Whispering Pines Tea Company

Scheherazade’s Super Sipdown (Long) Weekend #4

Another fabulous black that I’ll miss from my cupboard. Once I’ve finished off a couple more of my Whispering Pines teas, I’m definitely going to place another order. Primarily plain blacks, I think. This one pales a little in comparison to Teavivre’s Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tip, but it’s still pretty good. Fruity, malty, sweet. Genuinely lovely tea!

I’ve been having a lot of luck with this kind of tea recently, so I pulled this one out to try yesterday evening. It’s the first Whispering Pines tea I’ve tried, although there are a few more in my cupboard. They’re next in the to-drink pile!

I gave 1.5tsp of leaf 3 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk. The smell of the dry leaf is mildly fruity, and this carries through to a certain extent in the flavour. I wouldn’t say I’m getting melon and passionfruit as the description suggests, but there is a sweetness that’s reminiscent of raisin. The main note I’m picking up is cocoa, and it’s delicious! It’s sweet and malty, and the chocolatey flavour with the added milk gives it a wonderfully creamy edge.

I’m glad to have had the opportunity to try this one, although it didn’t wow me quite as much at the Teavivre golden tip version. It has made me curious to try more Whispering Pines teas, though.

I’m slowly coming to the realisation that plain blacks might be my absolute favourite, which comes as a surprise given that I discovered tea largely through flavoured varieties. I’m not sure that I would have been able to pick out all of the flavours in teas like this back then, or even that I would have appreciated them as much as I do now. How tastes change! I’m glad to have discovered this one :)

Sipdown (163/169)!

Added milk to this one to sip it down with, and I have to say that I think the milk really brought out different elements. To me, this time around, the cup was a lot more apple flavoured on the first steep and the cinnamon was a bit muted (good in my books). In addition, there was a buttery, flaky pastry quality that I didn’t find present in my previous steeps of this.

It’s not surprising that of the three cups I made together, this was the first to be slurped down. If I ever put in a Whispering Pines order (which I’m sure is bound to happen eventually) I will absolutely consider ordering this! Especially if that order is placed around the fall; this would be a perfect fall tea!

So this is a tasting note for my second steeping on WP’s Apple Cinnamon Oolong. I don’t typically bother to resteep things: more often than not I’d rather have something else and enjoy as many flavours as possible in a day. However, I do make exceptions often for oolongs and WP’s comment about this being especially good with subsequent steeps made me hold onto the leaf to give it another go…

I’m glad I did: this is much better the second time around! I’m wondering if that’s in part because I added on another minute to the steep time? However, all the flavours are much more front and center which was my biggest complaint yesterday so cheers for that! Most impressively is how strong the apple-y flavour has become! It’s almost cider like, but without that kind of tart “tang” to it.

Definitely an improvement and I’m so happy I resteeped (maybe I’ll do a third tomorrow?). I’ll be increasing my rating now…

Thanks 221tea for the sample! I think this is officially my first blend from Whispering Pines? I hope I made a good choice, heh…

The amount of cinnamon chips in this intimidates me a little bit to be perfectly honest: I like my cinnamon in moderation and this looks like it could potentially be fairly overwhelming. Steeped up though it seems harmless enough, inviting even.

Taste wise this is much more mellow and gentle than I was bracing myself for. I almost wish it packed a bit more of a punch because while the apple, cinnamon, and oolong components can all be checked off and marked as present they’re sorta those classroom “ruffians” who sit in the back row where the teacher can’t notice them as clearly. And, when that’s the way all the flavour notes in the tea are behaving it doesn’t really work too splendidly. Someone has to be in the front.

I guess if I’d have to name a more dominant flavour it would be the apple? It’s slightly more noticeable than everything else in the aftertaste as you swallow the liquor: but only fleetingly.

So to summarize: I’m finding this a touch weak and it’s not what I wanted or expected but it’s still pretty good – definitely drinkable. I have one more cup left and since it’s about the same leaf amount as this one increasingly the leaf to up the flavour isn’t as viable an option so I’m probably going to see if I can push the flavour out a bit more by slightly extending the steep time.

A sample of this was included in my recent order. It was a good choice based on my other teas. :) It was a good tea. However, even with filtered water, I get smoke out of this. Smokey cocoa. Not strong enough to be bad, but too strong for me to want to keep it on hand. Glad to have had the chance to try it, though. It was one I was on the fence about maybe ordering more of.

This is a nice green. Unfortunately, I don’t remember too much about it. It was’t outstanding, but it was nice. Nothing stood out, except that I remember the leaves smelled really good when I pulled them out after steeping.

This is my special tea to drink at work. I still love it.
Today’s my birthday, which I don’t even care about anymore. I’m getting up there, you guys. haha.

But anyway, this is one of two of my favourite black teas I plan to drink at work today. Likely tonight will be filled with fussier temperature sensitive teas that require more than the unreliable work kitchen kettle :)

Vanilla, silky smooth, really good. Makes me feel warm and happy.

