But the sample was big enough for me to have it twice. The second time around, I used less water and it worked better for me. So when I get this baby home, I’ll be using 1 tbsp per cup instead of the recommended 1/2 tbsp. having said that, do try it the way it is meant to be, I’m a heavy steeper :-)

In conclusion, believe the hype people, Brenden is the Tea Whiz of the Woods!

Thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity to try this new beloved blend of yours :-)

As I suspected, this is a great middle(ish) of the night tea. I’ve been enjoying this propped up with in bed with the dogs snuggled up and a book. This time, I’m definitely getting the cherries I didn’t taste before – they are more subtle, but they are there. I keep thinking the same thing I did when I first sampled it – this is just so lovely.

It is no secret that I’m an enthusiastic fangirl for Whispering Pines teas. I was very gratified (and in excellent company with the lovely TheTeaFairy) to be one of the first tasters of the new WPTC blend Elderwood. When Brenden sent a list of the ingredients along with the sample, I was already salivating before I even tasted it. A blend of Imperial Grade Dian Hong, Ailaoshan Black and hand-cut Tahaitian Vanilla Beans sounded to me like my very much beloved Golden Orchid turned up to 11.

Only it’s not the big bold vanilla-fudge bomb I was expecting. This tea is a lady. An elegant lady dripping with class and good taste. This is a whole different experience from Golden Orchid – more subtle and nuanced. The word that comes to mind for me is pretty – though lovely is a far better word. Have you ever seen Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday? She’s so bright and beautiful and adorable, a pixie who is also a princess.

The dry leaf is gorgeous with sparks of gold. This is like nectar – not just merely sweet, but complex and nuanced with an earthy bass note. There is a hint of malt and bit of chocolate, with a luscious creamy vanilla winding it’s way through it and a fruity undertone. There is a bit of a floral lingering taste toward the end from the vanilla and absolutely zero astringency. This lady is smooth and sublimely elegant. If Cate Blanchett showed up at my house wearing her Oscar gown, this is the tea I would serve her.

Elderwood has lots to give. I took it though 4 steeps and the put the leaves in a cold steep overnight and woke up to a silky little honey taste. I really loved the third steep (though the first was my favorite), by that time it was really down to basiscs – earthy cocoa and a little jammy fruit. I had extremely high expectations for this and it did not disappoint – it’s enchanting.

I want to thank Brenden for letting me do this preview!

The song for this? Well this lady is a classic, so Beethoven I think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkcvrxj0eLY

A forest is more than a grove of trees. A forest is the wind sweeping across the pines, the wood thrush calling, and the blankets of mist covering the mossy earth below your feet. A forest is the sweet vanilla scent of spring wildflowers and the babbling brook feeding the blackberry bushes. A forest is the morel mushroom hiding under the wintered oak leaves. A forest is everything that we should strive to be — strong, wise, and tranquil. Elder forests are filled with complex ecosystems. Every corner of the woods presents a new biological wonderland, and every inch of the void between organisms plays a vital role in the full picture.

At Whispering Pines, we appreciate complexity. There are, of course, great things to be said about intense singular notes and the boldness of strong lingering aftertastes. However, in the ancient forests crawling with the fingers of fog and ethereal thrush melodies, it is not the plentiful pine we seek. We enter the deepest realms of the forest in search of diversity and the beauty that lies behind the entrance to the trail. A book is not a book without the words within, and a venture into the unknown is not complete without every aspect present.

This is why we chose to seek the complexity of the highest grade Chinese black teas available as the base for Elderwood. This is why we sought the most complex and balanced Tahitian vanilla bean we could find. For the sake the the primeval forests and the immense biodiversity within, we could not choose to cut corners on complexity.

Inspired by the deepest and most ancient of forests, Elderwood carries base notes of warm pine, oak, and cocoa, with sweet vanilla, caramel, cherry, and morel perfectly balanced in the background. A sweet and earthy moss-like aftertaste with hints of vanilla and oak linger for hours past the last sip of this strikingly smooth brew. The aroma is pine, cocoa, and stone fruit, and the color of the tea is dark amber with a slight tinge of deep purple.

