Whispering Pines Tea Company

From the UTTB!

Sipping on this right now. Man, it’s good. First and second steep were very similar, though the second steep is a bit sweeter and creamier. I’m getting a light hay- or wheat-like flavor, followed by honeysuckle and an indescribable fruitiness. It’s a sweet fruit, it’s very light and delicate. Kind of green and juicy and melon-y. (I guess that’s where honeydew comes in.) It’s buttery and medium-bodied. Not too light, but not heavy enough for me to call it malty. (I brewed at a much lower temp and slightly lower time than recommended.) It’s very velvety and smooth. I can pick out notes of peach in the aftertaste, along with cream. I’m into it! Wow, white tea. Who knew this is where my life would take me. (:

another one from cavocorax I was hoping that i would really like this one but i found that the mint is just too over powering for me, or at least today it is. I’m not really getting and of the elderberry flavouring or the lemon grass. Oh well…. at least i tried heh

older version of this… but i’m still really meh about it. So…it’s off to someone else’s house since i have tea friends who love this…or at least folks for which this isn’t a chore to drink haha

Had a giant cup of this after breakfast and it was delicious. I’m really struggling to get out and about today knowing that i don’t get to sleep until sometime sunday evening. I also can’t seem to figure out what i want to do about tea tonight. Do i pack a puerh and just drink that all night long? or should i bring things to share… sooo many choices. I’m still enjoying this tea though i’m not sure i’ll need to restock it once i’m through with this ounce. It’s nice, and tasty but nothing “knocks your socks off” spectacular.

the first time i had this via cavo, it was good but not great. this time, courtesy of terri, it seemed to be a richer tea. maybe it’s the harvest of the tea or something but i quite enjoyed this the other day when i had it

Another share from cavocorax I like this one a little less than the other straight from WP i had this morning. this one has a fruitier note to it that distracts me from enjoying the other tastes in this tea. It’s not a bad tea, but if i want fruity notes in my tea, i’ll stick with TTC teas from taiwan :) On the whole though, a nice cup to start my morning off. thanks cavo!

All gone! finished up this sample as well today since my cupboard was just imploded. this was a sample from WP, so no worries there, but as a mental note i don’t think i need this one in my cupboard. it’s pleasant but not out of this world. And heaven knows. teas that are WOW are better than teas that are ok. :)

Final Count: 166

i thought WP used to write all their parameters on the bag – this time around, none of my teas have them written on them, making it challenging for me when i make a tea – means i need to have my computer on. Which i didn’t this morning when i was making this one. Still tastes dcent but not as lovely as i remember it being. will have to see if i can do better next time.

cavocorax shared this sample with me that she received in her WP order. Since i have a billion samples of teas to drink, i figured i should start with a few of my straight teas and put a pause on drinking favourites this morning. I’m hoping i’ll also get time to maybe drink a puerh or two this weekend. This one is quite tasty. there’s a sweetnes to this along with malt notes and a slight cocoa taste. it’s not out of this world but this is for sure a really nice tea.

THIS TEA.

I got it as a sample with my Whispering Pines order and now I want more of this. SO MUCH MORE. Well, at least an ounce.

I made it one morning when my husband and I were at the cabin. We went out on the porch with our mugs, we were getting ready to make some beer. We took our sips…

ME: Wow, that’s a good tea!
HUB: It is a good tea. I was just going to say that! I don’t know that much about tea but this is good. I guess your tea snobbery is rubbing off on me.

Well, like his beer snobbery doesn’t rub off on me!

Anyway, this tea is the embodiment of all the gorgeousness, gorgeousity, gorgeouting of Chinese black teas. Bold with sweet notes, no bitterness, just happiness. And peace. And love.

(Yes, this is a valid tea review.)

had a small cup of this today and sent the rest off for Terri and tastybrew to try if they are so inclined with our BBB Box.

i had this one earlier (today! almost caught up!) and it was downright yummy as far as smokey teas go. this is a different sort of smokey tea than the ones i’m used too, with a bit of something else coming out to play with this one. it’s also not a subtle tea (courtney stay away!). it’s smokey, and slightly sweet…with a bit of a punch to it. looking forward to trying it out with maple syrup :)

soooo i think i have more of this coming my way via 221….this sample though was from cavocorax and let me tell you..NOT.A.FAN. those who know me, know that i like a little smoke in my tea. This for sure has this, but outside of that, this was like a soapy weird gross smokey tea. There was no graham taste..or marshmallow or chocolate…just smoke that was REALLY nice…followed by soap. blech. if 221 does send me more, i’m hoping that it will be a bit tastier, or that i can coax a little more out of it…

final tea for tonight…. i have some things i need to go mess with so going to get to that before it’s later than i expect it to be. I am sad to see this one go, i’ll need to place an order with WP someday soonish… sadly, with my exploded cupboard…i’m not sure when that will be :( really not likely to get to 100 now by July 1.