I love this tea.
The other night I was cleaning out my craft/computer/junk room for a bunch of hours while watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and I had steeped two big cups of this. Both were delicious.

It’s silky smooth, chocolatey, vanilla-y…really rich and delicious.

This is my kind of dessert tea. I’m not big on the artificially flavoured dessert teas these days, for the most part.

I’d rather drink ones like this. Over and over again. SO glad I recently ordered more!!

Someday I will come up with the spare funds to try Cocoa Amore. Until then, this tea FTW!

Sorry for the spam of reviews.
I drank a lot of tea this weekend but weekends are bad for logging, too much going on.

I saved the best for last though!

This was my Saturday morning tea. I got up and knew that we had plans to go see a movie at 2, so I figured I had plenty of time to properly enjoy this tea.

There are two types of tea for me, the ones that are special and deserving of my time and attention, and possibly multiple resteeps…and the ones that I pretty much guzzle all day long. I can go through a cup really quick once it’s cooled down to an acceptable level.

Anyway, Golden Orchid falls into the first category. I haven’t been drinking these delicious favorites lately because I’ve been trying to sipdown my silly amount of samples.

SO – knowing that I had lots of time to properly devote to it, I made a cup of Golden Orchid. I even bought a jug of spring water just to use for my “special teas”. So I used it.

I’m sniffing the bag, just taking my time. Then inhaling my delicious tea, waiting for it to cool off so I wouldn’t burn my mouth (done that before, too often)….

Then my husband was all like “let’s go out for breakfast at Homestead (local place) before the movie! How fast can you get ready? We will have to leave in an hour tops”

Which doesn’t sound too bad, but it meant I had to chug my tea down while I got the baby ready to go and got myself ready.

Hardly the experience I had been hoping for.

Though, it was still delicious.

It’s almost good that I’ve been drinking an abundance of mediocre samples lately, makes me really appreciate teas like this!

Golden Orchid, I wrote a haiku for you:

Rich silky liquid
Flavours blossom in my cup
Indulge. Joyful mouth!

It’s really that good. Cocoa and vanilla, what a taste.
I loved the base tea as well (North Winds), but the vanilla is the secret. Vanilla makes everything taste better, literally, everything.

First two steeps were very rich and dark, third a bit weaker but still worth it.

I’d tried this yesterday in the middle of painting but didn’t have time to sit and properly enjoy it and take it all in, so I had it first thing this morning again, so worth it.
I also used bottled water, what a difference….

Definitely a restock!

I had two steeps of this earlier this afternoon.

I really really enjoyed both of them.

This tea is smooth and chocolatey with a nice thick mouthfeel.
And cocoa.
Did I mention cocoa?

It would be impossible to not have a good afternoon when you are drinking this tea.

It’s one of those “Serenity now” in a cup types of teas.

I’m so silly. Or I have major “mom brain” now, officially.

I was sure I’d ordered the Ailaoshan Black but it was this! D’oh. I think I had it in my cart but changed my mind. Regrets taste bitter.

I was painting my living room all day so I didn’t have too much time to sit and enjoy my tea, but my WP order finally arrived so obviously I made some :)

I need to have more Golden orchid before I review it, but I had this earlier and it was super fudgey and delicious. I did one resteep and it was great.

I even used filtered water because I thought it deserved the best, my husband is going to kill me when I figure out how to tell him that we need some sort of filter or water machine for all of my future tea drinking :)

Brenden – love your packaging, it seems so earthy and natural and simple. Rubber stamps make me happy. And so do handwritten thank you notes :)

I will be back at some point for that Ailaoshan Black!

Just came back from a long hiking session with my dog Dexter. I let him chase all the squirrels he wanted cause they were mocking him. I’m not worried he’s ever going to catch them cause despite the fact that he’s super athletic, he remains a dog and can’t climb trees…even though he tries sometimes!

It was raining, and all the vegetation came to life with glossy bright shades of greens all around. I just love rain in the woods. Love the relaxing sound that each rain drops make when they land on the trees.

When we came back, I wanted to drink something reminiscent of all the smells we were still soaked with from the forest.

I thought Cedar Ridge would be appropriate since we have many large cedars in my forest.

This is a wellness blend. Really. With organic ingredients like cinnamon, elderberries, ginger, spearmint and roasted cedar leaves, it’s something I would want to drink if I was at the spa.

It’s relaxing and invigorating at the same time. The spearmint and cedar are upfront, and at the end of the sip, I get a spicy bite from the ginger and cinnamon.

It feels fresh, woody, earthy and “rainy”.

It’s everything I was hoping for.

The sun is out now, let’s try to dry ourselves a little!

I read yesterday on a post that this was an excellent calming tea.

Now I doubt that this will put my hyper self to sleep, but it can’t hurt to drink it at night, right?