The overall experience of this tea is only comparable to what you can imagine drinking the finest hot cocoa infused gently with cherry, and aged in oak barrels beneath the forest floor would be like. The richness and depth of Elderwood can truly only be done justice by experiencing the masterpiece yourself. We highly recommend enjoying Elderwood outdoors. Allow the brew to warm you on a chilly day while walking along your favorite woodland trail.

In honor of all beauty that mother nature has provided us with, and in honor of those moments where you realize just how big the full picture is, I give you Elderwood.

Notes: Warm Pine, Oak, Melted Chocolate, Vanilla, Chocolate-Covered Cherries, Plum, Cream, Salted Caramel, Morel, Moss

Ingredients: Imperial Grade Dian Hong, Ailaoshan Black Tea, Hand-cut Tahitian Vanilla Beans

http://whisperingpinestea.com/elderwood.html

Chocola-TEA covered cherry recipe:

1 strong cup of Fujian Black
1 cup of fresh and crunchy cherries

Take a sip, bite into a cherry. Mmmmmm.

Oh yeah! This is making my morning.

Eating homemade parmesan kale chips, tv-binging on old X-Files in the middle of the night. Yes, I know, it’s dated…but I can’t help it, it’s my “comfort” tv show.

Tea pairing: Fujian Black….because…I just got my new Whispering Pines order, yay for me!

As usual, excellent personalized service and quick shipping to Canada, thank you Brenden :-)

I love the rustic packaging he uses for his tea, there’s something homey about it.

I hesitated between having The Sleeping Bear or this one tonight. I figured I was probably going to have to put more effort in reviewing The Bear so I opted for something I’m already very familiar with. (Also, someone really made me crave chocolate tonight!!!)

Fujian blacks are among my favourites, the main reason being…chocolate. As you may know by now, I do love my chocolate.

This one has lots of it. The aroma is half of the pleasure, it smells like chocolate croissant! Oh yeah! Chocolate and sweet honey notes, medium bodied with malt. So smooth, with no astringency at all.

I knew it would be chocolaty cause I’ve had Mint Chocolate Chip and I believe this Fujian is the black base in it.

I like that this is not overly complex. I wanted dark rich chocolate and that’s what I got! I don’t get a gazillion notes, and sometimes, that’s all a girl wants…

A fabulous Fujian…

Now back to Mulder and Scully!

We are up a little late tonight for a dialysis night but thats ok we are enjoying some really good tea(it don’t keep us up anymore it actually relaxes us before bed lol). This particular Imperial Gold Buds are one of if not The very best Dian Hong i’ve ever had, thanks to Tommy the Toad I’ve had lots and lots of Yunnan black teas puers and dian hongs I do not like the Puer but I do love the dian hongs.
We’ve had some really dark colored dian hongs and some really pretty golden colored ones like this one and lots in between with black and gold leaves.
This is probably the most beautiful looking and pleasant tasting, the leaves look absolutely stunning totally golden and fluffy soft looking with millions of little furs all over, just beautiful.
Brendens Bi Luo Chun(another yunnan black) is also just as pretty and almost as tasty BTW but not as Imperial Gold Buds ;)
The flavor of this Imperial Gold Buds Tea is very bold and malty, notes of cocoa, creamy vanilla and honey with an earthy sweetness and a slight hint of floral.
This is easy one of our top 5 teas, one that we have bought often but drink sparingly as to not ruin the experience by spoiling the taste buds with it too often, it has a nice happy energy and I look forward to buying even more soon, 100 taste points from me!
I do recommend this tea :)

Malty with chocolate, caramel notes and a fruity sweetness. We hope to get more of this when it is available again.
I’ve enjoyed drinking warm in the evening times and I’ve had it as an Iced and It is a really nice and brisk. I love it.

(158) Goodbye, slightly smoky tea! Today it’s a little too much smoke for me, but I think that’s just because I’ve been staring too log at computer screens and not drinking enough water…

The smoke in this is quite acceptable. I’m getting chocolate and raisins and campfire all mixed up in one. It’s good. Yep. Good.

I decided I wanted to try one of my WP teas, but I chose not to drink Campfire Blend because I wasn’t craving smoke. Well… whoops? Should have gone for Manistee Blend or North Winds.