Final Count: 239

I wanted an herbal tea the other night and dug this one out of the teas cavorcorax sent my way…i want more. THis is a great tea with (as always) not enough ginger, but enough to make me happy. I am a fan! The rooibos isn’t overly present – so none of that weird woodsy taste…just delicioud, warming, ginger snap like taste. yum!

I do love these Chinese black teas. I knew I would love this one as well although it took me three tries to be able to focus on tasting it properly (with the first one I got distracted with something, and with the other – the water was vile, not sure why, such a waste though).

Smells like piles of honey and caramel! The brew if of a beautiful mahogany color. Every sip is smooth, creamy and with no bitterness at all. I think there are some chocolate notes, although faint (yet they do not feel like a weak and funky chocolate notes that are often found in artificially flavored choco teas). Also some nuttiness that is more on the sweet side. It is just amazing how sweet this tea is. I think there’s a slight hint of fruitiness in the aftertaste like… a ripe pear?

I think there’s going to be different flavors in this tea every time I make it. Which is just great. This definitely belongs to my all time favorite black teas now. Whispering Pines are out of it at the moment, so I guess I am going to hoard the rest of what I have :D Hopefully they will re-stock it one day :)

Aroma of caramel, raisin and longan fruit. This tea is rich, fruity, some malt,very smooth and delightful. there is longan fruit aftertaste lingering in my mouth. No sugar for me but some people may add to elevate it to a dessert level tea. it tastes like Taiwanese black tea. it satisfies my craving for a black tea (Assam just seem too heavy during the Summer). i have to make it side by side with Ai Lao by Yunnan Sourcing.

Sipdown 3 of 2015. Purchased 7/ 2014 – Finished 12/2015

This was a good tea, but I am not crazy about it like everyone else is. For me the base tea was so good that the vanilla was taking away from the awesomeness of the base. I can see the attraction, but for me I will stick with the naked North Winds on this one.

I got my Whispering Pines order in this weekend! Woot Woot! I wasn’t in the greatest of tea moods last night, BUT I was craving chocolate so I had a cup of this.

When I received the sample of this from MzPriss awhile back i didn’t realize at first that it was a flavored tea so I brewed it in a gongFu. Gongfu and this tea weren’t the best mix at least for me. This was much better brewed normally. This was my dessert last night. Chocolate, vanilla and creamy yum. 3 steeps out of this bad boy. Thanks for inventing such an wonderful tea!

I received this in a swap from MzPriss Thank you!

Wow. This smells like the chocolate chip cookies that I have been craving. This has definate notes of coco and bread. There is also a tang at the end of the sip. I think the next cup I will steep a bit less because I also get a slight astringency. Whispering Pines wasn’t really on my radar, but MzPriss gave me a proper introduction.. Thank you!

Backlog. I had this a few days ago and only took a few notes.

(1st steep, pre-boil, 3 min.) Floral, mineral, buttery, with a distinct taste that I associate with high mountain oolongs. Kind of “heavy”.
(2nd steep, pre-boil, 3 min.) This time it’s more buttery and sweet like kettle corn. Has a very “oolong-y” and plantlike aftertaste, which makes me think of chewing on tea leaves. It reminds me of the sensation. Slight mineral taste (not much). As it cools, there’s less mineral, more butter. Still a bit floral. Reminds me of chewing on sugarcane. The texture of it, not the taste specifically. It’s sweet with a fruity aftertaste that’s like pears…or peaches. Can’t quite pin it down.
(3rd steep, pre-boil, 4 min.) I don’t have anything written down for this. From what I remember though, it was a lot of the same flavors but muted. Not really enjoyable. Not bad, just really thin.

To conclude, it’s a decent oolong. To me it just didn’t have very much depth of flavor. There were a lot of the same flavors in each steep, just varying intensities. Pleasant but boring.

UUUUUUGH this is so GOOD! It’s always a bit different, but wonderfully delicious nonetheless. It has a roasty taste with beautiful cocoa notes that get me every time. Yum

Backlog: I am so mad at myself. I wanted to add just a touch of milk to cool it down because I had to put it in my Timolino asap and leave, and I didn’t want to have to wait 5 hours to drink it. I had no milk so I used cream. Big mistakes. Those lovely chocolate notes have just enough room to start and then the cream goes BLEHH and ruins everything. Boo.