First, can I mention how much I adore Brenden’s description of his teas? If you’re an outdoorsy person like I am, you really understand what he’s talking about…if you’re not flirting much with the outdoors, it will make you wish you were.

It tastes so smooth, it is a very soothing infusion, think spa and aromatherapy…

I get hints of spice and citrus, with earthy undertones, it feels very organic. (That’s because it is!)

I’m really glad I ordered this, it will calm me down when I feel like going out for a jog at 11 at night!

I didn’t want this to get lost, in case people were curious.

I saved the leaves from yesterday and did two more steeps of it this morning.

I really liked the sixth infusion. It tasted faintly orange, faintly honey, a bit something else I haven’t been able to identify. This was really nice. Really nice.

The seventh isn’t as good. It’s really the last infusion I think one could get out of these leaves. The flavor is really faint, almost gone, still there but barely. Of all the infusions of this tea, this one actually seems the most creamy, but it’s really not at the same time. Nine minutes was a heck of a long time, but not a hint of bitterness or anything.

Take your time with this tea, enjoy all the infusions. Don’t make the mistake I did and start drinking it in a 15oz mug, though.

I wish I’d read the directions and recommendations a little better before I started to realize I would be drinking this tea all day. I probably would have done this at home where I have a smaller mug.

But I’m still loving every minute.

Each infusion has been different and delicious. I agree with the description. I think the fourth so far has been my favorite, although I really liked the third as well, and the fifth that I’m enjoying right now is also very nice. (Not to say that one and two weren’t good as well because they were.)

I wish I’d thought to keep notes as I was drinking this. I was surprised at how almost (but not quite) orange it was to start, and the floral notes I found, and the kind of honey it had, before it finished tangy metallic-ish.

I’m really enjoying it.

I wish I’d taken notes.

I’m at work and doing so many things today that this tea has kept me company all day, through so many different things, as each huge mug has enveloped and comforted me.

Looking at the dry leaves before I started, I wasn’t expecting this to be as light as it is, but it’s pretty light.

I’ve been following the brewing directions as I found them on the website for each different infusion. I’m on 5 right now, and I think I’m going to save the leaves to have a couple more tomorrow.

Brenden, I’m sorry I didn’t do this tea justice with my tasting note. It’s really spectacular.

The dry leaves scent remind me of my favorite black from Adagio, Yunnan Jig. The steeped cup is vaguely similar to that tea, but this one has a nice subtle chocolate note. Definitely a wonderful full bodied tea. I prefer Golden Orchid over this one, but this is still a nice everyday black, whereas I feel like I need to make time to savor Golden Orchid when I drink it.

Quite a delicious tea. Malty, chocolatey …so much promise. When it is all grown up and in Northwinds or in Golden Orchid it has such flair.

“Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off” Visions of Johanna, Bob Dylan

I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm for this tea. For me the joy of this tea is in its understatement. It is not a bombardment on the taste buds, but so well balanced; a tea that has been built, not blended. Each of the pieces critical, there, but not there. A handful of rain, if you will, tempting you to defy it.

Last night, after my four hour hike in the wilderness, I indulged into an Offley 10 years Port wine and some good quality dark chocolate, the one that snaps when you brake it.

But since a girl can’t stuff herself with that kind of goodies everyday day, I chose WP Mint Chocolate Chip to satisfy my chocolate craving today.

I’ve said it before, I don’t have a big sweet tooth, but dark chocolate is my weakness.

I could not pass the opportunity to buy this cause I’m also a mint lover. The combination of both mint and chocolate is to die for.

Oh, this smells wonderful, and tastes even better. Just the right amount of peppermint freshness and natural sweetness from the excellent Fujian black base.

I love that there are only two ingredients in this: peppermint, black tea. No fake candies of any kind, my idea of the perfect flavoured tea :-)

Oh, and this is my 200th Steepster note!

I was reaching for Elder Grove but picked this up instead. It’s ok, I like this as well, and I can see if I hit the sack quickly again. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I renamed my teas things like Fred and Ginger so I can tell them apart.

Annoying grammar tip of the day: It’s “should have” not “should of”
/pedant off

The work month is wrapping up nicely! I think I will be able to not work all weekend. My last four shops to fill are restaurant dinner visits in Houma LA, Kingston ON, Rockland MA and Staunton VA if anyone is near there. :)

I had this last night before bed. It was a really nice cup! I wasn’t transported like I was with Elder Grove, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It was woodsy and earthy, with the tiniest whisper of mint. I am also sort of mesmerized by looking at the Whispering Pines mixes, since they are so different than other herbal blends. So many interesting things in there. Lots of berries – I didn’t recognize them as elderberries since I haven’t had much exposure to those, but there were lots of them in there. Little woodsy pieces, it’s just really interesting to see.

It might have just been the calming properties of the tea, or a coincidence, but I crashed hard right after this. I was OUT.

Sipdown! I’m sure it won’t be the last we see of each other.