So this is fairly smoky, with a little bit of sweetness. And cocoa! I’m enjoying it but I’m not going to rate it as it’s not what I was craing. It’d be better as an evening tea.

Finished off the last of my sample from Courtney this morning.
It is a very nice tea, fruity and bright and crisp somehow. Somewhat malty, though not to the extreme that I prefer. And I’m not getting any chocolate notes.

I enjoyed what I had but I’m not crazy enough over it to order more, I don’t think.

Glad to have one to cross off my list!
Thanks again, Courtney :)

This is my 400th tasting note so I wanted to make it a good one!

I brewed up some of this for breakfast, about 3 min at boiling.

Very tasty! Flavorful, malty, fruity…no chocolate notes for me though.

I enjoyed the cup a lot and would consider it for a future order. It’s no Golden Orchid, mind you. I may have to drink the rest side by side with North Winds and Fujian Black to compare, then maybe I would have more to say.

In my memory, these tasty black teas all sort of become one. Except Verdant’s Laoshan Black. And WP’s Golden Orchid, but that’s flavored with vanilla so it doesn’t count as a straight black.

Also except anything Golden Monkey. Those are on a whole other level.

I tried a resteep of this one but the flavor just wasn’t really there for me.

I’m sorry, this is a crappy 400th tasting note. I liked the tea.

Thanks a bunch for sharing, Courtney!!

This tea came as part of the grab bag of awesomeness that I got from Miss B. I was excited to try a Whispering PInes tea since there are so many WP fangirls on Steepster! When I opened up the pouch, omg it smelled like smoke. I’m not really a fan of smoky teas but I thought I’d try it anyway. Taste-wise, the smoke really dominates so this tea is not really for me. Underneath the smoke, I feel like this tea is pleasant and roasty but I can’t really tell because the smoke just lingers and takes over. I have two more WP blends that I’m excited to try though:-)

I wish I was better about identifying flavors in tea. I like this now a lot. I get NO smoke (which is a good thing). Sweet, yes. Maybe like raw honey. It’s sweet but sort of earthy sweet. Sweet potato maybe. Sorry I’m not better at that part, but I can decisively say that it is good, and thank you for the sample of it on my last order!

It is raining and my head hurts (usually happens when the weather changes) so I took off work early to have some tea in my comfy chair and watch more of The West Wing (on season 5 now).

This is the last sample I chose from Whispering Pines. I was feeling brave today! What I mean is, the smell of this tea is very intimidating and I was nervous to try it the first time I opened it to take a whiff. It’s like sniffing a campfire. There is such an extreme smoke aroma to the dry tea, along with a hint of pine and herbs. It’s very lovely to look at – a mix of black tea leaves, cloves, a little bit of rooibos, and these lovely straw-colored dried stalks that I can only assume are cedar leaves. I brewed 1.5 tsp for 5 minutes.

The brewed tea also smelled very smoky, although less so than the dry leaf. There was also an aroma of black tea, cedar, and a little bit of clove. I was getting more and more excited to try this unique tea. I was surprised to find that I really enjoy this tea – it is quite smoky but in a lovely way. At the beginning of the sip I get mostly smoke and earth. In the middle it transformed into woody cedar and pine notes, and at the end of the sip I caught hints of clove and a light cooling sensation from the pine. There is definitely a lingering smokiness that stays on the palate long after drinking. It doesn’t sound that pleasant, but it is. Two thumbs up for such a unique and tasty blend! I really can’t wait to try their S’mores tea, I was sad that it wasn’t on the sample list. Soon! :)

Method: 1.5 tsp, 208 degrees, 8 oz, 5 min, French Press

Dry Aroma: The elderberries are center stage. I don’t even smell any cinnamon, which surprised me.

Brewing Aroma: Now there’s the cinnamon, but the elderberries are gone

Flavor: Cinnamon is the most obvious flavor. I don’t taste the elderberries outright, but the tea has a light fruity flavor and a sweetness that I suspect could be from the berries. I didn’t add anything to this one, and it was still quite sweet. I just wish I had realized it was not caffeinated when I picked it this AM. :)